Sihanouk: "Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge triumph is the historical work of the March 18, 1970 Putschists"

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

History
US President Nixon said: “… (the colonization of) Cambodia (constitutes) the best investment in my life”
By N. Sihanouk

UPI, USA December 10, 1970: “President Nixon strongly support his request to (U.S.) Congress for 255 million US dollars in military aid for Cambodia. ‘It was the best investment in foreign assistance that the United States has made in my political life,’ he said.”

These are the “historical” words which show that one can be the Head of State of the most powerful and richest nation in the world, and of all time, and yet one can commit a very heavy and very serious mistake on the aptitude of a small poor people to fight against a Giant known to be invincible (the Small Khmer People) and to win against this King of Yeaksas [Giants] (5 years of relentless fight, with unequal arms: March 23, 1970 – April 17, 1975).

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A French proverb states: “Like father, like son.”

In the case of the shameful ending of the US Imperialism in Cambodia, on April 17, 1975, it is befitting to study, to exam the case of the Khmer “sons” of Uncle Sam.

This is the portrait of one of these Sons, Colonel Oum Savuth alias Ong Savath, a portrait “painted” by Mr. Julian Manyon from the large newspaper The New York Post.

When one wants its colony, Cambodia, to survive long, one must be served with servants better, in all aspects, than the soldiers of the Lonnolian Army. Uncle Sam made a big mistake in believing that the ultra-diabolic actions taken by the super-powerful U.S. Air Force, actions taken day and night to destroy Cambodia and its resisting People, would be sufficient to break down freedom, independence, and dignity-loving Khmer men and women.

Mr Julian Manyon was absolutely right to stay for a few days with Lonnolian officers in order to know them completely, and to find out if they could serve – even at a so-so level – the cause of the US Imperialism. But, he had to express his “conclusion” as follows: “Cambodia’s nightmare (of the US Imperialism) in November 1970, has only just begun.”

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Here are large excerpts of the important (and captivating) Article by Mr. Julian Manyon, an article written (of course) in English, which I am translating “as we go along” in French for my French readers.

New York Post, November 13, 1970. (By Julian Manyon.) Excerpts: … Colonel Ong Savtah (Oum Savuth) … his breakfast – a large bottle of French wine … in the seven days I have spent at Taing Kauk, Colonel Ong Savath (Oum Savuth) had little opportunity to demonstrate his battlefield skill, but I can report that he is very fond of making bombastic statements about the success of the Cambodian army and the inevitability of its victory.

Question: “Is the colonel worried about the opposition may meet if the offensive pushes further North?”
Answer: “The Cambodian army is only afraid of one thing – if the sky should ever fall on our heads.”
Question: “Why has the offensive been stalled for more than a month at Taing Kauk?”
Answer: “We are waiting till the North Vietnamese and Vietcong mass a big enough force in front of us so we can smash them once for all.”
Question: “What is the solution to the Indochina War?”
Answer: “An atomic bomb on Hanoi, an atomic bomb on Peking and the war would be over.” …

One evening I spent with him, a report came in that a company of Vietcong had been spotted near Taing Kauk. Colonel Ong Savath (Oum Savuth) clench his right fist, which still held a plastic beaker of wine, and smashed it down on the map in front of him. “Bomb them to hell,” he said. … The scene at lunch is always wearily the same. … a long table stands loaded with beer, whiskey and mounds of Cambodian food.

Around the table are the senior officers of this first Cambodian offensive and at its head is a place for the colonel with its plate of special French delicacies brought up from Phnom Penh to tempt his appetite… When a few beers have been emptied and the whiskey level has gone down, the meeting takes on its usual pattern of frequent toasts, lour cheering, blue jokes, old war stories and long incoherent speeches by Colonel Ong Savath (Oum Savuth) … Conversation turns to Sihanouk’s rule and, pounding on the table, officer after officer denounces the traitor … 3:30 PM the Cambodian (Lonnolian) officers have either left the table or are under it. … a strangely sad experience. Watching them (the Republican Khmer officers at Taing Kauk) you get a tragic feeling … the lack of imagination of the Cambodian (Lonnolian) commanders, their unshakeable confidence … their arrogance and total disregard for the enemy capabilities … a devastating test … (the offensive) comes to a sharp halt at the village of Taing Kauk. Colonel Ong Savath’s (Oum Savuth) lunch parties are still as wild as ever, but bit by bit he and his brother are being confronted with the failure of their tactics … As the situation stands, nearly 15,000 Cambodian (Lonnolian) troops (about a tenth of their entire army) have been virtually immobilized by a far smaller communist force … their complaints were of the traditional kind – “We need more troops, more fire power.” (For) the US … Cambodia’s nightmare has only just begun.”

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And to say that my (Khmer men-women) enemies are making me responsible of the final Victory of the Khmer Rouge against the USA and their “beloved Khmer Republic!!”

The USA, having as Khmer servants only people of the “class” of Ong Savath (Oum Savuth), could only “meet,” at the end of their “journey” in Cambodia, this shameful Defeat of April 17, 1975! Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge triumph is the historical work of the March 18, 1970 Putschists.

(Signed) Norodom Sihanouk

Beijing, February 15, 2007