Landsdale was not some “genius” as Kissinger touted, but a CFR agent working through the CIA to establish Communism in SE Asia. Mission accomplished.
The French military were there to control the extremely important source of black budget funds that the opium trade provided, as romanticized in “The French Connection” movie. The main profiteers in this were the bankster cartels of the Opium Wars that made sure the British royals got there cut, thus becoming a shield through blackmail for the City of London, built on slavery and colonialism. Read “Dope Inc.”