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  • Essay / A Closer Look at the Cambodian Genocide - 978

    “Sparing you is not a profit, destroying you is not a loss. » Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, once made this truly horrific statement (Cambodian Genocide 1). No wonder he went on to orchestrate the murder of more than two million innocent Cambodians. At the time of the massacres in Cambodia, the Vietnam War was raging. It is possible that the Vietnam War masked the true horrors of what was happening in Cambodia. The terrible events left emotional scars and traumatized countless people. In the 1960s, a group called the Khmer Rouge surfaced, but it had few members. They were led by Pol Pot, a man who would soon bring terror to all Cambodians. Their goal was to bring Cambodia to a primitive state, where everyone would work as laborers. In the early 1970s, Cambodia found itself in the middle of the Vietnam War and soon found itself facing a civil war (Cambodia Genocide 1). The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, wanted to overthrow the anti-communist Lon Nol government. Eventually, the Khmer Rouge succeeded in defeating the Lon Nol government in 1975. Soon after, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge undertook a deadly mission to turn Cambodia into a communist country, much like Mao's China, which Pol Pot admired . The Khmer Rouge put all Cambodians to work as agricultural laborers on farms. Anyone who refused to work or opposed his views was killed. The fields in which Cambodians were forced to work were called the killing fields of Cambodia. The people the Khmer Rouge saw as a possible threat were educated people, monks, religious enthusiasts, Buddhists and Christians. The Khmer Rouge were cruel and heartless in their actions. They even interrogated their own members for treason and often executed them. Since the Khmers......middle of paper......viving-génocide-30694.html>.de Walque, Damien. “The Long-Term Legacy of the Khmer Rouge Period on Cambodia.” Electronic library. Np, and Web. April 2, 2014. “Genocide in Cambodia.” Holocaust Museum Houston. No. Internet. April 2, 2014. “Cambodia Indictment: When Does Massacre Become Genocide?” ". The economist. No. Internet. April 8, 2014. .Luke, W.. Np. Internet. April 2, 2014. .. Np. Internet. April 2, 2014. .. Np. Internet. April 2, 2014. .Szumski, Bonnie, Scott Barbour, Brenda Stalcup and William Dudley. Genocide. San Diego: Greenhaven Press Inc., 2002. Print.