Robert Carmichael, VOA | Phnom Penh
"I personally am not fully knowledgeable of everything, but I will do my best to make sure I can ascertain the truth if I can." (sic!)
The Khmer Rouge's former head of state has promised to tell the truth about his country's descent into destruction under the top leader Pol Pot. His trial, along with three more leaders for genocide and other serious crimes, will begin hearing testimony later this year. Robert Carmichael reports from Phnom Penh.
Former head of state Khieu Samphan told the preliminary hearing at the U.N.-backed tribunal, and by extension the nation, since today's hearings were televised, that he would tell the truth about what had happened during the Khmer Rouge's rule.
The war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh estimates as many as 2.2-million people died when the Khmer Rouge governed Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
Khieu Samphan addressed the court in Khmer. His words were spoken in English by the court's translator.
"I personally am not fully knowledgeable of everything, but I will do my best to make sure I can ascertain the truth if I can," he said.
Khieu Samphan acknowledged the Cambodian people had a pressing need to know what had happened.
"I think it is a very important moment for me and for my fellow Cambodian citizens who are hungry for understanding what happened between 1975 and 1979," he said.
The trial will start later this year, probably by September. This case is the tribunal's second and most likely its last accounting of what transpired during the Khmer Rouge's reign.
Joining Khieu Samphan on the stand are Nuon Chea, also known as Brother Number Two, who is considered the movement's chief ideologue; Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister; and his wife, social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.
All four defendants deny they committed any of an array of offenses, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Nuon Chea's lawyer, Victor Koppe, told the court his client wants a quick trial, since he is an old man.
"But more important than a trial which is concluded quickly, he wants this trial to ascertain the truth. Not a story you can read in American or Vietnamese history books, but a truth - an historic truth - that also includes his view of the events that took place before and during the DK years, and the truth which also encompasses the role of Vietnam, the consequences of the U.S. bombings, and other important contextual issues," he said.
The four defendants are elderly, between 79 and 85 years old, and none is in robust health. Khieu Samphan was the only one who appeared in court for each full session this week.
The tribunal is mandated to prosecute crimes that took place between April 1975 - when the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh - and the day they were forced out in January 1979.
During the preliminary hearing the tribunal heard submissions from defense lawyers, the prosecution and lawyers for civil parties in relation to issues such as the tribunal's mandate, witness lists, and the application of national and international law.
The trial will likely take several years, and there are fears one or more of the defendants could die before it ends.
But new rules mean the court can hand down convictions or acquittals as the trial progresses. That means even if a defendant dies during the hearing, they would still likely be convicted or acquitted of the most serious of crimes.
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While acknowledging the mass atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge regime, we should never forget the level of atrocities committed during the US secretive bombing of Cambodia from 1968-1973. A declassified telephone discussion between Henry Kissinger and General Alexander Haig, Nixon's deputy assistant for national security affairs, recorded that Nixon had ordered a “massive bombing campaign in Cambodia [to use] anything that flys [sic] on anything that moves”.
The map of US bombing targets released by Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program shows that more than half of the country was affected by the indiscriminate bombings. Professor Ben Kierman, director of the program, puts the casualties figure from the bombing at 150,000 deaths, while Edward Herman, a professor of Wharton School, and Noam Chomsky put the toll at 600,000 using figures provided by a Finnish Commission of Inquiry.
Based on this, we can never naively claim that US bombing led to the mass executions by the Khmer Rouge or refuted the regime's mass atrocities. But, to certain extent, the blanket bombing, which directly led to the destruction of livestock and agricultural land, could have definitely played a role in the mass starvation.
From new data released during the Clinton administration, Taylor Owen, a doctoral student at Oxford University, and Professor Kierman noted that 2,756,941 tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia.
To put the figure into perspective, just over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped by the allies during all of World War II. The bombs dropped in Cambodia represented about 184 Hiroshima atomic bombs combined, making Cambodia the most bombed nation in the world. Based on the new data, Professor Kierman also stressed that the casualties might be much higher than his earlier predicted 150,000.
Based on this, the bombing contributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. The number of Khmer Rouge cadres rose from a group that had an insignificant prospect ousting the US-backed Lon Nol’s regime, roughly from 1,000 in 1969 to 220,000 in 1973.
Why the US bombed Cambodia so much?
US Claimed bombing B 52 alone in 1973 200 days and night to help Lon Nol solders to kill youn Viet Minh and Viet Congs which was controled 2 of 3 parts of Cambodia in 1970s which was good for Cambodia but it turned out nearly 1 million Camboian were killed .
In those years US B 52 bombing 200 days and night in 1973 aone , so rice farmer could not do their farmign which caused severe starvation .
Root cause of US B 52 bombing between 1968-1973 was to held south Vietnam fighting against the north ( youn Viet Minh and Viet Congs in Vietnam ) but the war spreaded from Vietnam into Cambodia .
So US brought youn war into Cambodia and left Lon Nol solders behind as US did to Hmong fighters in Lao .
So the rerult of US Bombing in Cambodia between 1968-1973 caused the following:
1. Nearly 1 million innocient Cambodian were killed ( even foreigh reporter agree ).
2. Caused severe and long-term starvation in those years.
3. Left Lon Nol's soldiers and Hmong fight in Lao behind.
4. US War in Vietnam spreaded into Cambodia caused severe trageties( attrocities ) to Cambodian people.
those who fled the B 52 bombing from the countryside to Phnom Penh a lot of them homeless, workless, children were left and starved to death on Phnom Penh streets , I saw all of these attrocities with my own 2 eyes.
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