Didn’t Kissinger’s atrocious bombing of Cambodia help pave way for the Khmer Rouge?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_United_States...
> Although Sihanouk distanced himself from the human rights abuses of the Khmer Rouge, he accused Vietnam of using aggression to violate Kampuchea's sovereignty. As such, he demanded all UN countries suspend aid to Vietnam and not recognize the Vietnamese-installed regime. Subsequently, seven non-aligned members of the UN Security Council submitted a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Kampuchea, which was endorsed by China, France, Norway, Portugal, the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the resolution was not approved due to opposition from the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese...
Henry Kissinger on the bombing of Cambodia in 1969
In your opinion what did Kissinger do that amounts to genocide of his own people, not to mention the string of assassinations of his domestic opponents?
Perhaps you may wish to familiarize yourself with the ethnic and religious differences between the Serbian forces commanded by Milosevic and the persons they killed.
"In his diary in March 1969, Nixon's chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, noted that the final decision to carpet bomb Cambodia 'was made at a meeting in the Oval Office Sunday afternoon, after the church service'.
In his diary on 17 March 1969, Haldeman wrote:
Historic day. K[issinger]'s "Operation Breakfast" finally came off at 2:00 pm our time. K really excited, as is P[resident].
And the next day:
K's "Operation Breakfast" a great success. He came beaming in with the report, very productive. A lot more secondaries than had been expected. Confirmed early intelligence. Probably no reaction for a few days, if ever. "
Did you missed the part of your own source where it says that the operation targetted North Vietnamese Army bases within Cambodja?
Does that count as a genocide at all, let alone a worse genocide than Milosevic's Bosnian genocide?
Wrong. Milosevic was trialed for his role on the Bosnian genocide, which included the assassinations of Bosnian serbs.
Even if you believe that although Milosevic was president of Yugoslavia then no breakaway Yugoslav republic can be counted as his people, you can't turn a blind eye to Bosnian serbs.
Again, I am not taking a stance since I haven't done enough research, just explaining why theoretically someone could think that Kissinger committed crimes against humanity without killing any Americans or even violating American laws.
The reason? The people of that small, freshly liberated country were on the verge of holding their first democratic elections, and dangerously close to choosing a left-wing party to govern them, of their own free will.
That being said perusing his wikipedia page should give you many things to read about.
And of course Zia al-Haq in Pakistan.
While the Nuremberg trials had a lot of evidence, they never had such direct documentary evidence of a call for genocide like that.
(or is that overblown? Perhaps only for the Cambodians fighting against the CIA backed coup of Lon Nol should shirts be torn in accusations of genocide).
Wrong. That quote is a report from a direct order from Nixon.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/...
The "I was only following orders" defense did not fly at the Nuremberg trials.
I presented no counterpoint, I've pointed out the fact that you're basing your accusations on claims that are patently wrong, if not intentionally false and disingenuous.
And while on the topic of disingenuous statements, please revise your sources because the Cambodja bombing campaign does not come close to fit the definition of genocide.
> In April 1975, Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia, and in January, 1976, Democratic Kampuchea was established. During the Cambodian genocide, the CPC was the main international patron of the Khmer Rouge, supplying "more than 15,000 military advisers" and most of its external aid. It is estimated that at least 90% of the foreign aid to Khmer Rouge came from China, with 1975 alone seeing US$1 billion in interest-free economics and military aid and US$20 million gift, which was "the biggest aid ever given to any one country by China". In June 1975, Pol Pot and other officials of Khmer Rouge met with Mao Zedong in Beijing, receiving Mao's approval and advice; in addition, Mao also taught Pot his "Theory of Continuing Revolution under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat（无产阶级专政下继续革命理论）". High-ranking CPC officials such as Zhang Chunqiao later visited Cambodia to offer help [0]
Khmer Rouge was also North Vietnam's ally since they both fought against US-backed governments in South Vietnam and Cambodia. They only became enemies after winning their respective wars [1], caused by in no small part the deteriorating China-Vietnam relation.
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot
The US bombing of Cambodia was without a doubt a defining factor in this event. It killed between 100,000 and 400,000 Cambodians, how could it not be? I have met people in Kampong Thom, right in the middle of the country, that talked about living in complete destitution for years due to the effects of the bombing, before Pol Pot's takeover. There is also quite a bit of shrapnel and unexploded ordinance laying around there still too.
There is just no doubt that this would not have happened if not for the Vietnam war. You can blame China as well of course, but don't forget that the US government began aiding the Khmer Rouge at a later point in time again too.
Try reading "My War with the CIA" by Norodom Sihanouk if you want a different perspective on all this.
Not to saying thousands didn't die, or even tens of thousands, but 500,000? That's like 7% of the entire population of Cambodia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freedom_Deal#Cambodi...
"Another impact of the U.S. bombing and the Cambodian civil war was the destruction of homes and livelihood of many people. This was a large contributor to the refugee crisis in Cambodia with two million people—more than 25 percent of the population—displaced from rural areas into cities, especially Phnom Penh which grew from about 600,000 in 1970 to an estimated population of nearly 2 million by 1975. The Cambodian government estimated that more than 20 percent of property in the country had been destroyed during the war."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menu#Civilian_casual...
The bombings along with the landmines made it impossible to farm in many areas, which caused famine that then lead to the migration mentioned above. That's what I have heard from Cambodians that lived in those places at the time.
Also, similar events played out in Laos but the story is not as well known. More bombs were dropped on Laos even, and apparently in 2016 Obama allocated money to clean up a remaining 90 million pieces of unexploded ordninance.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-laos-obama-uxo/u-s-gives-...
"From 1964 to 1973, U.S. warplanes dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions on the communist country, one-third of which did not explode, the Lao National Regulatory Authority for UXO says."
> The US bombing of Cambodia was without a doubt a defining factor in this event.
Which event? US bombing was between 1970-1973. The genocide didn't start until after Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, two years after US withdrawal as per Paris peace accords. On the other hand, China was the main sponsor of the regime throughout, not unlike their role to North Korea today. They also actively involved with their "advisers" on the ground, from 1975 to 1979 when the genocide happened. So tell me what the defining factor was?
Talking about Sihanouk, he was hardly an innocent party so forgive me if I don't trust his effort to clear his conscience. He started cooperating with Khmer Rouge in 1973, giving them credibility given his enormous popularity. He became their head of state in 1975, albeit briefly. After Vietnam's army ousted Khmer Rouge, he again cooperated with Khmer Rouge at China's urging, knowing full well of their atrocity.
> You can blame China as well of course, but don't forget that the US government began aiding the Khmer Rouge at a later point in time again too.
As did all then-ASEAN's countries, all western countries, as well as China, when Khmer Rouge was no longer in power. They were against Vietnam's invasion, at the height of the cold war with the Soviet. Hypocrisy in the name of strategic goals.
Note that Vietnam wasn't an impartial party either. They invaded Cambodia with "volunteer soldiers", not because they cared about suffering Cambodia people but because they couldn't afford to have two enemies ready to wage wars at their border.