WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[music]

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The mountains of eastern Burma
have been cursed by war

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and cursed by opium so that today, their
Shan people are caught in a vicious trap.

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[music]

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It’s a trap corrupted by opium

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and its derivatives, morphine and heroin.

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[music]

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And it’s bloodied by one of the
cruelest tyrannies on earth.

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[sil.]

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For decades, I’ve watched the world’s
largest traffic in narcotics

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and Burmese civil war feed on each other until
they’ve become monsters of destruction.

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[sil.]

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But 30 years ago, Shan opium

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was a small scale crop.

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It was largely cultivated
by hill tribe women.

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And they used much of the money
to buy their silver headdresses.

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[music]

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How did this quaint, bucolic business

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in uncongenial sap become the narco
monster of today flooding Britain

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and the world with heroin?

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[music]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[music]

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This story begins on the
borders of Thailand and China

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in a remote part of Burma
called Shan State.

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Cameraman Chris (inaudible) and I
first entered with a newly born

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Shan Resistance Movement and had no premonition
of the manic saga we would gradually slide into.

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[non-English narration]

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The revolutionaries who were organizing
the people in defense of democracy

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and against the Burmese general Ne Win.

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He had recently seized power in a military
coup, abolishing the constitution

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and the parliament under which the Shan

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and other minority people had
joined to union of Burma.

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[non-English narration]

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But it needed a little optimism

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to think of this as a military
machine capable of victory.

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[non-English narration]

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Their tactics

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also seemed to lack any go beyond
shooting up Burmese patrols.

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[sil.]

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good for morale, but not much else.

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And so,

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we watched the revolutionaries
take their next fateful step.

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Opium was the Shan farmer’s
only source of ready money.

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So, the guerillas began
to take 10% as a tax

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and transported it to Thailand to buy guns.

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[music]

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And so, the cause of democracy fell

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under the spell of the moon flower, the unan (inaudible)
poppy whose refined sap enslaves its addicts.

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[music]

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Ever since, the revolution’s

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equal dependence on narcotics has haunted
Shan State like the curse in a Nordic saga

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as we were to see during our next visit.

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When we joined the Shan State army,

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their marching song seemed strangely
familiar. Until we learned that many Shan

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who had been to mission schools and
onward Christian soldiers and [inaudible]

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had been borrowed as revolutionary songs.

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[music]

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Their collective leadership was planning
to capture a monopoly of the opium trade.

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We have been discussion what to do.
In two or three years,

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we may be crushed – we’re in the Burmese
– and Burmese government and economies

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unless we can find enough
money to increase our army.

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Unfortunately, the only fixed source of money in
Shan State is opium. So, we can’t really hope

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to take over most of the opium trade.

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[sil.]

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The only sure way to control and
tax narcotics is in the field.

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But as there were millions of fields,

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the guerillas had decided instead to tax
the convoys which exported the opium.

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[sil.]

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These convoys had originally

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been escorted by revolutionaries like
the ones we filmed 10 years before.

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But many had since been bribed to go over to the
Burmese government and they now control the convoys.

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[sil.]

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In return for a government license

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to trade opium, the ex-revolutionaries
worked as a militia for the Burmese

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adding confusion to the story
by switching from side to side.

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The most powerful of the militia leaders

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Lo Hsing Han, the famous King of Opium.

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[sil.]

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The revolutionaries

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were not strong enough
to defeat his convoys.

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[non-English narration]

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But they were able to capture opium traders

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travelling to join the convoys.

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[non-English narration]

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This is a standard opium packet
weighing three and a half pounds.

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[sil.]

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10 pounds of this makes roughly

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one pound of refined heroin which
can rise a thousand times in price

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by the time it retails in the west.

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This is number three heroin
and price is (inaudible).

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And this is number four heroin and
the price is 160 (inaudible).

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[non-English narration]

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Not long after a second revolutionary army

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added their forces to the campaign. The man
with the stick is their Chief of Staff.

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This was to be the only campaign against

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the convoys ever recorded. And it explains much
of what would go wrong over the next 20 years.

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It would also prove to be no picnic.

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The revolutionary’s aim

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was to capture one of the King of Opium’s
giant convoys which would soon come up

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from Thailand to collect the new opium
harvest. Its capture would change

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the balance of power in opium traffic.

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[sil.]

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The first poppies were already in flower

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when the convoys set out.

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Shan spies counted 700 mules
and also filmed for us.

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To prevent the convoy being

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reinforced by truck, the roads were blown.

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[sil.]

