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Not defending Pol Pot, but attributing mass death solely to his regime is a bit misleading when it corresponded with a hostile foreign power carpet bombing the

Not defending Pol Pot, but attributing mass death solely to his regime is a bit misleading when it corresponded with a hostile foreign power carpet bombing the region with hundreds of millions of bombs, many still unexploded, over a decade or so.

romwell 5y ago
Not defending the US bombing of Cambodia, but it's a bit misleading to bring this up without quantifying that there's at least an order of magnitude difference in fatalities between the two. What's noteworthy, though, is that the Khmer Rouge was fighting against the puppet government installed by the hostile foreign power; and that the king displaced in the coup sided with Khmer Rouge as a result, which meant quite a bit in terms of support. That's to say, the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge would have not been there, if not for the US meddling. You don't have to take my word - take it directly from them[1]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-rouge/khmer-rouge-jailer-says-u-s-contributed-to-pol-pot-rise-idUSTRE5351VF20090406 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-rouge/khmer-roug...
- pphysch 5y ago
  They can not be so easily delineated. Carpet bombing = loss of homes and farmland = general socioeconomic crisis = extreme political instability. And very much by design.
  - romwell 5y ago
    I agree, I just was pointing out that the death toll from the bombing wasn't even the worst consequence. Pol Pot was, in effect, the largest bomb dropped on Cambodia.
    - culi 5y ago
      It's funny how many people died in the name of "anti-communism" and in the end it was Marxist-Leninists that finally overthrew Pol Pot
    - senderista 5y ago
      Much like the Iraq War created the Islamic State.
ogma 5y ago
Indeed, and as usual the truth on HN is at the bottom. The average age of a Khmer Rouge soldier was 17 years old and they were radicalized by what had happened to their villages during the American bombing campaign under the Lon Nol government, and then they were supplied with weapons by the Chinese. At least 100,000 Cambodians died from American bombings with many estimates being even higher. Many Cambodians starved during this period. Add to that the level of regional instability with what had happened in Vietnam and Laos, and it's easy to see how some sort of catastrophe was very likely. Before this Cambodia was relatively developed and stable, and Phnom Penh especially was a phenomenal city, but the conflict incited huge tensions between the established powers and those residing in relatively poor areas near the border and in the center of the country.

romwell 5y ago

Not defending the US bombing of Cambodia, but it's a bit misleading to bring this up without quantifying that there's at least an order of magnitude difference in fatalities between the two. What's noteworthy, though, is that the Khmer Rouge was fighting against the puppet government installed by the hostile foreign power; and that the king displaced in the coup sided with Khmer Rouge as a result, which meant quite a bit in terms of support. That's to say, the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge would have not been there, if not for the US meddling. You don't have to take my word - take it directly from them[1]. [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-rouge/khmer-rouge-jailer-says-u-s-contributed-to-pol-pot-rise-idUSTRE5351VF20090406 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-rouge/khmer-roug...

pphysch 5y ago
They can not be so easily delineated. Carpet bombing = loss of homes and farmland = general socioeconomic crisis = extreme political instability. And very much by design.
- romwell 5y ago
  I agree, I just was pointing out that the death toll from the bombing wasn't even the worst consequence. Pol Pot was, in effect, the largest bomb dropped on Cambodia.
  - culi 5y ago
    It's funny how many people died in the name of "anti-communism" and in the end it was Marxist-Leninists that finally overthrew Pol Pot
  - senderista 5y ago
    Much like the Iraq War created the Islamic State.

ogma 5y ago

Indeed, and as usual the truth on HN is at the bottom. The average age of a Khmer Rouge soldier was 17 years old and they were radicalized by what had happened to their villages during the American bombing campaign under the Lon Nol government, and then they were supplied with weapons by the Chinese. At least 100,000 Cambodians died from American bombings with many estimates being even higher. Many Cambodians starved during this period. Add to that the level of regional instability with what had happened in Vietnam and Laos, and it's easy to see how some sort of catastrophe was very likely. Before this Cambodia was relatively developed and stable, and Phnom Penh especially was a phenomenal city, but the conflict incited huge tensions between the established powers and those residing in relatively poor areas near the border and in the center of the country.