Office of the Historian

264. Paper Prepared for President Johnson1

Washington, undated.

The potentially explosive Laos situation now appears to be de-fused. General Ma was unable to rally other military units in his personal quarrel with the Lao military leadership.2

Sullivan, the British Ambassador and Boun Oum flew to Savanna-khet to persuade Ma to go into voluntary exile. They failed at the time but apparently succeeded in convincing Ma that his military situation was hopeless.

Lao army Generals Kouprasith, Ouane and Bounpone (the latter two erroneously reported in Ma’s hands) directed General La, third military district commander, to move against Ma and capture Savannakhet airfield.

In the face of this Ma has flown out 10 T–28s to Udorn and one to Ubol in Thailand. Ma is now with the Thai base commander at Udorn. Seven T–28s remain at Savannakhet. General La is now moving to reassert the government’s control over Savannakhet and anticipates no opposition.

Souvanna departs Paris on October 22, reaching Bangkok and Vientiane on October 23. While Ma’s abortive action posed no immediate threat to the continuity of Souvanna’s government or to the fundamental loyalty of the Lao armed forces, it has increased the political and military tension that has been building. Souvanna will face a dicey situation on his return, with the fate of Ma and Kong Le who are both in Thai hands, first order of business.3

“Ma is not likely to be forgiven for the deaths his air strikes caused. This was an irrational act by a highly capable tactical air commander who built the Laos air force from scratch. To some extent he is the victim of Lao military politics and his own prolonged brooding over losing out in command reshuffles.”

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Laos, Vol. XVI, Cables, 2/66–1/67. Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. It was sent to Rostow for the President and sent for information to Jorden. Apparently this was the text of a cable sent to Manila for the President.↩
  2. The phrase, “mustering only two companies in Savannakhet and his T–28s,” was crossed out at this point.↩
  3. The following final paragraph was crossed out:↩