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The convoy was lead by a
vanguard of 500 militia.

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Many were young, but they were some
of the best in the opium business.

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[music]

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The mules are very hard to capture because
they can divert on to any side track.

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[sil.]

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And that’s exactly what happened.
We were with the revolutionaries

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waiting in ambush as the
convoy came up this valley.

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But the convoy turned suddenly and attacked
another revolutionary unit blocking their escape

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on the other side of the mountain.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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The revolutionaries believed they had crippled the
vanguard, surrounded the convoy and were about to defeat

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the world famous King of Opium.

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Actually it’s not so big as
they described this time.

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(inaudible) . Lo Hsing Han maintains

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a private army of 5000 of the tribesmen.
If he has 5000 within it at that time

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(inaudible).

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If Lo Hsing Han gives you
tax now, what will you do?

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We will take the tax and we attack them.
(inaudible)

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[music]

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Then one night, news came
of a militia relief force.

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[sil.]

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The relief force was expected
to advance up this valley

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and the revolutionaries plan to catch
it cross fire between our position

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and the opposite hill.

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The other ambush force was already waiting.

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[sil.]

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The first enemy patrol, but when
they were still 400 yards away,

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the other hill stupidly opened up.

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[non-English narration]

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[sil.]

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As the reports came in, the major in charge
appeared to have no idea how to contain the convoy.

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[non-English narration]

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The order he sent was to
drive the relief force away.

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So, we marched off unaware this was
precisely what the enemy wanted.

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In a tactic that later became common,

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the relief force drew the ambush troops off
one of the trails. And when it was dark,

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the mule slipped away in a heavy mist.

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The revolutionary’s advanced patrols

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captured four stragglers.

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But like all the convoys of the
future, this convoy had escaped

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except for 11 mule loads of
contraband from Thailand.

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[sil.]

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The Chief of Staff barely
concealed his embarrassment.

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[non-English narration]

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What do you say – it’s very
unlucky for our troops.

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On the way to ambush them, they don’t think
that our enemies will come so quick.

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They have not enough time
to select an (inaudible).

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But our enemy is too powerful.

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So, they can’t match them
and our enemies escaped.

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I think now they’re having
their breakfast (inaudible).

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[sil.]

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The booty was a taunt from the Gods.
Under pants –

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under pants with the ironic
brand name James Bond 007.

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The film unit’s share was two
Doctor West toothbrushes.

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[sil.]

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So, the first campaign against the
convoys came to its inglorious,

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but prophetic end.

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[sil.]

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Shan narcotics were increasingly
reaching western cities

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and new and much more powerful
forces would launch the next attack.

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In 1971, President Nixon had
launched his famous war on drugs.

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America’s public enemy number one

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in the United States is drug abuse. In
order to fight and defeat this enemy,

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it is necessary to wage a
new all out offensive.

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This will be a worldwide offensive dealing
with the problems of sources of supply.

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The Cabinet’s new policy

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highlighted police actions against the
producers of drugs in foreign countries.

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So, they had created the drug
enforcement administration, the DEA

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which then followed the Shan
campaign closely. Prepared batch

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for my test where you’ll focus
principally on Southeast Asia.

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One concentration right in this area here
– These people would soon become involved

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in attacking the opium convoys. The
Shan revolutionaries of course

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were unaware of this. Their news was that the contraband
carried by the convoy was flooding Burma’s black market.

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[music]

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This public flouting of
Burma’s economic laws

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became the last straw for
the Burmese dictator.

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He ordered the opium militias
to lay down their arms.

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So, the King of Opium Lo Hsing Han

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prepared to desert the Burmese
and began to look for allies.

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Shan changes of alliances
can be as unpredictable

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as shuffling a pack of cards.

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So, who one day did we see marching
after the jungle, but the opium king?

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[sil.]

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The revolutionaries had recently
killed a 100 of his militia.

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But no one was impolite
enough to mention the fact.

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[music]

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Under the umbrella Lo Hsing
Han, the King of Opium.

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[music]

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The revolutionaries have
changed their plans

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to suit this new situation.

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[non-English narration]

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The revolutionaries now hoped

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with the King of Opium’s help to
control the opium trade at its source,

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in the field and to propose a
radical alternative to the traffic.

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[sil.]

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Opium is a very laborious crop

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and few families earned more
than 30 pound a year from it.

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[sil.]

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And in the recent fighting,

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the villagers have been so
frightened that they built dugouts.

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Fought over by guerillas,

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pillaged by Burmese, in return for peace,
the villagers would be only too happy

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to replace opium with some other crop.

