Word: pathetic
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...Harvard graduate, Arthur D. Stillman, and his companions, one American and two Laotians, were killed by a rocket fired into their jeep by Pathet Lao forces. Stillman was the deputy chief of International Voluntary Services in Laos--a volunteer aid organization that works under contract to the U.S. Agency for International Development in the country...
...they would also bring an end to fighting between Communist and non-Communist forces and take the kingdom out of the cold war. No such thing happened, of course: the treaty-stipulated tripartite regime, composed of rightist, neutralist and leftist factions, collapsed in short order. Laos' Communists, the Pathet Lao, walked out of the government; the fighting resumed, and has been going on in desultory if often deadly fashion ever since...
...Communist-controlled northeastern Laos. Then, last April, Communist forces began moving on Muong Soui. To relieve the pressure on the garrison, government troops under General Vang Pao, a seasoned guerrilla leader, mounted a daring diversion: backed by U.S. jets and Laotian T-28 fighter-bombers, they struck deep into Pathet Lao territory, capturing the Communist "capital" of Xieng Khouang, less than 50 miles from the North Vietnamese border. It was a short-lived victory. Vang Pao's men held on for less than a month before they were ousted from the bombed-out town. But their bold sally appeared...
Last week the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese were deeply dug in, and Communist trucks shuttled in daily to keep the troops well supplied...
...reasons behind this year's intensified Communist drive against the Laotians. One is related to Hanoi's overall South Viet Nam strategy: easing military activity in the South but applying fresh pressures elsewhere. A second objective may well be to strengthen the bargaining position of their Pathet Lao allies in eventual negotiations with Souvanna Phouma. Both the Pathet Lao and the Vientiane government have all along maintained that they want to return to a tripartite government. Such a reconciliation could come after the war in Viet Nam draws to a close. It is probably with that in mind...