Time Out

In Laos, whose soldiers are even more inept (but less savage) than the Congo's but whose politicians have better manners, the U.S. was also helplessly talking of "neutralization."

For the past seven weeks, the major assignment of 29,000 wellarmed, pro-Western troops of the Royal Laotian Army has simply been to clear a 50-mile stretch of road. It runs from the administrative capital of Vientiane, where sits the U.S.-backed government of Premier Prince Boun Oum, to the royal capital of Luangprabang, where King Savang Vatthana lounges under a white parasol taking little interest in the war.

At one point, the commander of the column moving south from Luangprabang unleashed 135 rounds of 105-mm howitzer shells at a "suspected sniper." Later, atop a hill, he sent a massive artillery barrage crashing into the unscouted jungle ahead, declaring that "this will scare them off"--and it soon did. Closing on the key road junction of Phou Khoun, the troops from the north and a column from Vientiane raked the junction from both sides.

The pro-Communist rebels retreated east from the junction toward their major stronghold, the central Plaine des Jarres. But the royal soldiers were in no hurry either to move into the junction or follow the rebels east. Main reason: Prince Boun Oum and his government, composed of six relatives and numerous friends, had flown south to Pakse in the lush Mekong River valley to celebrate an annual two-day festival at the crumbling temple of Wat Phou. Prince Boun Oum offered flowers and personally supervised the lighting of fragrant sandalwood sticks.

In Washington, President Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk conferred urgently with U.S. Ambassador Winthrop Brown, who had been hastily summoned from his post, to discuss, among other things, the advisability of returning exiled, neutralist Premier Souvanna Phouma to power. In Peking, Red Chinese Foreign Minister Marshal Chen Yi warned: "If the lawful Laotian government (i.e., the rebels) asked the Chinese government to give aid, I can assure you we would give it." In Pakse, Prince Boun Oum loaded worried Western diplomats on a caravan of elephants and took them on a leisurely tour of surrounding villages, where lithe maidens turned out with bowls of flowers at every stop.

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