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And the soldiers were equally weary.

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[sil.]

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In the recent campaign,
the combined casualties

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numbered several hundred.

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[non-English narration]

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But thought it was they who died for opium,

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the big money in narcotics was in the west.

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[sil.]

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As all the soldiers fighting over
a third of the world’s heroin,

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jointly earned less than a quarter
of a million pounds a year.

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They had very little to lose.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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So, when the revolutionaries
agreed to help the King of Opium,

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they proposed a visionary plan.

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[non-English narration]

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They insisted he sell his narcotics
to the United States for burning.

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They hope the U.S. would then apply pressure
to stop the Burmese oppression of the Shans.

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[sil.]

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This proposal we have just signed

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to the U.S. Narcotics Bureau
and to any organization

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which is prepared to buy and burn the opium in Shan
State. We are also prepared to bring in narcotics agent

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into Shan State and to check on
anything they want to check.

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But of course, if our proposal is not
accepted, then the needs of our people

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and the need of our revolution will force
us to go on with this opium trade.

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[sil.]

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The King of Opium already controlled
more than half the traffic

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and was sure the other opium
militias would join him.

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[non-English narration]

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How much morphine and heroin do you make?

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[non-English narration]

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[non-English narration]

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[music]

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It was a time of great hope.

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[music]

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The Shans have never been
closer to ending the misery

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that opium spreads across the world.

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[sil.]

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As the combined armies took
the proposals to Thailand,

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the opium king told us they were carrying five tons
of morphine, enough to provide six months heroin

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for all the addicts of America.

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[music]

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As he approached the border of Thailand,
the King of Opium seemed confident the

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Americans would welcome his proposals.

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What he didn’t foresee

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was that the American Drug Enforcement
Administration would do the opposite, pay a bribe

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to have his proposals suppressed.

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[sil.]

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With Lo Hsing Han, the five tons of
morphine would wait in the jungle.

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And as he was nervous
of approaching the DEA,

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I agreed to deliver the proposals.
Naively, I assumed

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the DEA wanted to put an
end to the opium trade.

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[music]

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Our first car ride, our first
traffic jam for a year and a half.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
[music]

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Monday morning, the U.S. Embassy, Bangkok.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:13.000
[music]

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
I delivered the Shan offer, a
third of the world’s heroin

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
for only $12 million.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
[sil.]

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
But just a few hours after I left,

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
far away in the mountains, the
King of Opium was arrested.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
[sil.]

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
The U.S. praised Lo Hsing Han’s arrest
and the Thai police published a heroic,

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
but forced story of how it was done.

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
In fact, the King of Opium had
entered Thailand with 100 soldiers.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
A dozen Thai police arrived by helicopter

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
and bribed by the DEA invited
the opium king to negotiate.

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
His Shan interpreter went with him and the headman
swears they entered the helicopter willingly.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
They were flown to the police
barracks Chiang Mai and arrested.

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
When the King of Opium and the
interpreted were extradited

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
from Bangkok to Burma, they looked stunned.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:38.000
[sil.]

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
The DEA publicized this as the
enforcement crime of the year.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
But in fact, it had no effect whatever
in reducing the flow of narcotics.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:18.000
[sil.]

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
The King of Opium knew the least he
faced was years in a Burmese jail.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.000
[sil.]

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
Ruefully, I waved to Lo Hsing
Han and he waved back.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:53.000
[sil.]

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
The removal of its king naturally left

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
a power vacuum at the head of the opium trade.
So, the main result of the DEA’s betrayal

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
was to make a present of the traffic to the
revolutionaries would fail to capture it.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
[sil.]

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Soon after, they exchanged a hostage

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
for one of their leaders who have
been captured some years before.

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
Once out of jail, Khun Sa became the second King of
Opium, building up a near monopoly of the traffic.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:43.000
[sil.]

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
Incredibly, his revolutionary aims led
him to revive his predecessor’s offer

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:55.000
by inviting the Narcotics Committee of the United
States congress to fly to his base in Thailand.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
As we had introduced Joe Nellis, Chief
Counselor of the Congressional Committee,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
we were allowed to film this historic meeting.
But the second King of Opium had asked

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
the United States to plan the long
term eradication of the poppy

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
and in the mean time to buy out the crop.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
[sil.]

