Friday, October 30, 2009

The Holocaust In Cambodia And Its Aftermath Is Remembered

By John Pilger


John Pilger recalls the stricken society he found in Cambodia in 1979 which he described in his epic dispatches and documentary, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia.

He reminds us that the Pol Pot horror emerged from the bombing ordered by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, and that Cambodia was again "punished" when its liberators came from the wrong side of the cold war and the Thatcher government sent special forces to train the Khmer Rouge in exile.

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Thank you John Pilger!

John Pilger is one of those rare voices still brave enough to speak the uncomfortable truths about Cambodia. The apologists for US imperialism seem to have effectively wiped this from public consciousness.

I regularly visit Cambodia as a tour group leader, and I am always frustrated by the misinformation, amnesia and rewriting of history I experience - from both foreign tourists and from some Cambodians.

Even the important museum sites, such as Tuol Sleng/S21 and the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh present an incomplete or distorted view of the tragedy of modern Cambodia.

Informed people like John Pilger understand very well the critical role played by the insane US aerial bombing of most of the country in bringing Pol Pot and his extremist politics to power in Cambodia.

The full and terrible extent and consequences of this US "free-fire zoning" of a whole country is largely ignored or played-down in the tourist sites and media of Cambodia today.

At S21 Museum, the whole sorry story of that monstrous US bombing is reduced to one tiny, easily-overlooked reference in small print to "the bombing" . . . not even specifying US bombing!

This is surely more than an innocent oversight. Without understanding the background, it is impossible for casual tourists to make any sense of the horror images and stories of S21 and the Khmer Rouge years in power.

The diabolical racist policies and massacres of innocents carried out by the Pol Pot clique still resonates in the frequent "anti-Vietnamese" sentiments expressed by some Cambodians, who seem to forget where their liberation from Pol Pot actually came from.

The monstrous crimes committed by various US governments (Republican & Democratic) against Cambodia - before and after Pol Pot came to power - seem to be forgotten today.

Thank you to John Pilger for reminding the world of these things. Those who do are often dismissed or not believed. It is not so easy to dismiss John Pilger!

You can read more about Cambodia, and some of my impressions, from my blog.
(Check the side column: Links to recommended websites)



Bruce McPhie



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In Case You Missed It
Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia

A Documentary Film By John Pilger


John Pilger vividly reveals the brutality and murderous political ambitions of the Pol Pot / Khmer Rouge totalitarian regime which bought genocide and despair to the people of Cambodia while neighboring countries, including Australia, shamefully ignored the immense human suffering and unspeakable crimes that bloodied this once beautiful country.


A Documentary Film By John Pilger - Runtime 59 Minutes - Produced 1979

This Video Is Available For Sale Here


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Why Americans Gotta Read the "War Crimes Times!"

By Kim Carlyle

We must look back. And we must hold accountable the men and women who have broken our laws, tarnished our honor, and spit on our ideals. Continue






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