By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
Last week I wrote about Vietnam's military invasion of Cambodia and characterized Jan. 7, 1979, as a day of infamy, the precipitant of a dark era in the country.More than 100,000 Vietnamese troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, crossed the border into Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1978 in a swift military invasion that sent Pol Pot and his gang running for their lives. The Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh 14 days later, installed a puppet regime and stayed in control for the next 10 years.
Also last week, Cambodian Premier Hun Sen blasted as "beasts" those who do not regard Jan. 7 as the anniversary of Vietnam's "liberation" of Cambodia.
Hanoi, like the rest of the world, knew that Pol Pot's agents had perpetrated brutalities against the Khmer people since April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of the entire Cambodian population from homes, villages, towns and cities, to perform forced labor.
Suffering, death and destruction were the order of the day.
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