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
Only the President of the
administration has the authority

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
to make agreements concerning
the purchase of opium.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
So, whatever arrangements follow our
meeting, they’ll have to be imitated

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
by the executive department, by the
President. Let me ask Khun Sa,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
what would have to be done to eliminate
opium production in the Shan States.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:58.000
[non-English narration]

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
He wants you to

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
have make contact with the
person who can come and collect

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
all the opium grown in our country

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
either to throw it or to burn it.
American gives it to the Burmese

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
in order to eliminate opium. Even
it takes 300 years, they can stop.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
[music]

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
So, the opium proposals

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
went to Washington where they would soon
initiate one of the less glorious episodes

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
of the American war on drugs.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
In the summer of 1977, the Narcotics
Committee of the U.S. Congress

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
took the Shan opium proposals to the
White House of the new president

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Jimmy Carter.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:08.000
[music]

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
The debate about the proposals started with a
video of the committee’s visit with Khun Sa.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
Backing the proposals

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
was Lester Wolff, Chairman of the
Congressional Committee on Narcotics.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Opposed was President
Carter’s aid, Peter Bourne

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.000
who was in charge of all drugs policy.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
That’s it. Cut this point – I think the important
element that we would like to discuss with you today

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
is this whole question of the
offer that have been made to us.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
One aspect of it is we’re going to hold
hearings because it’s quite obvious

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
that what we’re doing now has not
accomplished the desired result.

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
I’m not sure. But there are at least total
victories or total losses. But the question

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
is to move from one strategy to another, keep the traffic
as constantly off guard and for us to stay where –

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
Over the coming weeks,
the debate would resolve

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
into two clearly defined arguments. Lester
Wolff, Joe Nellis and their committee

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
wanted to buy up Shan opium as
a first stage to negotiating

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
an end to it cultivation. But Peter
Bourne and his government departments

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
were against negotiations. They wanted
to give the Burmese army airplanes

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
to attack Shan convoys.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
What if anything is the United States
government prepared to do in 1977

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
to interdict what appears
to be about one half

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
of the world’s illicit supply of opium.
Now I will say this much and no more.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
At a meeting at the White House
the other day, we were advised

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
that the administration is
considering increasing narcotics

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
enforcement equipment to the Burmese. The
Germans’ reaction to this was very negative.

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
And I do believe that our
hearings will bring out

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
a number of recommended
policy alternatives.

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
Lester Wolff is holding hearings
on the preemptive buy plan.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
The traffic as in Burma has
large quantities of opium

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
which they feed to the
international market.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Lester Wolff has been negotiating with them and he
has a plan which we would buy for approximately

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
$30 million to $35 million
their stocks of opium.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
The administration’s position

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
is opposed to that, the whole variety of
reasons, probably the most significant of which

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
is that these are insurgent
groups that have no legitimacy

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
in the international community.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
[sil.]

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.000
The debate continued until the White House took
its all too predictable decision to the congress.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
You solemnly swear that the testimony you’re about to give is the
truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
I do. Thank you very much. Please proceed.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
I would like to just address briefly Mr.
Chairman, the policy alternative

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
suggested for consideration in the committee’s
report on your recent visit to Southeast Asia.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
That is the preemptive purchase of
opium from the Shan United Army.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
I have found not a single person who has
felt this concept had any validity.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
It is unthinkable that any representative of this
administration would negotiate with insurgent groups

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
opposed to the legitimate
government of Burma

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
much less use the American
tax payer’s dollars

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
for a program that would in effect provide
a subsidy for narcotic traffickers

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
and arms for an insurrection.
The so-called Shan United Army

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
is led by a ruthless band of
ethnic Chinese opium warlords.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
And so, the United States rejected
the second King of Opium’s offer

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
and was about to give $80
million of military aid

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:40.000
to attack his convoys. And the principle loses, who
else than the Shan people and the world’s addicts.

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
We must also have international cooperation
to control the production and transport

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
of dangerous drugs into our country. We’re
making some progress on this already,

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
in part, because of the
very good cooperation

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
among the governments of foreign
countries in the Thailand/Burma area

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
cooperating with us; they’ve now mounted
a very successful anti-drug campaign.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
I think last week, we had the largest
confiscation of heroin on record,

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
about 400 pounds of heroin.
The center of this effort

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and will be Dr. Peter Bourne. Dr. Bourne
is my personal advisor on this subject

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
and he will now be available
to answer your questions

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
about any aspects of the drug problem.
Dr. Bourne.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
[sil.]

