He went on to lead several top units, including the elite Special Warfare Command based in Lopburi province.

[12][13] He has also protested Thaksin's unsuccessful attempt to promote a large number of his own former classmates from Class 10 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School to army units responsible for Bangkok's security.

[14] The 2006 annual military reshuffle was delayed due to the political crisis, as caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied that he planned to remove Sonthi as Army Commander.

[15][16] Despite this, Sonthi consolidating his personal power base by transferring out 129 mid-ranking officers under generals that he thought were loyal to the Prime Minister.

[17] As late as May 2006, Sonthi publicly denied the need for a military coup: Whenever soldiers get involved in politics, it seems that the nation's problems begin to escalate and become worse.

[23] One of them, 24-year-old Juling Pangamoon from Chiang Rai, was long in a coma and attracted fame for the attention paid to her by the royal family of Thailand, finally dying from her brutal beating in January 2009.

[24] In August 2006, after 22 commercial banks were simultaneously bombed in Yala province, Sonthi announced that he would break with government policy and negotiate with the leaders of the insurgency.

On 8 September, Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit promised to give Sonthi increased powers to better deal with the insurgency.

Despite escalating violence, in May 2007 Sonthi started withdrawing troops from the South, replacing them with territorial defence volunteers.

Thaksin declared a state of emergency from New York City (where he had been attending a meeting of the United Nations), but his broadcast was cut in mid-sentence when the military seized the television station.

Sonthi dissolved Cabinet, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court, and temporarily gave himself powers equivalent to prime minister.

[31] Sonthi and other junta leaders flew to Chiang Mai on an Air Force C-130 on 3 November 2006 to visit a prominent fortune-teller and perform a religious ceremony to ward off bad luck over their staging of the coup.

After the coup, Sonthi claimed that Singapore was eavesdropping on confidential mobile telephone calls made by junta leaders.

In February 2007, Sonthi vowed in front of a thousand volunteer territorial defence students to reclaim the satellites and other telecom assets.

"Soldiers will not tolerate a loss of territory, not even a square inch," he said, and continued about how it was his specific duty to "retrieve our assets".

An opinion poll found more than 78 percent of 1,116 Thais surveyed backed Sonthi's bid to somehow reclaim the satellites.

[40][41][42] Sonthi's deputy in the CNS, General Saprang Kalayanamitr, noted in a February interview that, "if the telecommunication business is in private hands, it won't be safe for the country.

[44] Sonthi approved a 12 million baht top-secret budget for a public relations campaign to discredit Thaksin Shinawatra.

Academics hired by the CNS included Wuttipong Piebjriya-wat, Sophon Supapong, Narong Phet-prasert, and Somkiat Osotspa.

[46] After a bomb was exploded outside of Chitralada Palace in early May 2007, junta leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin claimed that the "old power group" was behind it, and told the press to ask PTV to learn more.

Sonthi noted that the incidents led him to conclude that paying bribes to get promoted was common during the deposed government of Thaksin Shinawatra.

[48] Amid escalating public criticism of Premier Surayud in March 2007, Chaiwat Sinsuwong, leader of a PAD branch called the Assembly of Isaan People, personally met Sonthi to request that the military remove the Prime Minister.

But, in general, the Army commander-in-chief, government officials or ordinary people are welcome here at the Democrat Party," Suthep said.

[56] Coup-supporter Suriyasai Katasila of the People's Alliance for Democracy suggested that Sonthi skip the next post-election and wait for the one after it, if he is keen about entering politics.

Fellow coup-supporter Chamlong Srimuang, whose 1992 protests against Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon led to the coup-leader's downfall, declined to state his views on Sonthi's future political role.

[58] In the months prior to July 2007, Sonthi co-chaired meetings of the Thai Cabinet, alongside Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.

He also travelled to the provinces to convince local officials to cut links with Thaksin Shinawatra and anti-junta politicians, telling them they would be treated better under his rule.