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he inhumanity which con–
tinues to exist in Cambodia
is beyond rational descrip–
tion .... No circumstances since the
death camps of Germany more
nearly describe the circumstances
which presently exist in Cambodia."
These were the words of Leo
Cherne of the International Rescue
Committee wben he described what
has been going on
in
Cambodia for
the past three years.
Sadlstlc Madmen
Most of what we know about
present conditions in Cambodia has
come from interviews with refugees
who have escaped to Thailand or
North Vietnam. These refugees all
tell pretty much the same stories.
And the stories they tell are nothing
less than sickening. As one reponer,
Jack Anderson, puts it, "A half
dozen sadistic madmen ... have
brought on their country the worst
suffering. the worst conditions
brought on any country in this
bloody century."
In the words of one rcfugee who
cscaped just a few months after the
Communists took over Cambodia in
the spring of 1975.
"lt
appears that
the Khmer Rouge, as thc Cam–
bodian Communists callthemselves,
may be guilty of genocidc against
their own people." And an Austra–
lian journalist uses the phrase
"autogenocide" to describe thc same
conditions.
No one knows exactly how many
people have died at the hands of the
Khmer Rouge. One U.S. State De–
partment official, Richard Hol–
brooke. has estimated the number
of deaths at 1.2 million. This is also
the figure given by John Barron and
Anthony Paul in their authoritative
account of the Cambodian holo–
caust,
Murder ofa Gentle Land.
But
even this figure is dated.
Newsweek
has estimated two million people
have died; Chang Song, a former
government official. puts the figure
even higher: "For three long years
men, women, and children have
been taken away and are unheard
from. Out of 7 mi Ilion people in my
country, as many as 2.5 million have
been systematically slaughtered....
The reg!me of Poi Pot [leader of the
4
Khmer Rouge] is killing its own citi–
zens."
No matter at what precise figure
the grisly total is placed, the human
suffering that it represents is stag–
gering.
lt
is as if approximately 57
million Americans had been system–
atically executed, starved, and
beaten to death by their own gov–
ernment.
When thc Khmer Rouge took
over they marked for execution any–
one who had ever had anything to
do with the previous government,
who had ever held a professional
job, who had a seventh grade educa–
tion or more. Most of these execu–
tions have already been carried out.
According lo refugee accounts, such
wholesale slaughter began immedi–
ately after the takeover. Moreover,
in a literally obscene manner, the
bloodguiltiness of the Khmer Rouge
regime is glorified in Cambodia's
new national anthem. The anthem's
words are full of an almost satanic
obsession with bloodletting:
"The red. red blood splatters the
cities and plains of the Cambodian
fatherland.
"The sublime blood of the work–
ers and peasants,
"The blood of revolutionary com–
batants ofboth sexes.
' 'That blood spills out into great
indignation and a resolute urge to
fight.
"17
April. that day under the rev–
olutionary flag,
"The blood certainly liberales us
from slavery."
The Bloodbath
Upon taking power, the Khmer
Rouge immediately began the pre–
rneditated extermination of anyone
who had been or might become a
potential opponent. They began
with tiring squads. but soon decided
that bullets were "too precious" to
waste on victims, and resorted to
other, more hideous methods of exe–
cution.
For example, there were the men
in General En Sam's unit who had
surrendered to the Khmer Rouge at
the end of the war. Intelligence re–
ports described the scene: "Each
man was blindfolded, led to the
edge of a ditch and beaten to death
The recent television drama
"Holocaust" shown in the
United States detailed the bar–
barous persecution of the
J
ews
by the Nazis. Many viewers
wondered
if
such crue/ties
could ever occur again. The
tragedy is that they have- in
Cambodia. The Jollowing is a
heartrending story, but it is a/so
graphic testimony why the gov–
ernment of God desperately
needs to be restored to the earth.
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1978