Reply #7: Okay, guys, this is perfect: [View All]

[beachmom]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/8/newsid_2506000/2506533.stm


I KNEW the Right was full of s***:

The Khmer Rouge's reign of terror began in 1975 in the aftermath of the American bombing of Cambodia, which had increased the guerrillas' initial popular support.
For the next four years Leader Pol Pot oversaw the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, by execution, forced labour and starvation.

In 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were forced from power by the invading Vietnamese.

Pol Pot officially resigned the leadership in 1985 but appears to have retained considerable influence.

Pol Pot was convicted of treason by a "people's tribunal" in 1997, and was sentenced to life under house arrest.

He died in April 1998.




So it was NOT the pullout of American forces that caused the rise of Pol Pot. It was the terrible bombing campaign that radicalized the population that led to the Khmer Rouge and the genocide. Now right wingers will respond that we ceased bombing them, and should have finished them off, but I strongly disagree with that assessment. We bombed the hell out of them, and the damage was done in the "hearts and minds" category. We would have had to perpetuate genocide to change the outcome. Obviously, that was not going to happen.

Secondly, Communist Vietnam went to WAR with Cambodia, so they were hardly accomplices to the genocide. It was their 1979 invasion of Cambodia that ended the genocide. This is an example of a region taking care of their own problems. Of course, Russia and China were involved, with Russia supporting Vietnam and China supporting Cambodia, but none of this had to do with America pulling out. It would have happened either this way or some other horrible way. Endless war creates these kinds of disasters.