Dith Pran of the "The Killing Fields" Dies

http://www.khmerdynasty.com/Content/pid=5.html

Lon Nol fought the Vietnamese Communists and the Khmer Rouge with the help of American finanical aid. Due to a series of American bombings in Cambodia, Lon Nol's government began to lose its popularity. This may have caused support for the growth of the Khmer Rouge. By 1975, the government could no longer fight back and on April 17, 1975 Phnon Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge.

Although Cambodia had a rich and powerful past under the Hindu state of Funan and the Kingdom of Angkor, by the mid-19th century the country was on the verge of dissolution. After repeated requests for French assistance, a protectorate was established in 1863. By 1884, Cambodia was a virtual colony; soon after it was made part of the Indochina Union with Annam, Tonkin, Cochin-China, and Laos. France continued to control the country even after the start of World War II through its Vichy government. In 1945, the Japanese dissolved the colonial administration, and King Norodom Sihanouk declared an independent, anti-colonial government under Prime Minister Son Ngoc Thanh in March 1945. The Allies deposed this government in October. In January 1953, Sihanouk named his father as regent and went into self-imposed exile, refusing to return until Cambodia gained genuine independence. 

Full Independence

Sihanouk's actions hastened the French Government's July 4, 1953 announcement of its readiness to grant independence, which came on November 9, 1953. The situation remained uncertain until a 1954 conference was held in Geneva to settle the French-Indochina war. All participants, except the United States and the State of Vietnam, associated themselves (by voice) with the final declaration. The Cambodian delegation agreed to the neutrality of the three Indochinese states but insisted on a provision in the cease-fire agreement that left the Cambodian Government free to call for outside military assistance should the Viet Minh or others threaten its territory. 

Neutral Cambodia

Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-1960s, parts of Cambodia's eastern provinces were serving as bases for North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong (NVA/VC) forces operating against South Vietnam, and the port of Sihanoukville was being used to supply them. As NVA/VC activity grew, the United States and South Vietnam became concerned, and in 1969, the United States began a series of air raids against NVA/VC base areas inside Cambodia. 

Throughout the 1960s, domestic politics polarized. Opposition grew within the middle class and among leftists, including Paris-educated leaders such as Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). 

The Khmer Republic and the War

In March 1970, Gen. Lon Nol deposed Prince Sihanouk and assumed power. On October 9, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. Hanoi rejected the new republic's request for the withdrawal of NVA/VC troops and began to reinfiltrate some of the 2,000-4,000 Cambodians who had gone to North Vietnam in 1954. They became a cadre in the insurgency. The United States moved to provide material assistance to the new government's armed forces, which were engaged against both the Khmer Rouge insurgents and NVA/VC forces. In April 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces entered Cambodia in a campaign aimed at destroying NVA/VC base areas. Although a considerable quantity of equipment was seized or destroyed, NVA/VC forces proved elusive and moved deeper into Cambodia. NVA/VC units overran many Cambodian Army positions while the Khmer Rouge expanded their smallscale attacks on lines of communication. 

The Khmer Republic's leadership was plagued by disunity among its members, the problems of transforming a 30,000-man army into a national combat force of more than 200,000 men, and spreading corruption. The insurgency continued to grow, with supplies and military support provided by North Vietnam. But inside Cambodia, Pol Pot and Ieng Sary asserted their dominance over the Vietnamese-trained communists, many of whom were purged. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge forces became stronger and more independent of their Vietnamese patrons. By 1974, Lon Nol's control was reduced to small enclaves around the cities and main transportation routes. More than 2 million refugees from the war lived in Phnom Penh and other cities. 

On New Year's Day 1975, communist troops launched an offensive that, in 117 days of the hardest fighting of the war, destroyed the Khmer Republic. Simultaneous attacks around the perimeter of Phnom Penh pinned down Republican forces, while other Khmer Rouge units overran fire bases controlling the vital lower Mekong resupply route. A U.S.-funded airlift of ammunition and rice ended when Congress refused additional aid for Cambodia. Phnom Penh surrendered on April 17, 1975--5 days after the U.S. mission evacuated Cambodia.  http://www.historyofnations.net/asia/cambodia.html

Seems to me there must be more than one type of communist involved here. China is said to be supporting them from the above comment, but clearly here Pol-Pot communists were fighting China.

Our failure in the world is not doing and talking more about Nonviolence in solving issues. Those who contend the military provides such security are without reason to sane conclusions. One would think after WWII; war would be on the brink of extinction. But we have seen time and time again an American empire who promotes war, promotes weapons sales, promotes independence, and conflict in foreign lands, while at home they carress the tax payers income by selling the military complex and its defense contracting industry. Whatever you want to believe 911 was truly about, it sure has nothing to do with Nonviolence, but has everything to do with making us believe while cramming it down our throats that the military is our divine Godhead on this planet and we better well accept it. My resolve is the complete rejection of this, because the sick cycle it has created will eventually escalate to total world annhilation.  Damned if you do; damned if you don't, is not to difficult to understand when you know who is doing the damning. Using the military God will damn you, not using it the devil damns you. I would rather have the devil damning me, than God. Does Japan like the US for dropping 2 Atomic Bombs on it, when they know it wasn't necessary? Do we really believe Japan holds dear fond feelings of thanks for the USA? Not on your life. In fact they want the US out of Japan even to this day.  War ends when we seek to resolve issues without violence. They fester when people are made to believe the military is their answer to national and world peace. Clearly it is the opposite.