237
By the beginning . . . highest level
:
Ben Kiernan has written that the Third Congress approved a decision to ‘expel theVietnamese’ and treat them as the CPK’s long-term ‘acute enemy’ (
How Pol Pot,
pp. 328–30); see also Heder,
Pol Pot to Pen Sovann,
p. 19; and Morris,
Why Vietnam,
pp. 56 and 59–60. This is contradicted by Non Suon’s confession, by CPK internal documents from 1972 onwards and by the subsequent development of CPK-VWP relations — all of which indicate clearly that, while there was mistrust ofVietnamese intentions, the CPK sought to avoid an open split until at least 1976. In this context, it is noteworthy that a hostile Vietnamese account quotes Ieng Sary as reassuring theVietnamese leaders in 1971 and again in 1974 that Vietnamese—Cambodian solidarity was ‘vital’ for the revolution (Le Quang Ba, ‘Un sommaire de la situation Cambodgienne’, Doc. 32(N442)/T8807, VA).
238
Reasserting sovereignty
:
Already in late 1971, the Secretary of one Eastern Zone region wrote to ‘Ba Hai’ [Pham Van Ba], the head of the Vietnamese Liaison Committee:‘I do not think it is right for your men to use military force against our men [to resolve disputes] and
thereby impair our sovereignty’
[emphasis supplied] (Morris,
Why Vietnam,
p. 57, quoting a document in the Indochina Archive, University of California, Berkeley).
240
He said privately . . . they have won
:
Tribune de Genève,
Dec. 10 1971;
Far Eastern Economic Review,
Aug. 5 1972;’Interview with Oriana Fallaci’,
New York Times,
Aug. 12 1973.
241
April 1971:
Ieng Sary said he arrived in Beijing in April 1971, and spent three months there in secret before his arrival was announced officially (interview). Thiounn Mumm (interview) and Van Piny (confession, Feb. 16 1978) both dated his arrival to July 1971. Sihanouk knew of his return in the first half of July (
Indochine,
p. 93).
Sary was . . . he loathed
:
Ponchaud, interview; Shawcross,
Sideshow,
p. 255—6.
242
‘Absolutely no negotiation’
:
Ruos Nhim, confession, June 14 1978.
Acrimonious
:
Black Paper,
pp. 72–4.
Pol’s view . . . ‘liberated zones’
:
‘Directive de 870’, Feb. 2 1973, in Doc. 32(N442)/T8o53,VA. Sihanouk himself has given a very different account of the Khmers Rouges’ decision to let him return to Cambodia (
War and Hope,
pp. 123–5; see also Chanda,
Brother Enemy,
p. 70).
‘Bare-arsed’
:
Ith Sarin,
Sronoh Pralung Khmer,
pp. 5—6.
244
Ill-health
:
‘Excerpts from the minutes of the meeting between Comrade Le Duan and Ieng Sary’, Apr. 8 1973, in Doc.TLM/165, ‘Les Perspectives, les Lignes et la Politique Etrangère du Parti Communiste Cambodgien’,VA.
From China . . . to the region
:
A Vietnamese text quoted Zhou Enlai as telling Ieng Sary in the summer of 1973: ‘Experience has shown that sitting down to negotiate does not mean compromising; because we have more advantages, in negotiation they must accept our requirements; thus we would negotiate in a more advantageous position, it does not mean compromising’ (‘Excerpts . . . from a series of meetings between Ieng Sary and Brother Le Duc Tho in July and August 1973’, Doc.TLM/165,
supra
). A few months later, according to another Vietnamese transcript, Zhou said, ‘US imperialism is tending to shrink; the Soviet Union is tending to expand’ — causing theVietnamese editor to comment: ‘In truth . . . China wants Cambodia to yield to the United States in order to resist the so-called “Soviet expansionism in South East Asia”’ (‘Excerpts from the meeting between Ieng Sary and Brother Le Due Tho in November 1973’, Doc.TLM/165,
supra
). In Sopheap also thought part of the Chinese message to the Cambodians at that time was, ‘When you chase away the wolf, don’t forget the tiger’ in the shape of the USSR (interview).
246
Even in the Eastern . . . land of their own
:
Quinn,
Khmer Krahom Program,
pp. 32–3.
247
Twist the figures
:
Pol Pot,
September 27 speech
. See also Carney, ‘The Organization of Power’, in Jackson,
Rendezvous,
pp. 99–100.
248
I met . . . wasn’t tough enough
:
Ping Say, interview.
249
Until late 1972
:
See, for example, the photographs published in
Le Nouvel Observateur, Jan.
11 1971.
They, too, killed
:
Someth May recalled meeting a Khmer Rouge in the North-West who eventerated a monkey to show him ‘the way I used to kill the Lon Nol soldiers when we caught them and the way to get the liver out’ (
Cambodian Witness,
pp. 160–1).
250
—1
At the same time . . . Cambodia was lost
:
The following is drawn mainly from Deac,
Road
, Ch. 8. See also Pol’s account, in a speech in June 1976, in Chandler et al.,
Pol Pot Plans,
pp. 31–2.