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
I wanted to ask a question regarding particular
to congressional hearings in which you testified

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
that four fixed wing aircrafts would be shipped
to Burma. That decision is proceeding along.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
We feel that the Burmese government
has done an exceptionally good job

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
during the last year in interdicting the opium
caravans coming down out of the Shan States.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
The big problem that they have
is one of limited mobility.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
We feel that the provision
of four fixed with aircraft

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
will increase that mobility and
they would look to get troops …

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
Of all the predictions, the most accurate was by Joe
Nellis in the video thus shown in the White House.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
As a final question, I
would like to ask Khun Sa,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
if there is no arrangement possible,
then am I correctly assuming

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
that the opium will continue to
be grown, continue to be shipped,

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
continue to be sold to the Thai merchants and
the same situation will go on as it’s going on.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
Yes. Absolutely.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
Despite this, the United States would
soon be providing satellite intelligence

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
about Shan Convoys. They also
gave the Burmese military junta

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
five troop carrying planes to transport
their soldiers to forward air strips.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
There, American diplomats or
officers briefing soldiers

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
about the convoy they were about to attack.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
They then transferred to two dozen U.S.
donated helicopters.

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
The U.S. officials were never
permitted to go with them.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
The reason was released

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
when we later learned that the 10 year campaign
completely failed to stop or capture a single convoy.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
What the Burmese did put on show

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
for foreign military attachés
were captured heroin factories.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
But a heroin factory is
little more than a few huts,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
temporary housing for a
collection of pots and chemicals.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:58.000
[sil.]

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
Presumably the purpose of giving troop
carrying planes was to attack the convoys.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
What percentage roughly did they succeed
in capturing? Did they capture 1%?

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
I suspect I don’t have the
number right off top of my head.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
I suspect that would be high. In
most years in Burma, we’ve looked at

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
seizure rates and of course were dealing with estimates
of export. But we’re dealing with seizure rates

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
in the decimal point range.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
U.S. anti-narcotics aid continued

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
until the campaign against the poppy
paled beside the junta’s bloody

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
and shocking massacre in 1988.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
To worldwide outrage, thousands of
pro-democracy demonstrators slaughtered.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:58.000
[sil.]

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
By the 1990s, Lester Wolff is no longer a congressman.
But he visits as an international consultant

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
while his colleague Joe Nellis
is a Washington lawyer.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
I asked if they’ve been proved wrong?
Certainly not.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
You can’t prove that we were right at the
time. But certainly they were wrong.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
If you go to looking at hearings

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
that were held similar to
the ones that we have,

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
you’d think that it was just yesterday we held the hearing
because the same things are repeated over and over again.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
(inaudible) . That’s right.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
Mr. Wolff remembers that at 400.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
I remember 250, but (inaudible) . It
didn’t really matter whether it was

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
250 tons or 400 tons. Now what you have
in production of 1500 to 2500 tons.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
That translates to

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
150 to 250 tons of heroin.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
Can you imagine what that
can do to our country?

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
The fact is that we only
used in this country

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
some five tons maximum of heroin a year.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
President’s Carter’s ex-aid Peter Bourne

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
has the generosity to agree that it would not
be easy to describe his policy as a success.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Ultimately thought, it clearly
didn’t change the bottom line

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
as measured by the quantities of opium and heroin
that were coming out of the golden triangle.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
I mean in fact the quantity has gone up greatly.
It’s gone up greatly, yes. You don’t believe now

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
that police enforcement measures
are effective in solving

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
narcotics problems. Is that right?
That’s a fair summary, yes.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
And why should Khun Sa disagree with that?

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:08.000
[music]

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
It’s the 60th birthday of
the second opium king.

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
And though the U.S. had
recently indicted Khun Sa

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
and threatened to kidnap him, these
people seem less than frightened.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:33.000
[music]

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
In the final program of our series,
we will follow this bizarre story

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
into the 1990s when Khun Sa,
the second King of Opium

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
declares independence from the Burmese.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
The Burmese reply by helping the first
King of Opium recover from his arrest

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
and become what else, a
King of Opium again.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:08.000
[music]

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
The narcotics business is a ceases merry
go round and conclusions are hard to draw.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
But it would not be easy to find another
country where the war on drugs has been

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:30.000
such a fuss or such a failure.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
What if anything is the United States government
prepared to do to interdict about one half

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
of the world’s illicit supply of opium?

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:08.000
[music]

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
It is unthinkable

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
that any representative of this administration
would negotiate with insurgent groups

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
opposed to the legitimate
government of Burma.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:33.000
[music]

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
If there is no arrangement possible,

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
then I would like to ask Khun
Sa, am I correct in assuming

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
that the opium will continue to
be grown, continue to be shipped

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
and the same situation will go on.
Yes. Absolutely.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:03.000
[music]