On the 25th, they were halted by the fresh PAVN troops that had manned the hilltop, and stalemated. In late May, Laotian General Vang Pao flew to Washington, DC to lobby for support for an offensive. He updated William H. Sullivan, with whom he had worked for four years. Sullivan was noncommittal. Melvin Laird had some issues with the use of B-52 Stratofortresses as tactical air power. On the other hand, in a White House meeting with Henry Kissinger, he found an enthusiastic proponent for an offensive. Stuart Symington led the general to believe financial backing for the Laotian War would not be curtailed. With this backing, Vang Pao returned to Laos and to his war in Military Region 2. GM 31 arrived on 2 July, and captured two hills overlooking a new PAVN supply road, Route 54. On 16 July, as GM 30 rotated out of action, GM 31 launched an assault on Phou Phasai from a differing direction. A variety of battalion-size assaults met with no more success. Operation Phou Phiang II (Operation Plateau II) was planned at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base on 26 July 1972. Hmong General Vang Pao met with his two senior CIA advisers and the Thai general in charge of supplying mercenary troops to the "Secret War" in Laos. The tribal leader was worried about the Communist troops' continuing proximity to the guerrilla main base at Long Tieng. For once, Vang Pao's American backers did not try to discourage a wet season offensive. Planning was based on the assumption that Vang Pao would have at least 11, and possibly 13, regiments available to him by mid-September 1972. By launching five small attacks, it was hoped that the Communist would be too overwhelmed to concentrate on one of them. A two phase plan of attack was formed. Phase one, planned to start on 15 August, would draw PAVN reinforcements southwestward of the Plain of Jars while capturing the mountaintop position at Phou Seu. Then, two regiments of guerrillas would be landed in the vacuum behind the front lines thus caused by the PAVN's forward movement. Phase two would follow on with two road interdictions planned to starve out the PAVN, followed by establishment of an interlocking network of artillery fire bases after the Communists withdrew. Not figured in the Royalist calculations was the determination of PAVN General Vũ Lập to alter Communist policy and maintain PAVN's positions on the Plain through the rainy season monsoon.