By Nick Gier
New West
With the 35th anniversary of the fall of Saigon coming up on April 30, most of us forget that the Cambodian capital fell to the Communists the same year on April 17. Led by Pol Pot and his henchmen, the Khmer Rouge launched an insane campaign of retribution that led to the death of about 2 million people.
In 1968 the Khmer Rouge numbered only a few hundred comrades, so what made it possible for the most extreme element of the Cambodia left to come to power?
Norodom Sihanouk, now the beloved “King-Father of Cambodia,” right-wing leader Lon Nol, the North Vietnamese, Communist China, and Richard Nixon must all share in the blame.
In March 1945 Sihanouk declared Cambodia’s independence, but the French, with U.S. support, reclaimed its colonial possessions in Indochina. While Ho Chi Minh went to war with the French, Sihanouk remained staunchly anti-Communist and the French allowed him retain his throne.
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