LAOS A NEW CIVIL WAR ? JUST NINE MONTHS AFTER THE 14-NATION 
GENEVA CONFERENCE GUARANTEED LAOTIAN NEUTRALITY, LAOS LAST WEEK TOTTERED ON THE 
BRINK OF CIVIL WAR AND ONCE AGAIN THREATENED TO DRAG THE 
MAJOR POWERS INTO A BITTER STRUGGLE . FOR THREE WEEKS, THE 
RED FORCES, REINFORCED BY CADRES OF VIET MINH TROOP COMMANDERS, MORTAR 
SPECIALISTS AND ARTILLERY ADVISERS FROM COMMUNIST NORTH VIET NAM, HAD BEEN 
NIBBLING AWAY AT NEUTRALIST POSITIONS AROUND THE 30-MILE PERIMETER OF THE 
GRASSY, POOL-TABLE-FLAT PLAINE DES JARRES . STRATEGICALLY PLACED IN THE CENTER 
OF LAOS, THE PLAIN NAMED AFTER THE ANCIENT STONE BURIAL JARS 
STILL FOUND IN THE AREA CONTROLS THE APPROACHES TO THE REST 
OF THE COUNTRY AND IS THE PRIMARY ACCESS ROUTE TO NORTH 
VIET NAM . WITH THE PLAINE DES JARRES IN THEIR HANDS, 
THE REDS COULD SOLIDIFY THEIR HOLD ON ALL OF NORTHERN LAOS 
. LAST WEEK THIS GLOOMY PROSPECT WAS ALL BUT A FACT, 
AS 10,000 RED TROOPS POURED ONTO THE PLAIN, FORCING THE NEUTRALISTS 
TO ITS VERY EDGE . CIGARETTES & BULLETS . THE WEEK 
BEGAN WITH A DESPERATE FLIGHT TO THE PLAIN BY NEUTRALIST PREMIER 
SOUVANNA PHOUMA, WHO HOPED IT STILL MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO ARRANGE 
A CEASE-FIRE BETWEEN THE COMMUNIST PATHET LAO AND NEUTRALIST ARMY CHIEF 
KONG LE . THINGS SEEMED CHEERY ENOUGH AS THE OPPOSING LEADERS 
EMBRACED AND THEIR TROOPS EXCHANGED CIGARETTES . BUT, AS ONE NEUTRALIST 
PUT IT, " WE EXCHANGE CIGARETTES DURING THE DAY AND BULLETS 
AT NIGHT . " ALL TOO TRUE . HARDLY HAD SOUVANNA 
DEPARTED WHEN THE TRUCE ABRUPTLY COLLAPSED . NO ONE KNOWS WHO 
FIRED FIRST, BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN THE PATHET LAO WAS 
SHOOTING, AND THE NEUTRALISTS WERE RUNNING . ON THE DUSTY PLAINE 
DES JARRES AIRSTRIP, MOTHERS BREASTFED DIRTY BABIES, AND CHILDREN SAGGED UNDER 
THE WEIGHT OF PARACHUTE PACKS CRAMMED WITH HOUSEHOLD BELONGINGS AS THEY 
PATIENTLY WAITED FOR PLANES TO EVACUATE THEM TO THE LAOTIAN CAPITAL 
OF VIENTIANE, 120 MILES AWAY . IN HIS RAMSHACKLE, TIN-ROOFED HEADQUARTERS, 
GUARDED NIGHT AND DAY BY A PATROLLING PLATOON OF TANKS, KONG 
LE WORKED ROUND THE CLOCK DRAWING UP A BATTLE PLAN, ALTHOUGH 
WEAKENED BY A LIVER AILMENT AND A SERIOUS SINUS CONDITION . 
" THIS, " HE SAID, " IS THE FINAL SHOWDOWN . 
" MOVING OVER THE MOUNTAINTOPS AND THROUGH THE PASSES GIRDLING THE 
PLAIN, THE REDS AT LAST SURROUNDED THE SIX-MILE-LONG PLATEAU . FROM 
THE HEIGHTS, THE COMMUNISTS LAID A MORTAR BARRAGE ON THE AIRFIELD, 
KONG LE'S LAST REMAINING LIFELINE TO VIENTIANE . WITH THE AIRSTRIP 
INOPERABLE, KONG LE WAS FORCED TO RELY ON RUNNERS AS HIS 
PRIMARY MEANS OF COMMUNICATION ; HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO 
PULL TOGETHER WHAT WAS LEFT OF HIS SHATTERED FORCES AND MOVE 
OFF THE PLAIN . PRESSURE FROM TWO QUARTERS . KONG LE'S 
RETREAT CAUSED CONSTERNATION IN VIENTIANE . WITH HIS LEFT-RIGHT-CENTER COALITION FAST 
COMING UNSTUCK, PREMIER SOUVANNA PHOUMA WAS FEARFUL THAT KONG LE'S TROOPS 
WOULD JOIN FORCES WITH A RIGHT-WING ARMY JUST SOUTHWEST OF THE 
PLAINE DES JARRES AND LAUNCH A JOINT COUNTERATTACK AGAINST THE REDS 
THAT WOULD SURELY PRECIPITATE CIVIL WAR . DESPERATELY HE APPEALED TO 
BRITAIN AND RUSSIA, OVERSEERS OF THE GENEVA AGREEMENT, FOR QUICK INTERVENTION 
TO STOP THE PATHET LAO'S FLAGRANT VIOLATIONS OF THE CEASE-FIRE . 
RUSSIA HESITATED TO INTERCEDE, FOR FEAR OF ALIENATING THE COMMUNISTS IN 
LAOS AND NORTH VIET NAM . SOVIET INTERVENTION AT THIS STAGE 
MIGHT TURN THEM INCREASINGLY TOWARD RED CHINA, RUSSIA'S RIVAL, FOR SUPPORT 
IN THEIR REVOLUTION . BUT NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV WAS ALSO UNDER PRESSURE 
FROM A DIFFERENT QUARTER . IN WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT KENNEDY MADE IT 
CLEAR THAT HE EXPECTED MOSCOW TO PUT A STOP TO PATHET 
LAO PRESSURE AND LIVE UP TO THE GENEVA AGREEMENT . " 
WE WILL, I THINK, HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE IN THE 
NEXT FEW DAYS WHETHER WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A DESTRUCTION 
OF THAT ACCORD WHETHER THE SOVIET UNION AND OTHER SIGNATORIES ARE 
GOING TO MEET THEIR OBLIGATIONS, " SAID KENNEDY . TOUGHER U.S 
. ACTION COULD NOT BE RULED OUT IF THE COMMUNISTS SHOWED 
SIGNS OF MOVING SOUTH FROM THE PLAINE DES JARRES INTO THE 
MEKONG RIVER VALLEY ITSELF . THIS WOULD STRENGTHEN THEIR SUPPLY ROUTES 
TO COMMUNIST GUERRILLAS FIGHTING IN NEIGHBORING SOUTH VIET NAM, WHERE THE 
U.S . IS DEEPLY COMMITTED WITH BOTH MEN AND MONEY . 
THOUGH THE STATE DEPARTMENT DREADED THE THOUGHT OF ANY FURTHER MILITARY 
INVOLVEMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, OFFICIALS MADE IT CLEAR THAT MORE TROOPS 
MIGHT BE BROUGHT INTO THE AREA TO SAFEGUARD LAOTIAN NEUTRALITY . 
