For Cambodia, At Very Long Last

Do you remember the last time someone broke your heart? No matter what the circumstances of the event, a surge of anger, resentment, and undeniable loss dominate our emotional and psychological landscape for a while afterwards. Thankfully after some time and, for the really brave ones, self-reflection, we often return to our normal lives. Still, no how matter how much time passes, and how truly “over” X we are, one mental picture continues to do laps in our minds: the one where we finally run into X in a coffee shop or grocery store, and demand an explanation for hurting us. The need to confront those who wrong us and hold them accountable in order to fully heal—the need for vindication—seems as universal as falling in love.

Now imagine if X broke your heart in a different, far more brutal way. Imagine X was responsible for the torture and murder of your family, and thousands of others in your country. Imagine X was part of an elaborate campaign of genocide that wiped out whole segments of your society and left you and other survivors to pick up the pieces for decades afterwards. Imagine X was Kaing Guek Eav, also known as “Duch”—the schoolteacher turned torture mastermind who was responsible for the torture and death of an estimated 17,000 Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Rich in culture, history, and beauty, the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia borders Thailand, Laos, and a very familiar country for Americans—Vietnam—to its east and southeast (keep this last geographical detail in mind as you read). Cambodia was a French colony for ninety years until its independence in 1953. Upon independence, the country became a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. After briefly stepping down from the throne in order to become Prime Minister, Sihanouk resumed power in 1960 with the title of Prince. In 1970 Prince Sihanouk was ousted by a U.S.-backed coup that put Prime Minister General Lon Nol in power as President.

Meanwhile, far away from the capital of Phnom Penh, a growing rebel group called the Khmer Rouge was gaining territory and momentum in an effort to overthrow Lon Nol’s pro-U.S. regime and assume power. The group was headed by Saloth Sar, also known as the now infamous Pol Pot. Pol Pot had a simple vision: to “reconstruct” Cambodian society into an agrarian state starting at Year Zero. Upon ousting Lon Nol and seizing full control of the country in 1975, Pol Pot and his followers began a large-scale, near mechanical campaign of genocide by wiping out all former government officials, civil servants, anyone with an education and other “threats” to the Khmer Rouge ideology. Pol Pot’s purges were achieved through systematic torture, murder, and starvation and disease as a result of mass slave labor. Pol Pot’s reign of terror lasted from 1975 to 1979, during with time at least 2 million Cambodians perished—one fifth of the country’s population at the time.

Notwithstanding the massive scale of the Cambodian genocide, Americans are much less familiar with Cambodia than we are with its neighbor, Vietnam. This is in some part due to Pol Pot’s strategic decision to financially and politically cut off Cambodia from the rest of the world during his rule. But the Nixon Administration was far from oblivious about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. In 1969, as the Khmer Rouge was gaining supporters and increasing in power, President Nixon ordered Operation Menu—an aggressive aerial bombing campaign of the Cambodian countryside to disrupt “suspected” Viet Cong bases and supply routes in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Commencing with Operation Breakfast (and continuing with distastefully named and covertly conducted Operations Snack, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert and Supper), the bombing campaign ended with over half a million bombs dropped.

In the end, Operation Menu proved of little use for the U.S. in the war with Vietnam. But the little the bombing campaign had in military gain it made up in human cost: hundreds of thousands of ordinary Cambodians were killed as a result of Operation Menu. These numbers are in addition to the 2 million who died as a result of the genocide. Worse still, the U.S. bombing only fueled the Khmer Rouge’s anti-U.S. sentiments and hastened the civil war that led to the Cambodian genocide in 1975.

The systematic, swift brutality with which the Khmer Rouge conducted its genocidal campaign is hard to fathom, even for the veteran international justice advocate. A variety of the Khmer Rouge’s torture methods can be seen today at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The Museum was built on the grounds of a high school turned torture camp also known as S-21. Its chief operator? None other than Duch. At least 17,000 Cambodians were taken to Duch’s torture camp, where they were lined up for photographs before and often after being tortured. I came across some of the after-shots in a book called “Crimes of War” and could not sleep for three days. There is something indescribably evil about subjecting a person to torture and then memorializing their petrified agony with a picture. Author Samantha Power describes the pictures in a passage of her widely acclaimed book, The Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide:

“The photos had been taken of boys and girls and men and women of all shapes, shades, and sizes. Some had been beaten; others seem clean-shaven and calm. Some look crazed, others resigned. As in the German concentration camps, all wear numbers. And all display a last gasp of individuality in their eyes. It is with these eyes that they interrogate the interrogator. That they plead….That they accuse. That they accost. That they mock. And for those who visit [the Tuol Sleng Museum where these pictures are on display], that they remind.” (pg. 145)

Of the thousands of Cambodians who were taken to S-21, only ten (that’s one, zero) survived. The rest were taken to “killing fields,” where they were often hacked to death with machetes or hatchets in order to save bullets. The most infamous killing field, Choeung Ek, was just a short distance from S-21. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, nearly 9,000 bodies were found in Choeung Ek’s mass grave sites.

