Word: pathetically
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Quick Lift. After losing the battle for Vientiane, Kong Le led the remnants of his battalion north to the jungle town of Vang Vieng. The Russians began an airlift from Hanoi to drop him supplies, and he picked up reinforcements from the Communist Pathet Lao guerrillas, who roam freely through back-country Laos...
...tribes resent the more affluent Lao and with some reason, since virtually none of the $300 million in U.S. aid has ever trickled out of the pockets of the Vientiane politicians and into the poorer sections. The Pathet Lao Communists have played shrewdly on these feelings, have won much support by promising tribal autonomy when they take over the country (after which they will, of course, revoke the autonomy). Though their leaders are mostly dedicated Communists, the Pathet Lao have generally avoided terror tactics, and even share the general Laotian proclivity for rice-wine bouts and fertility festivals. They have...
...course these countries must have well-trained, well-equipped armies large enough to take care of, say, guerilla forces like the Pathet Lao or to repel invaders from North Vietnam. That is where "defense support" assistance--which provides capital and soldier-trainers rather than heavy weapons--can be most useful for local defense, and the Pentagon could well sacrifice some of the military aid budget...
Privately, the British do not dispute the desirability of having a totally anti-Communist government in Laos, but they seriously question whether such a government can muster the energy and determination to eliminate the Pathet...
They argue that the Pathet Lao would find it as hard to take over the country as their anti-Communist opponents have...