Welcome to the Jungle

An interesting read from Time: Asia.

Recruited by the CIA to be a secret army during the Vietnam War, the Hmong rebels of Laos fought communism. Now they desperately battle for their own survival.

Also check out the intriguing Photo Essay.

It's been a long time since I really took the time to understand my Lao background. I am half Lao, after all. As I grow older, I began to analyze and understand the world, and all it's death and violence, as well as all it's love and nurturing. There's a delicate line between how much you know, and how much you want to know. And not knowing doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

So here's a question. Am I part Hmong?

At the end of the Vietnam war, the U.S. government stopped its support of the rebels it helped train. Some 200,000 Hmong managed to escape to America, while as many as 15,000 fled into the jungles.