[Kitsa]

From what I got, he had the area Montagnards under some sort of psychotic benevolent dictatorship. He called them his "children" more than once, and I think that in general they were scared shitless of him but regarded him as some sort of protector.

But he was also very anti-Imperialism and anti-Interventionism, making him an enemy of the stubborn Indochine colonialists and the American forces in Vietnam. Unless, of course, they showed signs of his own unique train of thought. He must have thought that Martin Sheen's character had some potential in that direction, or else he would have been another random head rolling around. Or maybe he just spotted the leader of the group and decided what needed to be done...allow him to live and to do what he was sent to do.