Word: vangelis
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...Communist attack. There was good reason for their pessimism. Hanoi has 50,000 troops in Laos, some 16,000 around the Plain, and the Pathet Lao have another 50,000: the government, by contrast, has a total of 63,000 regulars and another 10,000 Meo guerrillas under General Vang...
Last fall, after the area had been under Communist control for five years, government troops under the command of General Vang Pao recaptured it. There was little hope, however, that the plain could be held in the face of a determined Communist counterattack, and over the past few weeks a U.S.-organized airlift had removed some 15,000 civilians from the area (TIME...
Despite U.S. denials, it is common knowledge that the Central Intelligence Agency has for years supported Vang Pao's Meo guerrilla forces, and that Thailand-based American jets fly daily strikes against Communist positions in Laos. The net effect, however, has been simply to maintain the status quo; at week's end, in fact, both sides held positions similar to what they held a year ago. In Vientiane, more than 100 miles from the battlefield, news of the defeat had little impact. The capital was absorbed in celebrating an important Buddhist holiday-and high-ranking officials concentrated...
...military regions. There are also more than 200 CIA agents. "Laos is an agency country," a longtime Vientiane observer notes. The silver fleets of the CIA contract carriers, Air America and Continental Airlines, have for years provided tactical support for the most effective government force in Laos-General Vang Pao's Meo tribesmen. The CIA men and the military advisers train, equip, support and transport the entire Royal Laotian military effort. Americans have been known to advise on tactics on the battalion level...
...Prabang with the administrative capital of Vientiane. Before this year's Communist spring offensive, it was one of three major government outposts in 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...