Word: cambodians
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Burchett, on the other hand, spent most of the Indochina war on the other side, with the Vietnamese and Cambodian troops who were fighting the Americans. He travelled mainly on foot or by bicycle, in traditional Vietnamese clothes, but the U.S. authorities were clearly aware of his presence. A reporter for the London Sunday Times told Burchett recently that he was with an American battalion that tried to capture the Australian correspondent alive, by covering an area where Burchett was supposed to be with nerve gas. (Apparently, the U.S. authorities thought Burchett could disclose the whereabouts of American prisoners...
...Cambodian cities, including Phnom-Penh, have become little more than transportation railheads for rural cooperatives as the government, citing a threat from "spies" of all sorts, forced people into the countryside. The cooperatives are spartan. Some of the refugees in Thailand are from a typical cooperative in a village called Kok Tlok. As they describe it, the village, really a large plantation, houses 10,000 residents in thatched huts, with up to three families in each hut. The cooperative is run by only five controllers, and were it not for the gaunt residents' tattered clothes-the regime issues...
...family spent in Phnom Penh, they were virtually imprisoned. Every morning a Khmer Rouge soldier arrived on a bicycle and took orders for the day's meals. Several hours later, he would return with the cooked dishes. On only a few occasions did the ambassador have appointments with Cambodian officials-and he was whisked to them in a curtained limousine. Managing a few peeks out, he saw nothing more than shimmering hot, nearly deserted streets...
...Hanoi knew the South Vietnamese expected the first attack of the offensive to be either in Tay Ninh province, near the Cambodian border, or farther north in Pleiku. Hence the Communists' decision to launch the initial thrust against the Central Highlands city of Ban Me Thuot. That came as a complete surprise to Saigon and led President Thieu to his hasty decision to withdraw his forces from the Central Highlands. Dung calls Thieu's decision a "grave strategic mistake." Thereafter, he says, Hanoi's main problem was moving fast enough to maintain the military initiative. For example...
There is now little doubt that the Cambodian government is one of the most brutal, backward and xenophobic regimes in the world. Cambodians themselves refer to the Khmer Rouge simply as "the Organization." Refugees who have managed to flee to Thailand -often after days and weeks of walking through thick forests and jungles along the border-describe the revolution as a chilling form of mindless terror. In sharp contrast to Laos and Viet Nam, where party cadres have subtly tried to win popular support for social change, there are no revolutionary songs, slogans, poetry, party newspapers or "reeducation" centers...