BANGKOK, Thailand — U.S. officials condemned Burma's Wa guerrillas as "terrorists" but then said they were not, though the Wa and Thailand are fighting with landmines and artillery along their drug-rich border.

Burma, meanwhile, insists Thailand is secretly forcing Burmese to launch cross-border terrorist attacks to escalate the smoldering war.

"To cover up their involvement in the narcotic business, some Thai politicians and Thai military officials often pointed fingers at the [Burmese] army," said Burma's Deputy Military Intelligence Chief, Kyaw Win.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency wants Wa guerrilla leader Wei Xuegang, also known as Wei Hsueh Kang, to stand trial in America for drug trafficking.

"We will take him dead or alive," vowed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

U.S. and Thai officials targeted bank accounts and other assets believed to be owned by Wei and seized millions of dollars.

Shooting Up with Bamboo

By comparison, desperate junkies in Burma, Thailand, Laos, China and elsewhere near the Wa tribe's guerrilla zone are often so poor they shoot heroin and methamphetamine with hand-made needles devised from ballpoint pens or sharpened bamboo.

But the cool mountain forests of northeast Burma provide excellent nourishment for growing opium poppies, the region's traditional drug of choice.

Nearby labs refine the pods' black gum into white heroin powder for export throughout the world, including the United States, Europe and Australia.

During the past five years, the Wa and others expanded to make methamphetamine in their labs because most customers prefer being boosted by speed pills rather than nodding on opium and heroin.

But battle-toughened guerrillas who call themselves the United Wa State Army insist they are drug-free and are fighting only for autonomy.

The Wa successfully cut a deal with Burma's military dictatorship which allows the Wa to operate at will.

The U.S. State Department described Wa guerrillas as "the principal drug-producing and drug-trafficking organization in Burma" and a "formidable military force."

In response, Thai troops recently buried claymore landmines and placed artillery along the border near Chiang Rai town to counter an estimated 300 Wa rebels armed with mortars and other weapons, Thai officials said.

"We simply want to be prepared for any outcome," said Thai Army Colonel Somsak Nilbancherdkul.

"We will fire our artillery only in the case of a border incursion, or if [Wa] mortar rounds land on Thai soil."

Wa rebels killed one Thai soldier during a clash on March 25, officials said.

The bloodshed prompted Bangkok to cancel Thai Queen Rajawongse Sirikit's visit to the region on the same day.

"The Royal Thai government condemns in the strongest terms the attack by the United Wa State Army," Thailand protested to Burma on March 28.

Meth Seizure

Both sides were testy after Thai security forces reportedly ambushed a drug caravan on March 22, killing 13 alleged smugglers and seizing 1.6 million methamphetamine pills.

Thai forces detonated some of their claymore landmines during that fire fight, according to reports from the area.

Today, Wa guerrillas are dug in along the curved border near Thailand's Chiang Rai town.

On Friday (March 29), Wa reinforcements massed northeast of Chiang Rai near the Thai frontier town of Wiang Haeng, close to the Mekong River, Thai officials said.

"The situation is quite tense and anything could happen at anytime," a Thai army commander, Colonel Chavalit Sirikij, said on March 28.

Frustrated Thai officials have already tried various strategies — including bullets, black magic and U.S.-assisted rehabilitation counseling — in their war on drugs.

But they still face a massive illicit supply and demand for drugs by Thais and foreigners.

Last year, the United States trained Thai troops to fight drugs, and stationed some U.S. Special Forces in northwest Thailand.

The U.S. also sold at least two Blackhawk helicopter gunships, built by Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, to the Thai army to improve maneuverability in the mountainous region.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, recently became alarmed when U.S. officials described the Wa as "terrorists."

That description could be a pretext for war, Burmese officials said.

No "terrorists," ergo no war

"We do not view the United Wa State Army as a terrorist organization," said Priscilla Clapp, U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Burma, correcting the labeling.

She said "Washington regrets" that categorization and has dropped the description.

Burma's Foreign Ministry thanked her for the clarification and said, "Myanmar is against all acts of terrorism."

Burma's Wa guerrillas were listed as "terrorists" in a recent report to the U.S. Senate by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Randy Beers and Francis Taylor, U.S. ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism.

"They [the Wa] have totally renounced their involvement in the cultivation of opium poppy and production and trafficking of narcotic drugs," the Burmese foreign ministry said.

"The Wa leaders have, in fact, even pledged to totally rid their region of the narcotic drugs by the year 2005."

Burma's foreign ministry said future "military attacks" on its territory by the U.S. under the guise of fighting terrorism could endanger "regional peace and security."

It warned, "Myanmar will not allow any interference in its internal affairs or any intrusion on its territory that will compromise the country's sovereignty, however plausible the reasons may be."

Burma said it was plagued by "terrorist acts of [Shan State Army] opium-trafficking terrorist insurgent Ywet Sit's group" who are minority ethnic Shan guerrillas led by Ywet Sit, also known as Yawd Serk, near the Wa tribe's zone.

Seven thousand of Burma's Shan guerrillas received "assistance money from a Western nation," reported the government-controlled New Light of Myanmar, quoting Burmese intelligence officials.

The report did not specify if Burma's usual Western suspects — the United States and England — were involved.

"Thais bought weapons for [Shan State Army] members, and equipped them," the report said. Shan State Army guerrillas "are forced to carry out terrorist acts.

"Those who tried to run away from the [Thai] camp were usually killed when captured" by the Thais, it added.

Thais in Disguise?

Burma claims Thailand cleverly disguises its violence and drug dealing so it appears to originate from Burma.

Thailand has consistently denied such allegations.

"Thai authorities estimate that more than 700 million [methamphetamine] pills were smuggled into Thailand in 2001," said the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, issued in March.

"Virtually all of this is from Burma, where many traditional heroin trafficking organizations have also entered the lucrative [methamphetamine] manufacturing and smuggling trade," said the report, released by State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Methamphetamine "produced in facilities operated by the United Wa State Army in Burma were being exported by Thailand-based traffickers to customers in the United States.

"Parcels mailed from Thailand to Thai nationals living in north-central and southern California have been found to contain methamphetamine tablets, and the quantities being seized increased during 2001," the U.S. report added.

"The government of Burma has not put pressure on or taken law-enforcement action against the largest drug-producing and drug-trafficking organization, the United Wa State Army," it said.

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

Richard S. Ehrlich's Asia news, non-fiction book, plus hundreds of photographs are available at his website http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent