Independent Media Centre Ireland     http://www.indymedia.ie

30 Year anniversity of Khmer Rouge taker over in Cambodia

category kildare | anti-war / imperialism | news report author Tuesday April 19, 2005 15:54author by Seamus Ó Raghallaighauthor email binnmor at yahoo dot co dot uk

30 year ann. of Pol Pots horror

The 30 year anniversary of the seizure of power by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime occurs today.

The 30 year anniversary of the seizure of power by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime occurs today. After Henry Kissenger illegally bombed Cambodia to destabilise the regime of King Norodom and allow Pol Pot to strike armed and supplied by the CIA, a regime of brutality and genocide was unleashed on the Cambodian populace. They said never again after WW2 but this was a replay on a near similar scale to the holocaust. The city dwellers were marched to the countryside to work the killing fields. If you were too sick to walk you were shot regardless of age or sex. Pregnant women were forced to march and often gave birth by the roadsides followed by a violent death if they failed to resume walking. Most people are aware of what happened in general in these horrible times.

However, one glaring omission in most media reports is the responsibility of the USA in bringing Pol Pot to power in the first place. They armed and provided support for his Khmer Rouge to destabilise Vietnam, in a nasty attempt at revenge for their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Vietnamese. Even after the reports of their brutality and genocide were reported by brave reporters such as Robert Fisk, the nature of the barbarities were played down by the Americans, and the UN was thwarted by the US and the UK governments from taking action to end the horror. In the end it was left to the Vietnamese to give their sons and daughters to another battle after suffering so gravely for 10 years under US oppression, to drive out the Khmer Rouge. On invading the Vietnamese found, much like the Allies did in 1945, horrendous acts of depravity and genocide, and starving victims hovering on the brink of death. However, requests for food and medical aid to save the starving survivors were denied in a disgusting act of callousness by the US backed by the well know war criminal Margaret Thatcher. Even agencies like the Red Cross and Medicines sans Frontiers were pressurised into refusing aid, much to their eternal shame. Hundreds of thousands of men women and children needlessly died as a result. To their credit the Vietnamese provided most of the aid in the intervening years despite near famine in their own land courtesy of the US poisoning of their country. In the intervening years the CIA continued to support the Khmer Rouge with the help of Thailand (provided bases in their border regions) which enabled them to continue murder attacks on villages and towns near the border for many years afterwards. For the sake of the victims lets not forget the murderous complicity of the US and UK in this horror story. Is a story they don’t want you to know!

Comments (4 of 4)

Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4
author by redjadepublication date Tue Apr 19, 2005 16:03author address author phone

'For the sake of the victims lets not forget the murderous complicity of the US and UK in this horror story. Is a story they don’t want you to know!'

Yes, let's not forget the past.

worse yet is the present.

Powell and the Bushies arm twisted the Cambodians into making US Troops exempt from prosecution in the ICC/World Court. Sickening.

''....Colin Powell took a brief trip to Cambodia to persuade Prime Minister Hun Sen to sign an Article 98 agreement. An Article 98 agreement is one in which nations that are party to the International Criminal Court agree to exempt US personnel from prosecution....''

→ Who Protected the Khmer Rouge? (what is Article 98?)
Mar 1 2005
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=68830

author by ZXBpublication date Tue Apr 19, 2005 20:42author address author phone

"Even after the reports of their brutality and genocide were reported by brave reporters such as Robert Fisk"

Do you not mean John Pilger?

author by redjadepublication date Wed Apr 20, 2005 14:52author address author phone

good article on the current situation in Cambodia...

A Tragedy of No Importance
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2005/04/cambodia.html

author by seamuspublication date Mon Apr 25, 2005 13:57author address author phone

thanks zxb I meant to say John Pilger, although thats not to say that Robert Fisk is not a great reporter too.
S


http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69470

Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.