251
‘Friend with a conflict’
:
Siet Chhê, confession, May 11 1977; Tiv Ol was quoted as saying that year that Vietnam was a friend, but ‘not very loyal’ (Kiernan,
How Pol Pot
, p. 388). For the date of the plenum, see Non Suon, confession, Jan. 14 1977.
251
–2
Chrok Sdêch . . . surrounding plain
:
This account draws on visits to Chrok Sdêch, Boeng Var and Ra Smach in December 2001 and on conversations with local villagers. See also Thiounn Thioeunn and Thiounn Maly, interviews.
252
We built . . . camouflage
:
Nikân, interview
253
–4
I had a guide . . . on the poor
:
Kong Duong, interview:
254
Exemplary severity
:
Comité Permanent de la Zone Est, ‘Directives Complémentaires: Pour faire face au mouvement Khmer Islam (d’origine Cham). . . en supplément du directive No. 20 du 25 novembre 1973’, Dec. 6 1973, in Doc. 32(N442)/T8o53, VA. Given the propensity of all Cambodian leaders, including Sihanouk, Pol and Hun Sen, to micromanage policy, it is inconceivable that such a directive would have been circulated without a text having first been issued in the name of the Standing Committee. Pang said there was widespread discontent in the Northern Zone in late 1973/early 1974, ‘especially along the Mekong’, and ‘at one time the Cham almost rose up against the revolution’ (confession, May 28 1978).
255
—6
At the end of March . . . tightening
:
This account relies on Phi Phuon, who accompanied Pol to Kep (interview). In 1978, when a Yugoslav journalists’ delegation visiting Democratic Kampuchea was taken to the beach at Kep for a swim, their Khmer Rouge bodyguards waded fully-dressed into the sea after them carrying their weapons (conversations in Beijing in the summer of 1978 with Drago Rancic of
Politika,
who was a member of the group).
256
The town market . . . robbery
:
Yun Soeun, confession, May 26 1977.
Two years . . . in the fields: Tung Padevat, Aug.
1975, pp. 1–23.
257
It worked well
:
Phi Phuon, interview.
All through history . . . similar views
:
For an excellent discussion of this topic as it relates to the Cambodian revolution, see Vickery,
Cambodia,
pp. 299–309, and Ghita Ionescu and Ernest Gellner,
Populism: Its Meaning and National Characteristics,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969, pp. 106–9.
258
New currency
:
Phi Phuon, interview.
259
Penance
:
Phi Phuon, Ping Say, interviews.
Matters came . . . Thai border
:
See Vorn Vet, confession, Nov. 24 1978; Phouk Chhay, Mar. 20 and 24 1977; May Sakhan, confession, Oct. 9 1976; Toch Phoeun, confession, Mar. 14 1977; Non Suon, confession, Nov. 19 1976; Phi Phuon, interview; Tan Hao, cited in Kiernan and Boua,
Peasants and Politics,
pp. 274–6.
Early in 1974 . . . CIA
:
Phi Phuon, interview.
259
–60
Mok, in particular . . . killed him
:
Ibid.; Bizot,
Portail,
pp. 383–5.
260
Prasith . . . like us
:
Phi Phuon, interview.
264
By early April . . . incandescent revolution
:
Except where otherwise indicated, the following account is drawn from Deac,
Road,
Ch.io; Chandler,
Tragedy,
pp. 233–5; Swain,
River,
esp. pp. 122–32.
While rice . . . wines
:
Baltimore Sun,
Apr. 17 1975; Haing Ngor,
Odyssey,
p. 73. See also George Hildebrand and Gareth Porter,
Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution,
Monthly Review Press, New York, 1976, pp. 7 and 19–38.
Some 800 . . . went with them
:
Corfield,
Stand Up!,
pp. 218–23.
265
Over lunch . . . the other two
:
Phi Phuon, interview.
On Monday . . .failed to appear
:
Swain,
River,
pp. 126–8; Nikán, interview; Corfield,
Stand Up!,
pp. 224–5; Deac,
Road,
pp. 222–3.
Eerie calm
:
Criddle and Butt Mam,
Destroy
, p. 3; Yasuko Naito, in De Nike et al., p. 96; Ponchaud,
Year Zero,
p. 3.
Continuing bombardment
:
Schanberg,
Death and Life,
p. 16; Swain,
River,
p. 131.
By dawn
:
Kan, interview.
CHAPTER EIGHT: MEN IN BLACK
266
The young men . . . St Laurent
:
Composite accounts of the events of the morning of Apr. 17 are given by Justin Corfield in
Stand Up!,
pp. 225–31, and Kiernan in
Regime,
pp. 34–40. See also Ponchaud,
Year Zero,
pp. 4–5; Swain,
River,
pp. 136–7; Bernard Hamel,
De Sang et de Larmes,
Albin Michel, Paris, 1977, pp. 58—9; Ros Chantrabot, pp. 124–7.
267
Harsher voice
:
Radio Phnom Penh, Apr. 17 1975 in BBC SWB FE4881/A3/1–3.
268
Soundlessly
:
Ponchaud,
Year Zero,
p. 6.
We moved in:
Nikân, interview.