Posted on 03/29/2004 10:41:13 AM PST by chance33_98
Laos, Hmong Victims Rally in Minnesota: Slam Reps. Betty McCollum, Phil Crane, Bush Administration Bureaucrats for Denial of Killing and Atrocities in Laos
3/29/2004 12:41:00 PM
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To: National Desk
Contact: Paul Christopher or Anna Jones, 202-543-1444, both of the Center for Public Policy Analysis
News Advisory:
Jointly released by the Center for Public Policy Analysis, the Lao-Hmong Emergency Crisis Task Force, the United Lao-Hmong Congress for Democracy, Inc., the Hmong Reform Committee, the United League for Democracy in Laos, Inc., Laos Institute for Democracy, the United Lao Action Center, the Lao Nationalist Reform Party, the Lao American Council and a coalition of Laotian and Hmong organizations.
The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), the Lao-Hmong Emergency Crisis Task Force (LHECTF) and a coalition of Laotian and Hmong organizations will co-host a rally entitled: "Lao-Hmong Victims Voice Rally " on the front steps of the Minnesota State Capitol from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Monday, March 29, 2004 (Minnesota State Capitol, Front Steps, St. Paul, MN).
"We are shocked and saddened by recent news that Congresswoman Betty McCollum along with Congressman Phil Crane, Ambassador Douglas Hartwick and some Bush Administration officials shamefully continue to deny the reality of the current holocaust in Laos-the reality of the brutal mass atrocities now being inflicted on hundreds of Hmong and Laotian civilians and rebel victims encircled and trapped in Laos," stated Zong Khang Yang, Director of the Lao-Hmong Emergency Crisis Task Force, in Minnesota. "It is utterly mind boggling that while thousands of voiceless Hmong and Laotian victims are being starved to death, brutalized and killed by the military forces of Communist Laos and Vietnam, Congresswoman Betty McCollum seeks to totally ignore, and deny the gravity of the problem in these closed military zones, and instead seek to give the Communist regime a major tax cut at the expense of the ordinary, hardworking U.S. taxpayers and Hmong and Laotian- Americans," continued Zongkhang Yang.
Invited speakers include: Minnesota state Representative Cy Thao (DFL-St. Paul), a Hmong-America legislator; Philip Smith, Executive Director, of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Policy Analysis; and, others.
Dr. Jane Hamiton-Merritt, Noble Peace Prize nominee, Lao and Hmong scholar and author of the book "Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans and the Secret Wars for Laos", states: "The current crisis in Laos facing the Hmong people is consistent with the Lao regime's brutal military actions in recent years against unarmed civilians and refugees and what happened in the aftermath of the Vietnam War." "The U.S. Congress should not grant NTR trade status to Laos while the Pathet Lao regime is engage in wholesale atrocities against the Hmong people," continued Dr. Hamilton-Merritt.
"The 'Lao-Hmong Victims Voice Rally' at the Capitol in St. Paul seeks to help give public voice to the thousands of innocent and voiceless Lao and Hmong civilian and rebel victims of recent government military attacks and atrocities in Communist Laos," stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis. Smith also serves as the Washington Director for the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the nation's largest Hmong and Laotian veterans organization. Continued Smith: "The event also seeks to challenge and counter the official public denial, and cover-up, by elements of the Bush administration, in cooperation with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL), regarding the current ethnic cleansing and mass starvation campaign in Laos, where Amnesty International has reported that food is being used as a weapon of war against Hmong and Laotian civilians and rebels; We urge Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) of Minneapolis and Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) to hold the line and aggressively seek to block this inappropriately timed and ill- conceived legislative effort by Betty McCollum to reward the Stalinist junta leaders with a big tax cut on imports."
NTR for the Pathet Lao regime was staunchly opposed by former Rep. Bruce Vento (D-MN), Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Rod Grams (R-MN) during their tenure.
Wisconsin Senators Herbert Kohl (D-WI) and Russell Feingold (D- WI) have spearheaded bipartisan efforts in Congress to press the Bush Administration -- including Secretary Colin Powell -- and the United Nations to take immediate action regarding the emergency plight of the Hmong people in Laos.
The United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination, in Geneva, and Amnesty International have issued recent statements about the crisis in Laos facing Laotian and Hmong civilians and rebels currently under attack by government forces as well as the Pathet Lao regime's use of food as a weapon of war.
Continued Smith: "There appears to be growing opposition in the U.S. Congress and the Laotian and Hmong-American community to new legislation introduced by Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) seeking to grant Normalized Trade Relations (NTR) status to the Communist regime in Laos at a time when the Communist regime has increased its military offensive against unarmed Hmong and Laotian civilians and rebels in Laos resulting in a significant number of deaths."
In 2003, U.S. Reps. Mark Green (R-WI) Devin Nunes (R-CA), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Ron Kind (D-WI), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA) spearheaded a letter signed by twenty-two (22) members of Congress to President Bush and House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Phil Crane (R-IL) staunchly opposing the granting of NTR to the Lao regime and highlighting its support for North Korea and Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Currently, only Stalinist North Korea and Cuba -- along with staunchly allied Laos -- have not been granted NTR by the U.S. Congress.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
I expect this to be front page tomorrow in the Red Star.
Bush administration foreign policy is such that in the better world that will emerge after the defeat of global pan-Islamism, there will be far less rational for, and decidedly less tolerance for Communist dissembling than currently seems to exist.
Once again, we owe a debt to these people. A very large debt.
Please write letters and make call to your congress/senate people to fight against this effort of NTR.
We owe this to these people. This includes the Montagnards.
There is also this part, which leaves the 'unamed Bush administration sources' completely out.
I suspect this may be a copywriter taking liberties. Perhaps seeking to create some picture of dis-unity in the Bush administration. Just a guess.
FReeper Special Ops/ snakeeaters ping!
Funny, the Hmong population has been in Minnesota for 30 years and they never gave Mondale or Carter grief for this.
Yes, but now we are in Iraq partly because Saddam was committing genocide against segments of his population.
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