War crimes tribunal against Khmer Rouge cadre...

[DeesKo]

Some of those responsible for the atrocities undertaken by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the mid 70's are finally being held accountable (if you can really call it that, 40 yrs later) for their actions.

The Khmer Rouge is not talked about all that much here in the US but to put it in a little perspective... in 5 yrs time, a relatively small group of people directly altered reality for 4 generations of Cambodians (an altered reality that is still impacting the entire country today decades later) and managed to kill 1.7 million of their fellow countrymen.

My wife lost her father at the age of 4 to these bastards.

Today, Duch, a man who ran a prison that tortured and killed over 14,000 people was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to prison for what will most likely be the rest of his life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/wo...%2Findex.jsonp

The ironic part of this is that by being sentenced to prison, he will end up living a better life than a large portion of the rest of the country.

[D J 1 3 8]

I think we've talked about this before

But when I was there about 10 years ago, the civil war had only been over about 3 or 4 years, and so many Khmer leaders had been basically bought off by the govt, given govt positions as a means of ending the war and bringing them in to the fabric of mainstream society. From an outsider's perspective, it was weird a compromise, to say the least.

[DeesKo]

I think we've talked about this before

But when I was there about 10 years ago, the civil war had only been over about 3 or 4 years, and so many Khmer leaders had been basically bought off by the govt, given govt positions as a means of ending the war and bringing them in to the fabric of mainstream society. From an outsider's perspective, it was weird a compromise, to say the least.

Yeah, the "reintegration" has had all kinds of weird impacts and I agree, it was a weird compromise. A strange "ending" to a terribly strange time. I just read an article a few days ago about some KR strongholds that still exist... areas where a lot of former cadre have congregated. The crazy part is that those same cadre are now trying to restore some of their old haunts/offices/etc and get them on the official national registry of historic places and get them included in the national tours of the horrors of the KR as a means of making money.

Something about these bastards partaking in all of that terror & killing, acting like they found Christianity and are absolved of the sins of their actions and now trying to reap financial rewards for their ways just irks me to no end.

My wife wants to go back to visit dearly, but is actually still very much afraid too because of her distrust of the government due to it's re-integration of the KR and her status as a refugee.

[DeesKo]

Just to give an idea of what this guy was in charge of...

He ran a prison for the Khmer Rouge.

Approximately 17,000 of his fellow countrymen entered it's walls. Approximately 3 survived.
He was "famous" within the KR cadre for his organizational skills, his leadership and the efficiency with which his team tortured and then killed people.

There's a movie released in 2002 or 2003 about S-21 (his prison) that I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject...

I'm trying to figure out how to embed the clips from my phone, will post them in a bit.

[DeesKo]

This is a movie called S21, produced by a Cambodian man who escaped the Khmer Rouge, but lost his family during the war. It is a movie specifically about the prison Duch ran.

[DeesKo]

[ruse]

I visited Tuol Sleng in 1997 with a man whose father had disappeared during the KR years (he was thought to have been sent to Tuol Sleng). It was clear as day from the documents kept there that Duch played a major role in implicating the vast majority of prisoners and sending them off to their death.

I was surprised that they found him alive a few years later; he was hiding behind the veil of re-born Christianity and claiming that he had acted under "orders." Personally I would like to have seen him strapped up to one of the torture devices that are still housed in that museum today, but instead he will be spared the punishment he ordered upon his victims.

I'm reading that many are disappointed by the decision to commute his sentence to 16 years for "time served," although at 67, it's highly unlikely he will ever see the outside of a Cambodian prison. I suppose that if he is truly remorseful, then a quick death would have been an easy way out- he now has more time to live with the shame and guilt of his pathetic life.

I'd have to say that the way all these ex-KR leaders (Pol Pot, Ta Mok, Duch and others) have met their demise has been very unsatisfying for the victims of their regime (and everyone was a victim, some way or another); but the reality is that many, many others were complicit in bringing the KR to power, keeping it in power, and then sheltering it for years in the jungles of Southwest Cambodia (even allowing it to keep a seat at the UN until 1988)- and these parties will never be held accountable for their roles.

[DeesKo]

I visited Tuol Sleng in 1997 with a man whose father had disappeared during the KR years (he was thought to have been sent to Tuol Sleng). It was clear as day from the documents kept there that Duch played a major role in implicating the vast majority of prisoners and sending them off to their death.

I was surprised that they found him alive a few years later; he was hiding behind the veil of re-born Christianity and claiming that he had acted under "orders." Personally I would like to have seen him strapped up to one of the torture devices that are still housed in that museum today, but instead he will be spared the punishment he ordered upon his victims.

I'm reading that many are disappointed by the decision to commute his sentence to 16 years for "time served," although at 67, it's highly unlikely he will ever see the outside of a Cambodian prison. I suppose that if he is truly remorseful, then a quick death would have been an easy way out- he now has more time to live with the shame and guilt of his pathetic life.

I'd have to say that the way all these ex-KR leaders (Pol Pot, Ta Mok, Duch and others) have met their demise has been very unsatisfying for the victims of their regime (and everyone was a victim, some way or another); but the reality is that many, many others were complicit in bringing the KR to power, keeping it in power, and then sheltering it for years in the jungles of Southwest Cambodia (even allowing it to keep a seat at the UN until 1988)- and these parties will never be held accountable for their roles.

Could not agree more on every point.

I read a great book years ago on Pol Pot and his life up to the early 80's. It was really good because it talked about the things going on in Cambodia that led up to the KR taking over, it was frank about the US activities in SE Asia that helped them come into power, it talked at length about the war and how they manipulated their own countrymen, how they imploded due to their ultra-intense fear of allegiances to anything other than the movement, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Pol-Pot-Nightm...0181775&sr=1-1


Peace

[ruse]

Could not agree more on every point.

I read a great book years ago on Pol Pot and his life up to the early 80's. It was really good because it talked about the things going on in Cambodia that led up to the KR taking over, it was frank about the US activities in SE Asia that helped them come into power, it talked at length about the war and how they manipulated their own countrymen, how they imploded due to their ultra-intense fear of allegiances to anything other than the movement, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Pol-Pot-Nightm...0181775&sr=1-1


Peace

Excellent book, I thought Philip Short did a great job of putting together the pieces of the puzzle, highly recommend it as well.

[DeesKo]

Excellent book, I thought Philip Short did a great job of putting together the pieces of the puzzle, highly recommend it as well.

Yeah, I was definitely riveted by it.

Wifey couldn't read it, it kept making her mad because Short did a good job of looking at the hows & why's without it just being a hit job on Pol Pot and she would get mad and complain he was giving Pol Pot a pass.

It was good for someone like me that found the distanced, analytical side of why he did what he did interesting. The subject matter was just too close to home for her to deal with...

I'm holding onto it with plans to pass it down to each of our kids when they're old enough to read it/understand it.

Peace

[MarkK]

Respect for posting this. My parents lived there in the early 60s and everyone they knew was murdered.