Cambodian War Crimes Trial Begins

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/world/asia/28cambodia.html

New York Times said:

PHNOM PENH — From behind the lawyers, a hand went up, calling for attention on Monday as the trial of the four surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge got under way on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed more than three decades ago.

...

“The beginning of Case 002 will be a cathartic moment for all Cambodians,” said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, a private advocacy group, using the formal term for the case. “While the crimes of the Khmer Rouge were committed over a quarter of a century ago, they remain ingrained in Cambodia’s collective psyche.”

Many in Cambodia also hope the public trial will clarify for history the actions of the Khmer Rouge, who caused the deaths of 1.7 million people — nearly a fourth of the population — from 1975 to 1979.

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After the holocaust of the Jews, the Khmer Rouge massacre is the most costly attempt at genocide in our times. I feel that not enough people are as aware of it as they are the holocaust of WWII. We swore this would never happen again, and it did - and it still does in places like Darfur.

When is humanity going to learn?

Thank god!
About time!

This is good news. To bad Pol Pot is dead.

Gonna have to throw this is.. But didnt we (THE US) support the Khmer Rogue for a period of time.....??
...Oh yea we did...

TheDemSocialist said:

Thank god!
About time!

This is good news. To bad Pol Pot is dead.

Gonna have to throw this is.. But didnt we (THE US) support the Khmer Rogue for a period of time.....??
...Oh yea we did...

Click to expand...

Under President Carter and then President Reagan, the U.S. supported the Cambodian resistance following Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia. The purpose was to prevent Vietnam's gaining Southeast Asian regional hegemony at a time when Vietnam was acting more and more as a Soviet proxy. China also supported the Cambodian resistance. The Khmer Rouge was one of a number of elements in the Cambodian resistance. Hence, U.S. policy was not direct support for the Khmer Rouge, but an indirect bid to reverse Vietnam's invasion that led to some benefits flowing to the Khmer Rouge. As was typical during the Cold War, policy choices often entailed difficult tradeoffs. In this case, the U.S. goal of reversing Vietnam's conquest took precedence over the reality that the Khmer Rouge was one of the resistance elements. That President Carter, who made human rights a prominent feature of his foreign policy, initiated the assistance program highlights the importance the U.S. placed on contributing to Vietnam's defeat in Cambodia.