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.

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

See also

Notes