Never forget the crimes of the Khmer Rouge killers
The Independent
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Sir: Thank you for the front-page coverage (11 February) you gave to the interview by Valerio Pellizari of Kang Khek Ieu one of Pol Pot's henchmen. It is vital, "lest we forget", that we should be reminded of what happened in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
As the Americans pulled out after the disastrous war in Vietnam ,which included the illegal bombing of Cambodia in an attempt to destroy Viet Cong supply routes, they provided the social and political environment for the Khmer Rouge to leave their jungle hideouts, evacuate all the towns of Cambodia and undertake their murderous four years of terror and death. Just imagine: one third of the population dying in a period of four and a half years.
I was there for six months following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese. We witnessed tens of thousands of bomb craters; the mass open graves dug for the victims of the Khmer Rouge; children picking over the skulls to remove the gold teeth to buy food and clothing; the stories that everyone without exception had to tell of the close family members lost, children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters all dead (or maybe just displaced, who knew?); the stories of constant nightmares of the abuses people had suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge; the horrific photos of abject fear on the faces of the victims, pinned on the walls of the school at Tuol Sleng which had been converted into a torture and death chamber; the fear and lack of trust that now existed between people in case they were old KR people with blood on their hands.
Phnom Penh, from an estimated 1975 population of 3 million people, the majority desperately trying to escape the American bombing, in late 1979 had a population of 10,000 but growing as people gradually drifted back from the countryside, often floating in flimsy craft on the Tonle Sap river, to try to recover property and re-establish a life.
Those of us working in Cambodia at that time will never forget, but our memories are as nothing compared with those of the people that suffered then and still suffer. We owe it to them to remember and reflect. Thank you for your contribution to that reflection.
Nick Maurice
Marlborough, Wiltshire , UK
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Sir: Thank you for the front-page coverage (11 February) you gave to the interview by Valerio Pellizari of Kang Khek Ieu one of Pol Pot's henchmen. It is vital, "lest we forget", that we should be reminded of what happened in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
As the Americans pulled out after the disastrous war in Vietnam ,which included the illegal bombing of Cambodia in an attempt to destroy Viet Cong supply routes, they provided the social and political environment for the Khmer Rouge to leave their jungle hideouts, evacuate all the towns of Cambodia and undertake their murderous four years of terror and death. Just imagine: one third of the population dying in a period of four and a half years.
I was there for six months following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese. We witnessed tens of thousands of bomb craters; the mass open graves dug for the victims of the Khmer Rouge; children picking over the skulls to remove the gold teeth to buy food and clothing; the stories that everyone without exception had to tell of the close family members lost, children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters all dead (or maybe just displaced, who knew?); the stories of constant nightmares of the abuses people had suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge; the horrific photos of abject fear on the faces of the victims, pinned on the walls of the school at Tuol Sleng which had been converted into a torture and death chamber; the fear and lack of trust that now existed between people in case they were old KR people with blood on their hands.
Phnom Penh, from an estimated 1975 population of 3 million people, the majority desperately trying to escape the American bombing, in late 1979 had a population of 10,000 but growing as people gradually drifted back from the countryside, often floating in flimsy craft on the Tonle Sap river, to try to recover property and re-establish a life.
Those of us working in Cambodia at that time will never forget, but our memories are as nothing compared with those of the people that suffered then and still suffer. We owe it to them to remember and reflect. Thank you for your contribution to that reflection.
Nick Maurice
Marlborough, Wiltshire , UK
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