In Memoria: 35th Anneversery of Cambodia, Year Zero

The tragedy of the Pol Pot regime to the beautiful nation of Cambodia followed immediately upon the horror of having five times as much bomb power as Hiroshima dropped on the officially neutral country. In the aftermath of the bombing, the Khmer Rouge took over, following which 25 percent of the Cambodia died from "starvation, overwork, and executions."

So that the tragedies of Cambodia be not forgotten I respectfully mark the 35th anneversery of Pol Pot's "Year Zero."

It was a time of one of the most extreme, radical, and catestrophic social engineering disasters in human history, and its legacy stands as a dire warning of how low our species can sink.

From documentary "Year Zero" by director John Pilger :

"The new rulers of Cambodia called 1975 "Year Zero." It would be the dawn of an age in which there would be no familes, no sentiment, no expressions of love or grief, no medicines, no hospitals, no schools, no books, no learning, no holidays, no music, no song, no post, no money: only work -- and death.

Some links on Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge:

www.historyplace.com...
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 4/10/10 by silent thunder]

I hope karma is handing out some serious punishment to Pol Pot and his cronies, disgusting. Its also disguting that even though these crimes were discovered soon after, most of the leadership of the Khmer Rouge were never brought to trial.
Ive recently been to Cambodia, and the Killing Fields, and it still sends shivers down my spine thinking about the atrocities that occured. All i can really say is that the Cambodian people conduct themselves in a manner that makes you proud to be human, despite the horrors theyve endured, and lets face it 30 odd years ago is no time at all.
Here are some pictures of paintings from the museum at the Killing Fields, to give an impression of what happened, I wont post pictures of the artifacts or mass graves though out of respect.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ef5c38ca9144.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/905ea96d0736.jpg[/atsimg]

My heart bleeds, and to think that some of the tuk tuk drivers who constantly ask if you would like to go there must have lived through this.

This is the most recent news article i can find regarding trials

www.bbc.co.uk...

Though i feel these monsters will be long gone before the trials reach their conclusions, but good to see Duch didnt escape, hopefully hes in a tiny cell with no windows and no toilet, that man is pure evil.

Great thread we all must bring up the memory of those who were killed in the midst of their lives by evil.
Women, children, men....all seperated by butchery.
Good on you for keeping the flame against evil alive.

Originally posted by silent thunder
The tragedy of the Pol Pot regime to the beautiful nation of Cambodia followed immediately upon the horror of having five times as much bomb power as Hiroshima dropped on the officially neutral country.

speaking of bombs, USA's Nixon bombed Cambodia more than any country in the world (except its sister Laos). he codenamed his bombing campaign 'Breakfast, Lunch & Supper" and dished out several cruel remarks as if they're subhumans.

then to add to the fire, USA/CIA 'loaned' Lon Nol US$300,000,000 to overthrow the Khmer Kingdom and install the Khmer Rouge.

US sat back until quarter/third of kampuchea's population was exterminated, then came in to take a measly 200,000 refugees in for token charity sake.

am i dwelling on the past? nope. last year, in *Washington DC*, Khmer reps made their case that much of the 'borrowed' money was used either for repair of the US bombings or for funding of the Coupe and Khmer Rouge operations.

however, US big broke bully that it is, only arranged a repayment plan, and did not 'forgive' Cambodia this blood money.

see following link.

www.voanews.com...

It does make you wonder just how many more atrocities from recent history are yet to be known. Humans seem to be habitual in their blood thirsty need for power and control unfortunately. These were/are the real people and countries that need the global community to intervene in times of despair, guess its just not profitable enough though.

Originally posted by regolith
It does make you wonder just how many more atrocities from recent history are yet to be known. Humans seem to be habitual in their blood thirsty need for power and control unfortunately. These were/are the real people and countries that need the global community to intervene in times of despair, guess its just not profitable enough though.

indeed, USA's *known* track record is as awful *as possible* from the very start. at very least, 10 million native Americans were killed during the founding of our glorious country. add to that 3 million in cambodia, 3 million in Laos, a couple hundred thousand in Hiro & Naga (edit), a few million between Iraq & Afghanistan, the list is easily exhausting and painful to recollect. instead of helping countries in need, it has turned into going after their resources and wasting them anyways, once had. and yea us officials are getting better at being covert and politically correct.

Originally posted by ignant

am i dwelling on the past? nope. last year, in *Washington DC*, Khmer reps made their case that much of the 'borrowed' money was used either for repair of the US bombings or for funding of the Coupe and Khmer Rouge operations.

however, US big broke bully that it is, only arranged a repayment plan, and did not 'forgive' Cambodia this blood money.

Thats insane, i knew that the U.S. had bombed Cambodia, but this "loan" and "repayments" is new to me. I wonder when the U.S. will ask Israel to start making repayments, probably never.

Originally posted by ignant

indeed, USA's *known* track record is as awful *as possible* from the very start. at very least, 10 million native Americans were killed during the founding of our glorious country.

I think us Brits can take the blame for that aswell, also India and a hell of a lot of Africa. The genocide in Cambodia though is different, this blood wasnt on our hands, but blind eyes might have been turned.