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Is He Setthathirath? In Kong Le, the Communists thought they had an invaluable tool. Politically unformed, the little captain was immensely popular with his troops and the Laotian people. In superstition-ridden Laos, Kong Le was believed invulnerable to gunfire. The bad, or cotton strings, he wore tied around his wrists and a stone amulet he carried in a pouch at his waist kept his 32 souls (one for each major part of the body) from fleeing. The phi or demon who guarded him was undoubtedly among the underworld's most powerful, for Kong Le had never been wounded.
The myth of his invulnerability took on a new dimension during a festival in Vientiane, where an old woman fell into a trance on seeing Kong Le's photograph. "Setthathirath is returned!" she screamed. Setthathirath is a legendary king of Laos who disappeared in the 16th century while on a jungle expedition. The Lao believe that when Vientiane is in great danger, this hero—like Britain's King Arthur—will return to save them. To this day many Laotians believe Kong Le is Setthathirath. And although Kong Le embarrassedly shrugs the matter off himself, he is not so sure either.
Kong Le's magical properties failed him late in 1960 when Phoumi's rightists—led by a rising young colonel named Kouprasith Abhay—defeated the neutralists in the Battle of Vientiane and forced Kong Le and his men north to the Plain of Jars. There, Kong Le's alliance with the Pathet Lao was cemented, and when the neutralist-led troika headed by Souvanna was established at another Geneva conference in July 1962, Kong Le was still firmly allied with the Communists.
Then came the betrayals. The Pathet Lao began wooing Kong Le's men, mounting quick, vicious infantry actions against his positions on the Plain of Jars in hopes of grabbing territory. When a Pathet Lao gunman shot down Kong Le's top deputy, the idealistic neutralist was well on his way to becoming a fervent antiCommunist. The Reds pulled out of the coalition government when a left-leaning minister was assassinated by a neutralist soldier.
Roses & Red Ants. Unfortunately, Premier Souvanna did not share Kong Le's new-found anti-Red sentiments, refused repeated requests to counterattack against the Pathet Lao. During the days of alliance with the Pathet Lao, Kong Le's men had been equipped with Russian tanks and guns. Now he was out of ammunition, and with U.S. military aid cut off under the terms of the latest Geneva agreement, he had to rely for supplies on jealous Rightist Phoumi, Deputy Premier in the coalition government. Kong Le got precious few supplies. His men, unpaid in nearly two years, still remained loyal, and thanks to his legendary status among the Lao, new volunteers appeared daily to fight at the side of Setthathirath.