On Apr 24, 10:06=A0am, Robert Epstein <vze25...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> small tortoiseshell wrote:
> > I usually dont pay attention to trials like that but i think i will
> > with this one. Its messy it seems and the u.s involvement in the whole
> > thing might explain why his old buddy =A0is doing the defense as well.
> > He probably wants it all on the table.
> > well, i dont know really, just spinning on something i usually dont.
> > Rant finished :)
>
> > "The US not only helped to create conditions that brought Cambodia's
> > Khmer Rouge to power in 1975, but actively supported the genocidal
> > force, politically and financially. By January 1980, the US was
> > secretly funding Pol Pot's exiled forces on the Thai border. The
> > extent of this support -- $85 million from 1980-86 -- was revealed 6
> > years later in correspondence between congressional lawyer Jonathan
> > Winer, then counsel to Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) of the Senate Foreign
> > Relations Committee and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation."
>
> > "In 1981, Pres. Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew
> > Brzezinski, said, "I encouraged the Chinese to support Pol Pot. The
> > US", he added, "winked publicly" as China sent arms to the Khmer
> > Rouge(KR) through Thailand."
>
> > "In 1980, under US pressure, the World Food Program handed over food
> > worth $12 million to the Thai Army to pass on to the KR. According to
> > former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke,'20,000 to
> > 40,000 Pol Pot guerrillas benefited. This aid helped restore the KR to
> > a fighting force, based in Thailand, from which it destabilized
> > Cambodia for more than a decade.'"
>
> > "In 1982, the US and China, supported by Singapore, invented the
> > Coalition of the Democratic Government of Kampuchea, which was, as Ben
> > Kiernan pointed out, neither a coalition, nor democratic, nor a
> > government, not in Kampuchea. Rather, it was what the CIA calls a
> > 'master illusion.' ... Cambodia's former ruler, Prince Norodom
> > Sihanouk, was appointed its head; otherwise little changed. The KR
> > dominated the two "non-communist" members, the Sihanoukists and the
> > Khmer Peoples' National Liberation Front (KPNLF). From his office at
> > the UN, Pol Pot's ambassador, the urbane Thereon Parish, continued to
> > speak for Cambodia. A close associate of Pol Pot, he had in 1975
> > called on Khmer expatriates to return home, whereupon many of them
> > disappeared."
>
> This is unbelievable. =A0Why on earth did they support the Kmer Rouge?
"
Under Prince Sihanouk, Cambodia had preserved neutrality during the
Vietnamese civil war by giving a little to both sides: Vietnamese
communists were allowed to use a Cambodian port to ship in supplies,
the USA were allowed to bomb - secretly and illegitimately - Viet Cong
hideouts in Cambodia. When US-backed Lon Nol took over, US troops felt
free to move into Cambodia to continue their struggle with the Viet
Cong. Cambodia had become part of the Vietnam battlefield. During the
next four years, American B-52 bombers, using napalm and dart cluster-
bombs, killed up to 750,000 Cambodians in their effort to destroy
suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. "
"
Cambodia: A timeline
1700s
Viets conquer Mekong Delta; weaker Khmer kingdom assumes roughly
modern borders of Cambodia.
1834=961841
Viets attack and share increasing control over Khmers with Siam
kingdom.
1863=961940
French intervene militarily and Cambodia becomes French protectorate.
The region becomes part of French Indochina along with Vietnam and
Laos. French colonial capital located at Phnom Penh.
1940=961945
World War II; Japanese fight Allies for control over Southeast Asia
and Pacific.
1954=961970
Independence from French; Kingdom of Cambodia under Prince Norodom
Sihanouk who abdicates throne to become elected President.
1970
Coup against Sihanouk establishes General Lon Nol as President of a
U.S.-backed regime called the Khmer Republic.
1970=961975
Khmer Republic under Lon Nol allows U.S. bombing inside Cambodian
borders to fight Vietcong; Sihanouk, in exile in China, joins forces
with North Vietnamese as well as ascending Cambodian communists called
Khmer Rouge.
1975
Khmer Rouge forces led by Pol Pot capture capital of Phnom Penh.
1975=961979
Khmer Rouge rule what they call Democratic Kampuchea. Intellectuals
and those who worked for prior government are killed. All Phnom Penh
residents are deported to countryside for slave labor; massive death
toll from murder and starvation occurs in northwest Cambodia; bloody
purges attempt to eliminate all dissidents. Nearly two million
citizens die. ( out of a population of 7 mill) Khmer Rouge attacks
over Vietnamese borders lead to a military invasion from now unified
and well-armed Communist Vietnam.
1979
Vietnamese troops invade and overthrow Pol Pot=92s regime.
1979=96
People=92s Republic of Kampuchea; fragmented coalition government is
formed where Vietnamese puppets compete for power with former Khmer
Rouge officers and Sihanouk supporters. Cambodia begins long recovery
process for former refugees who fled to Thailand and other traumatized
citizens.
1989
Vietnam officially withdraws from Cambodia.
1994
Khmer Rouge outlawed by Cambodian National Assembly
1998
Pol Pot, former leader of Khmer Rouge, dies in forest hideout, never
brought to trial.
2004
Elderly King Sihanouk turns monarchy over to son, King Sihamoni, but
real political power is held by elected President Hun Sen, a former
Khmer Rouge officer. "
>
> Robert
>
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