Word: patheticness
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...other neutralist ministers range politically from liberal to far right, including some who are as determinedly anti-Communist as General Phoumi himself. Biggest problem ahead is how to integrate the three rival armies: 1 ) Phoumi's 60,000 Royal Laotian troops, 2) Souphanouvong's 15,000 Communist Pathet Lao and 3) Captain Kong Le's 5,000 "neutralist" paratroops. Souvanna hopes to reduce the swollen army to the size of a national police force and to use the discharged troops in such public works as building roads, schools and dispensaries...
...progress had been made, and "I think in a few days we could have a formal announcement of a coalition government." Beaming Prince Souvanna added: "The conversations were held in an atmosphere tres amiable. It is truly 100% Laotian talking to Laotian." Red Prince Souphanouvong, leader of the Communist Pathet Lao forces, was delighted to face the TV cameras. In adequate English he predicted that the coalition government would mean "peace in Laos, a neutralist peace," and rejected the suggestion that it might lead swiftly to a Red takeover. When asked if he was a Communist, Souphanouvong replied...
...later, with the humiliating defeat of Dienbienphu, France withdrew from Indo-China, and the fledgling state of Laos was on its own, along with the other remnant states of partitioned Indo-China. Independence was complicated by the fact that two Laotian provinces were securely in the hands of Communist Pathet Lao bands under Red Prince Souphanouvong. In 1956 his halfbrother, Prince Souvanna Phouma, was chosen Premier and soon integrated the two Red provinces into the kingdom by giving Souphanouvong a Cabinet post. In a subsequent national election, the Reds increased their strength by taking nine of 21 contested seats...
...some $250 million in U.S. economic and military aid had too heady an effect on the Laotian government, which was soon reeling with corruption. Promised reforms never materialized, and practically no funds reached the peasants and forest tribes. The Communist Pathet Lao guerrilla bands began raiding in the north. Red Prince Souphanouvong not only walked out of jail, but took most of his prison guards with him. In August 1960, an obscure paratroop captain named Kong Le staged a military coup in Vientiane and returned Souvanna Phouma to power as Premier. General Phoumi Nosavan, with his CIA advisers, retreated...
With U.S. encouragement, Phoumi Nosavan in December 1960 launched a northward drive against Kong Le's paratroop battalion in Vientiane. It was about the only victory Phoumi Nosavan had ever won. Kong Le retreated to the strategic Plaine des Jarres, joining forces with the Pathet Lao. The Soviet Union poured in supplies by air, and Communist North Viet Nam contributed tough guerrilla cadres. When Phoumi's army advanced, it was badly beaten in a series of noisy but largely bloodless battles. Phoumi got a breathing space when, in the spring of 1961, the government eagerly agreed...