Word: laos
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...through, the CIA, support the right-wing army based in Southern Laos which marched North and drove the neutralist government from Vientiane. Boun Oum was named Prime Minister of the new pro-U.S. government, which then received U.S. arms and advisors in its civil war against neutralist and Pathet Lao forces...
After the Geneva settlement of 1962 which followed the failure of Boun Oum's right-wing forces to defeat the neutralist Pathet-Lao allies, he had to settle for a Vice-Premiership and the title of "inspector-General of the kingdom." Nevertheless, Boun Oum's close links with the CIA have remained intact, as has his tight control over Southern Laos...
...most spectacular symbol of Boun Oum's dynasty in Southern Laos is the enormous palace now being constructed in Pakse, at a cost estimated by one of his assistants at 400 million kip ($800,000,000). The palace, a blend of Lao and French colonial architecture, was begun two years ago and is not expected to be completed for two more years...
Heavy Cost. The main argument for this costly effort, as Symington pointed out last week, is that it "will buy more time for Vietnamization" by pinning down North Vietnamese troops in Laos. Without this effort, the North Vietnamese would have unrestricted use of Laotian supply lines to support their effort in South Viet Nam. "But what about Laos?" asked Symington. "The United States is using the people of Laos for its own purposes, at a startlingly heavy increased cost to our taxpayers in money, and to the Lao people in terms of destroyed hopes, destroyed territory, and destroyed lives...
When I said I didn't he told me, "It means Lao People and that is what they are. Just Lao People." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper money used by the Pathet Lao. I had never seen one before. On it was a scene of the Plain of Jars: Lao gunners were shooting bazcokas at American planes flying overhead. The remains of several shot down planes were strewn across the background...