Shooting at the Moon: The Story of America's Clandestine War in Laos Paperback – June 1, 1998

Thank you ... Can't wait to read this awesome interesting Book. Good Amazon Seller!

This is a well-documented, factually comprehensive account of the secret war that was waged in Laos as the non-secret war in Vietnam went on. It is illuminating in a couple of ways. First, it makes it crystal clear that the Vietnam War was part of a broader war the United States was waging in Southeast Asia. Focusing on the Vietnam War, as we Americans tend to do, and for understandable reasons, blurs this fact and, with it, blurs the militaristic character of what has been labeled "the Cold War." Perhaps that war was "cold" in Europe, but it was "hot" in Southeast Asia. Secondly, the title comes from a tradition in Laos of people actually "shooting at the moon," during lunar eclipses, because they act as if a huge cosmic frog were eating the moon and they had to kill it or chase it off. This tradition strikes we more "civilized" Westerners as just foolish and inane. However, as Roger Warner shows and concludes, it wasn't only the Laotian who were "shooting at the moon" futilely, "but all along, it was Americans who had been shooting at the moon." [p. 381] Warner sees the futility of the American war in Laos clearly: "The multi tour veterans from the CIA and USAID...were not cynics. They did not deliberately attach themselves to a losing cause. They gave willingly of themselves, hoping the help the Laotians at the same time they helped their own country. The paradox was that even though they helped run the Laos war for their government, the outcome was the opposite of what they intended. Somehow, and they didn't know how, events slipped out of their grasp. In some mysterious way, as the war became institutionalized, the system they worked for betrayed them and turned the war inside out." [pp. 380-381]But what Warner calls "mysterious" isn't so mysterious if one recognizes that bureaucracies cannot accomplish certain tasks, like changing "hearts and minds" and winning a counterinsurgency, at least not without paying an unacceptable price both monetarily and humanly. That is, as the bureaucratic project "progresses," the goal seems to retreat into the distance, and the people in charge must "double down," as it were, leading to ever greater "exercises of power," to ever more "terror" in order to try to gain control. So, as the Americans "institutionalized" the war, "doubled down" with more troops and more fire power, "events...slipped out of their grasp." And the American effort was as futile as the Laotian effort of "shooting at the moon."Roger Warner has done us a service with his book, "Shooting at the Moon." It should be required reading at West Point, at the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and especially at the White House. It won't be, of course; but it should be.

"Shooting at the Moon" is a good book, very readable...The winner of the overseas press club's award, "Shooting at the Moon", By Roger Warner is an interesting read. It was originally published under the title "Back Fire."Warner has dedicated his life trying to tell the "super secret, clandestine war in Laos during the sixties. The main character of the book, Bill Lair was the architect of an efficient and effective approach to war. Along the lines of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Lair was able to empower the native mountain tribes, by arming them and training them to fight their own war. However, the politicians had to get involved and screw up the whole thing by sending Americans in to fight, thereby a lot of American lives were lost.Bill Lair, was the CIA operative who convinced the Hmong native General Pang Pao to fight the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Communists. Bill Lair didn't want any Americans in the Laotian civil war. He was convinced if he armed the Hmong (Meo) and trained them, they could fight their own war. (They'd probably won if the U.S. Politicians hadn't grown the war to an outlandish scale).Bill Lair had trained the national Thai police force response teams. He was very successful with his dealings with government and PARU (Police Aerial resupply Unit) in Thailand, before he moved on to Laos.The secret war in Laos which was denied by the American government still gives the people who "weren't there", but actually were, heart burn. Many were killed and many still suffer from the deniability of the Armed Forces and politicians alike.Shooting at the Moon is a real CIA spy operation. The Air America heroes should be recognized for what they did. But, in reality, they have been reduced to "denied old men" who still faithfully keep the secret.This book brings an accurate account to the table for those who didn't know, and some satisfaction to those who knew the real story.Roger Warner should be applauded for his effort and his dedication to the truth. Although the government, both ours and theirs (Laos). They continue to shush Roger Warner, but he also should be counted as a hero too. Trying to tell the story is like swimming upstream, or like shooting at the moon!Shooting at the moon is a grand book. It is exciting and instructive. I recommend this book for those who still care about these secret heroes. Especially Bill Lair the CIA secret agent. By the way, our heroes are still denied some benefits. They weren't there remember?JR Hafer [...]

A rehash of much of what has been written elsewhere but with less research and nowhere near as good supporting evidence as the much more specific work by Timothy N Castle's, One Day Too Long which sets the standard when read in conjunction with Tragic Mountains (The Hmong, the Americans and the Secret Wars', by Jane Hamilton-Merritt. This is a subject close to my heart as a person who has literally 'fallen in love' with the country but it all too often a subject that becomes 'boys own' when the reality is much more involved and particularly topical when examined in the light of American involvement in Afghanistan , Iraq and subsequently 'The War on Terror' that ha lead to so much human displacement and bloodshed. it is as if the American involvement and in particular the CIA involvement in Lao has acted as a precursor for much American Foreign Policy ever since with similarly devastating consequences.