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Our Boy. But General Phoumi Nosavan, 41, with the influential support of his first cousin. Strongman Sarit Thanarat of neighboring Thailand, defiantly declared himself in rebellion against the new state of affairs. Though the U.S. had recognized the Kong Le-Prince Souvanna government, it soon shifted the bulk of its aid to General Phoumi. The aim, explained the CIA, who called General Phoumi "our boy," was to "polarize" the Communist and anti-Communist factions in Laos. Advancing from his army base at Savannakhet, General Phoumi managed to recapture Vientiane, mostly by means of an artillery duel that killed three civilians for every soldier. Prince Souvanna flew off to exile in Cambodia, blaming his downfall on U.S. "betrayal."
Kong Le retreated north to the Plaine des Jarres. Whatever the fuzzy aims of his revolt, he has now fallen under the thumb of the Communists. His troops, merged with the Pathet Lao, are commanded by Pathet Lao's Colonel Sinkapo and shout Communist slogans. The Plaine is crawling with Russian experts and Viet Minh cadres down to the gun-crew level (but not, so far, any Communist Chinese).
Flip-Flop. At this point the U.S.'s get-tough policy stalled. General Phoumi proved embarrassingly unable to win any more battles. Last week government Harvard trainers strafed their own troops by mistake, and the Pathet Lao opened up with 85-mm. Russian cannon. The Royal Army fled, abandoning the key road junction at Phou Khoun. And as Premier, Prince Boun Oum, whose ancestors long ruled in Laos' southern kingdom, insisted on staffing his government almost exclusively with his own relatives from the south, including a Minister of Cults confusingly named Boun Om. The prince named his nephew to the lucrative post of Finance Minister and General Phoumi's brother to the equally desirable job of Director of Customs. The Eisenhower Administration, in an abrupt policy switch, started looking around for some new "political solution" in Laos.
The Kennedy Administration enthusiastically agreed. With U.S. backing, King Savang Vatthana bestirred himself to suggest that Cambodia, Burma and Malaya dispatch an inspection team to stop the fighting. Last week the plan began to get somewhere when General Phoumi flew off to Cambodia for a talk with Prince Souvanna. After a long talk, the two men endorsed the commission idea, called for meetings between the rival Laotian factions as well as an international conference to guarantee the neutrality of Laos and pave the way for general elections. Prince Souvanna promised to try to sell the idea to the Pathet Lao—as soon as he gets back from a trip around the world.