I guess the fact that the North Vietnamese had invaded Laos and were occupying much of the country so they could invade South Vietnam had nothing to do with any of this.
The Laotian Hmoung people were fighting like the dickens for Americans...The Pathet Lao were killing Americans and Hmoungs left and right....
Oh, did they do that? Must have been our fault, too. /s
Laos was such a political mess after the Japanese were defeated. Rival princes vieing for control and the hard core communist cadre going to the red Viet Minh north of Hanoi after the French defeat. They received training and indoctrination before returning to Laos.
In the latter part of the fifties, IIRC, they achieved control of the north and east provinces contiguous with Vietnam. This gave the Vietminh a supply route to to the south of Vietnam under the guise of a neutral Laos as per earlier Geneva accords.
So the Communist Vietminh and red Laotians were already firmly entrenched and attacking the South before any US air or ground attacks were instigated against them.
This is all stuff that my fifth and sixth grade school teachers discussed as current events. Yeah, before teachers unions and when every school day started with the pledge of allegiance and the Lord’s Prayer. We knew exactly who the enemies were.