Word: laotians
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...last rightist territorial strongholds in Laos collapsed when Communists marched into Savannakhet and Pakse, the State Department bowed to the inevitable. It ordered the evacuation of nearly all Americans from the tiny landlocked kingdom, ending two decades of intense-and at times dominant-U.S. involvement in Laotian affairs. The order also removed the last significant elements of Washington's once enormous military, diplomatic and economic influence in Indochina...
...veteran observers of the sleepy, landlocked kingdom were surprised. "I thought they were going to draw it out," admitted a U.S. official. "But because of what happened in Cambodia and South Viet Nam, they saw no need to wait." Nonetheless, the end of the quarter-century war was typically Laotian. Another U.S. official described it as "a genteel sort of collapse," demonstrating once again that Laos prefers to move at a more leisurely pace than its neighbors...
...food shops. The U.S., however, is a natural target for the left. In the last two decades, Washington has propped up rightist and recently-neutralist governments with more than $3 billion worth of military and economic aid. As a result of the demonstrations, all U.S. personnel based in the Laotian provinces were recalled to Vientiane. Washington insists, however, that it has no intention of closing the embassy. As long as the coalition continues, the U.S. hopes to maintain a presence in the country. According to some U.S. officials, the Pathet Lao have been saying that they want American aid (currently...
During World War II, Tra at first led a 200-man guerrilla band near the Laotian border but rose rapidly in the ranks of the Viet Minh, the Communist-led liberation movement. In 1945, as the leader of a Viet Minh force that occupied the imperial capital of Hue, he was quartered in the former French Resident's master bedroom. After the first night, Tra complained that the bed was too soft; he wound up sleeping on the floor. In 1946 Tra became chief of staff of the Viet Minh in central Viet Nam. Not long after...
What then should the U.S. do? With regard to Cambodia, the question may already be academic. Obviously Washington would gladly settle for a neutralist regime based on the Laotian model as a replacement for Lon Nol, but there is little reason to believe the Khmer Rouge would now accept anything less than full power. There is a chance, of course, that nationalists will temper the ardor of the Communists in the insurgent movement. Perhaps the clever Sihanouk will play a larger role than is now anticipated. The Khmer Rouge, which lacks a strong cadre of leaders, may be forced...