http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/year-zero/ <click hereBottom line - everybody supported Pol Pot. The US supported him after 1979. The UN voted to support him.
Sihanouk tried to keep the US from dragging Cambodia into the Vietnam war, and walked a fine line between China and the US. He tolerated some incursions by both sides along the borders - not that there was much he could have done anyway. The CIA was implemented in assassination plots against him as well - so he did not trust the US.
He was ousted by Lon Nol in a CIA approved - if not sponsored - coup, and Lon Nol accepted a huge amount of military aid from the US to fight the Vietnamese. Unfortunately, US backed Lon Nol regime was so corrupt, a lot of this weaponry was sold to the Khmer Rouge, but nobody cared about that. By this time the US were trying to get out of Vietnam as fast as they could.
The US bombed much of Cambodia - not just to get the mythical 'Central Office for South Vietnam' but also to support the Lon Nol troups. Phnom Penh was not bombed because it was the last city to remain under the Lon Nol governments control.
At the time of the Lon Nol coup in 1970, there were only about 2000 Khmer Rouge troops. By 1975, they took over the country.
China deserves much of the blame for what happened in Cambodia as well - nobody comes out of it looking good. But after the tragedy of the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge time, after the Vietnamese had invaded, the US and China collaborated to support the Khmer Rouge resistance and keep the civil war going until the 1990's. The Chinese wanted to punish Vietnam for not toeing the line and getting help from the Soviet Union (and for beating them in a small border war in the late 70's), and the US wanted to punish the Soviets for the invasion of Afghanistan (now there's irony for you).
The US, it was said at the time, would fight the Soviets until the last Cambodian. The US also reneged on it's promise to pay reparations to the Vietnamese - because they were buddying up to China - and this pushed the Vietnamese into Soviet arms in the first place.
Yes - there is plenty of blame to go around. But if the US had just kept the hell out of Cambodia in the first place, the Khmer Rouge would probably not have lasted for long after the fall of South Vietnam.
By 1973, the Khmer Rouge were in control of much of the countryside. Without the US involvement and the bombing, the Khmer Rouge would have remained a fringe group.
Sihanouk tried to keep the US from dragging Cambodia into the Vietnam war, and walked a fine line between China and the US. He tolerated some incursions by both sides along the borders - not that there was much he could have done anyway. The CIA was implemented in assassination plots against him as well - so he did not trust the US.
He was ousted by Lon Nol in a CIA approved - if not sponsored - coup, and Lon Nol accepted a huge amount of military aid from the US to fight the Vietnamese. Unfortunately, US backed Lon Nol regime was so corrupt, a lot of this weaponry was sold to the Khmer Rouge, but nobody cared about that. By this time the US were trying to get out of Vietnam as fast as they could.
The US bombed much of Cambodia - not just to get the mythical 'Central Office for South Vietnam' but also to support the Lon Nol troups. Phnom Penh was not bombed because it was the last city to remain under the Lon Nol governments control.
At the time of the Lon Nol coup in 1970, there were only about 2000 Khmer Rouge troops. By 1975, they took over the country.
China deserves much of the blame for what happened in Cambodia as well - nobody comes out of it looking good. But after the tragedy of the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge time, after the Vietnamese had invaded, the US and China collaborated to support the Khmer Rouge resistance and keep the civil war going until the 1990's. The Chinese wanted to punish Vietnam for not toeing the line and getting help from the Soviet Union (and for beating them in a small border war in the late 70's), and the US wanted to punish the Soviets for the invasion of Afghanistan (now there's irony for you).
The US, it was said at the time, would fight the Soviets until the last Cambodian. The US also reneged on it's promise to pay reparations to the Vietnamese - because they were buddying up to China - and this pushed the Vietnamese into Soviet arms in the first place.
Yes - there is plenty of blame to go around. But if the US had just kept the hell out of Cambodia in the first place, the Khmer Rouge would probably not have lasted for long after the fall of South Vietnam.
By 1973, the Khmer Rouge were in control of much of the countryside. Without the US involvement and the bombing, the Khmer Rouge would have remained a fringe group.
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