Chapter 6, Cambodia: "Helpless Giant" Summary

Eight years after Proxmire began giving his speeches in the Senate, the Khmer Rouge began its genocidal campaign in Cambodia. The KR seized Phnom Penh, after a five year civil war and the defeat of the U.S. backed Lon Nol government. The KR emptied the city and began their genocidal reign.

Lemkin had noted earlier in the century that war and genocide are almost always connected. American reluctance to get involved in the Cambodian genocide was linked to its role in the region the previous decade. The United States had tried to prevent Vietnam from becoming communist and the war cost the United States in a number of ways, not the least of which was the loss of soldiers. In 1969, as part of the Vietnam War, the United States began bombing Cambodia in an attempt to drive out the...