Major-General Ouane Rattikone (Ouan Rathikoun), a
Laotian senior military officer, was the commander-in-chief of the
Royal Lao Armed Forces
The Royal Lao Armed Forces (french: Forces Armées du Royaume), best known by its French acronym FAR, were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos, a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Lao People's Democra ...
(
French: ''Forces Armées du Royaume'' – FAR), the official military of the
Royal Lao Government and the
Kingdom of Laos, during the 1960s. He was born in 1912 in
Luang Prabang.
An ally of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, Ouane developed a close relationship with
William H. Sullivan
William Healy Sullivan (October 12, 1922 – October 11, 2013) was an American Foreign Service career officer who served as ambassador to Laos from 1964 to 1969, the Philippines from 1973 to 1977, and Iran from 1977 to 1979.
Early life and ca ...
, the
U.S. ambassador to Laos, and
Ted Shackley, the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
station chief in
Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
. Despite the intense conflicts amongst the FAR regional commanders, Ouane was pivotal in providing local military support against the
North Vietnamese Army
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...
(NVA) and the
Pathet Lao in the northern regions of Laos.
Ouane was also heavily involved in the trafficking of
opium throughout Southeast Asia. Despite widespread
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
of CIA complicity in
drug trafficking, an investigation by the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
found no evidence of CIA involvement. In his memoirs, Shackley unapologetically stated that the CIA essentially turned a blind eye to the drug trafficking because their resources were already being sapped by the war in neighboring Vietnam.
[Shackley, Ted. ''Spymaster: My Life in the CIA.'' Potomac Books. ]Dulles, Virginia
Dulles () is an unincorporated area in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The headquarters of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and ODIN Technologies, as well as the former headquarters of ...
2005 He is believed to have died in October 1978.
See also
*
1967 Opium War
The 1967 Opium War took place in northwestern Laos between February and August 1967; actual fighting took place from 29 July to 1 August 1967. A mule train, led by Burmese militia, carrying 16 tons of opium crossed into Laos to Ban Khwan, where th ...
*
Thao Ty
*
Thao Ma
Brigadier-General Thao Ma (1931–1973) was a Laotian military and political figure of the Laotian Civil War and the Vietnam War (aka Second Indochina War). Thao Ma began his military career as a paratrooper in the French Union Army, when Fran ...
*
Phoumi Nosavan Major General Phoumi Nosavan ( lo, ພູມີ ຫນໍ່ສວັນ; 27 January 1920 – 1985)Stuart-Fox, pp. 258–259. was a military strongman who was prominent in the history of the Kingdom of Laos; at times, he dominated its political life ...
*
Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang ...
*
Royal Lao Armed Forces
The Royal Lao Armed Forces (french: Forces Armées du Royaume), best known by its French acronym FAR, were the official armed defense forces of the Kingdom of Laos, a state that existed from 1949 to 1975 in what is now the Lao People's Democra ...
*
Laotian Civil War
*Colonel
Bounleuth Saycocie
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattikone, Ouane
Year of birth missing
1978 deaths
Laotian military leaders
Military personnel of the Vietnam War
Laotian anti-communists
People of the Laotian Civil War