The Last Warlord

Not long ago, young (32) General Ba Cut declared that he would behead Viet Nam's Premier Ngo Dinh Diem as a warning of the power of the Hoa Hao, the piratical "religious" sect that once boasted an army of 20,000 and ruled large areas of Viet Nam as a feudal fief. The threat was characteristic of Ba Cut's fanatic life. At 17, hot-eyed Ba Cut swore he would fight to the death against the French, and he cut off the tip of his forefinger to seal his oath. At 21, he switched, began fighting the Viet Minh. The Geneva conference gave half of Indo-China to the Viet Minh, but Ba Cut refused to accept the decision, swore he would never cut his hair until Viet Nam was reunited.

But he also refused to accept the authority of the fledgling South Viet Nam government of Ngo Dinh Diem. Nine months ago Diem ordered two infantry divisions against Ba Cut and his feudal domain. Slowly, Diem's troops dispersed Ba Cut's power. By January, Ba Cut's forces had been reduced to a straggling band roaming from village to village just ahead of its pursuers.

One day last week, soon after dawn, civil guards crept up on a straw-roofed hut. Inside were Ba Cut and six of his top lieutenants. Ba Cut, his hair now grown down to his waist, surrendered meekly. With the Binh Xuyen destroyed, the Cao Daoists divided, and Hoa Hao's Ba Cut captured, Premier Diem had eliminated the last of the rebellious warlords in his young republic.

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