Ready to Quit

A fleet of C-475 lumbered over a mountain valley 90 miles north of Vientiane one day last week. U.S. jumpmasters gave the order, and 200 Laotian army paratroopers leaped out with a whoop. Ten U.S. Marine Corps helicopters landed in the valley bearing another 200 soldiers. They were the pick of the Royal Army and. hopefully, could stop any new Communist advance and stabilize the battle lines for the expected ceasefire. As the lines stood, the Pathet Lao held three provinces, and the government had at least partial control of the other nine.

With their fate under discussion in capitals thousands of miles away, Laos' pro-Western leaders did not seem to share U.S. worries about the future. They felt certain that if the proposed 14-nation peace conference creates a government of "national union," they could work with the Communists without being swallowed up. And King Savang Vatthana thought he knew just how to start getting the warring factions on better terms: have them all up to the royal capital of Luangprabang late this month for the cremation of his father, old King Sisavang Vong, who has been preserved in formaldehyde since 1959.

The Pathet Lao, showing an un-Marxist feeling for tradition, have already been angling for an invitation. The occasion is doubly auspicious, since it will be the beginning of the Laotian New Year. And the seven days of feasting and drinking, thinks the King, should put anybody in a friendlier mood.

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