In November 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge was overthrown. The Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia was marked by continued violence and warfare well into the 1980’s. After the Vietnmaese invasion, the Khmer Rouge continued to remain active as a political party with Pol Pot’s leadership. Yet notwithstanding emerging evidence of the worst genocide committed in the latter half of the twentieth century, American Cold War policies and continued hostility for Vietnam resulted in the U.S. siding with the Khmer Rouge immediately after the Vietnam invasion and throughout the 1980’s. U.S. support for the Khmer Rouge also played out in the United Nations (U.N.)—the Khmer Rouge government was able to survive successive U.N. Credentials Committee votes and retain its seat as the representative government of Cambodia at the U.N. It was not until after the end of the Cold War in 1989 that the U.S. revisited its Cambodia policies and decided that the strategic pawn to which it had reduced Cambodia was no longer “valuable.”

In the late 80’s, Cambodia and Vietnam began peace talks that ultimately led to the U.N.-monitored Paris Peace Accords in 1991. China and the U.S. were also “instrumental” in the talks. Yet even there the U.S. sided with the Khmer Rouge when it came to the language of the Accords—the U.S. pushed for the word “genocide” to be excluded from the final language of peace agreement. Thus when referring to the mass slaughter of 2 million Cambodians, the final text of the Accords reads, “the universally condemned policies and practices of the past.”

Cambodians have long known that the past, if not redressed, will taint the present and threaten the future. To that end, in 1997 the newly elected Cambodian government initiated efforts to establish the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) jointly with the U.N. The goal was simple: to finally hold surviving Khmer Rouge officials criminally liable for the heinous crimes they committed between 1975 and 1979. Patience has proven to be a Cambodian virtue—it would be another six years until the Cambodian government and the U.N. could agree on a hybrid tribunal made up of both Cambodian and international judges and laws. It took another three long years for both sides to appoint the judges, who were finally sworn in to office in July 2006. It has taken another year for the judges to indict the first of four surviving top Khmer Rouge officials. Two weeks ago on July 31^st, after three decades of waiting for vindication, the KRT charged 65-year old Duch for homicide, torture, forcible transfer and other grave crimes during the Cambodian genocide. Duch is one of four surviving Khmer Rouge leaders. A fifth Khmer Rouge leader, Ta Mok (also known as the “Butcher”) died last year while in custody. Duch’s trial is set to start next year.

When I heard of the indictments finally coming down against Duch last month, I felt a surge of satisfaction—and hope. Many have faulted the KRT for its slow pace, arguing that Duch’s indictment has come late—Pol Pot died of natural causes in 1998 and surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are growing old. But for the people of Cambodia, late is infinitely better than never. The proceedings against Duch entail more than just criminal charges—they are the promise of a nation moving forward with the strength and grace that comes from redressing the past.

Americans, too, must recall the past. For us, successive Administrations’ policies toward the Khmer Rouge and the genocide should be as haunting as the pictures and skulls at the Tuol Sleng Museum. Led by the “Red Scare” and its resulting policies, the U.S. took the wrong side before, during, and after the Cambodian genocide—we picked short-sighted policies based on fear and self-interest and in the end, the only thing we accomplished was further empowering a genocidal regime. Does that last bit sound eerily familiar? Take out Cambodia and replace it with Darfur—in the midst of the Darfur crisis raging into its fifth year, the Administration is looking away (if not actually exacerbating the violence) because our interests and that of the Sudanese government intersect more than they collide. There is no vindication for that.

When it comes to moving on from genocide, time alone is not enough. Cambodia, your chance for justice is here at long last. May your patient heart finally heal.

For more information on the KRT and Duch’s indictment, check out the news stories in IJ Wire.

For a slideshow of pictures taken of the Tuol Sleng Museum by my friend Steve in 2006, click here.

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