Kurlantzick

Although discharged in 1946, Thompson continued to "serve as a de facto intelligence officer," Kurlantzick says, one useful to all sides until the radical shift in U.S. policy when he and other colleagues in the OSS found themselves on the "wrong side."

The American Silk King AP 2012

"I wanted to use Jim to broaden the story to Thailand's relations with the United States, and to explore this whole generation of those who had come out of the OSS in World War II and then were pushed out by the Cold War," Kurlantzick said in an interview.

The American Silk King AP 2012

Mr. Kurlantzick ably chronicles Thompson's time in Southeast Asia but unfortunately attempts to make his life something it was not: a metaphor for what he thinks went wrong with U.S. policy in Southeast Asia.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

Kurlantzick says Thompson was a "multifaceted, generous and foresighted man, but he was in some ways too idealistic, bordering on the naive and it became his downfall in many ways."

The American Silk King AP 2012

Mr. Kurlantzick also naïvely maintains that Ho Chi Minh was only "flirting with socialism and communism," when Ho's history as a Moscow-trained Comintern agent and hard-core Communist is indisputable, no matter how many OSS officers he charmed at war's end.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

Mr. Kurlantzick theorizes about what happened without coming to a firm conclusion, though the CIA is criticized for not releasing the results of the investigation it apparently conducted, and a hint of foul play is left hanging in the air.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

I never heard of any CIA instructions to avoid Thompson, as Mr. Kurlantzick claims were issued.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

The U.S. did not pick these leaders, as Mr. Kurlantzick implies; they were the products of a deeply flawed Thai society and body politic.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

More broadly, Mr. Kurlantzick sets up a simplistic and false choice for the U.S. during the Cold War between the views of some early OSS officers Thompson among them who favored supporting nationalist movements in Southeast Asia, including Ho Chi Minh's Vietminh, and the views of others who favored "picking conservative dictators rather than gambling on left-leaning men who might be Democrats."

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011

Mr. Kurlantzick makes a number of out-of-context assertions and mixes up dates and events.

A Silken Web Of Intrigue 2011