When the War Was Over (115 page)

refugees admitted to

refusal to review Vietnam War involvement

sanctions against Vietnam and Cambodia

secret Nixon letter to Vietnamese Premier

and Sihanouk

and Sirik Matak

and South Vietnamese-Khmer Republic tensions

Soviet-US relations

stated opposition to Khmer Rouge

support for ASEAN

and Third Indochina War

Truong espionage case

US-backed coup d'état in South Vietnam

and Vietnamese occupation

Vietnamese-US relations

Vietnam lobby

Vietnam War involvement

withdrawal from Cambodia

withdrawal from Indochina

Woodcock Commission

UNTAC.
See
United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia

Uprising of 1885

USSR.
See
Soviet Union

Vance, Cyrus

Van Tien Dung

Vath Roeum

Vessey, John W., Jr.

Veterans, Vietnam War

Vietcong.
See
Vietnamese communists

Vietminh

anticolonial struggle

beginning of First Indochinese War

Chinese aid

and ICP

and Issarak groups

Saloth Sar joining

and Thanh

victory at Dien Bien Phu

See also
Indochinese Communist Party; Vietnamese communists

Vietnam

army
See
Vietnamese army

and ASEAN nations

border conflicts with Cambodia
See also
Third Indochina War

Buddhism in

and Cambodian peace process

Cambodians recruited by

ceasefire offered to Democratic Kampuchea

consequences of Geneva Conference

cultural heritage

division of

economic policies

economy's fall

ethnic Chinese persecuted

floods of 1978

food shortages in

foreign aid

foreign journalists in

French colonial rule in

history before French colonial rule

human rights abuses

IMF membership

industrialization

international image

invaded by China

and Joint Informal Meetings (JIMs)

justice system

Laos as satellite

Lao-Vietnamese relations

Nixon's secret pledge of aid

North Vietnam's assumption of rule over South

occupation of Cambodia.
See
Vietnamese occupation

Paracel Islands captured by China

political executions

population

POW-MIA issue

preparations for Third Indochina War

prosecution of Pol Pot and his clique

reconstruction

reeducation (labor camps)

relations with Democratic Kampuchea

sanctions against

self-image

Sino-Vietnamese relations

socialization of South

Soviet-Vietnamese relations

strength of

Thai-Vietnamese relations

unemployment

UN membership

US-Vietnamese relations

Waldheim refused invitation to

war with Cambodia.
See
Third Indochina War

See also
Boat people; North Vietnam; Second Indochina War; South Vietnam; Vietnamese communists

Vietnam-Cambodia War. See Third Indochina War

Vietnamese army

casualties

equipment

“open lotus” strategy

superiority of

troops stationed in Laos

troop strength

during Vietnamese occupation

See also
Third Indochina War

Vietnamese communists

aid from communist countries

alliance with Khmer Rouge against Lon Nol

anticolonial struggle

and Cambodian communists
See also
Cambodian communists, Vietnamese-trained returnees

vs. Chinese communists

consequences of Geneva Conference

decision to use force against South Vietnamese government

dissolution of ICP

dominance over Cambodian and Lao parties

and FUNK

history of movement

Indochinese mandate

and Issarak groups

Khmer Rouge antagonism toward

and Lao communists

leadership change (1987)

origin of

party purge

peasants recruited by

rice sales curtailed to

and Sihanouk

and Soviet Union

territorial gains in Khmer Republic

withdrawal from Cambodia

See also
Ho Chi Minh; Indochinese Communist Party; North Vietnam; People's Revolutionary Party; Second Indochina War; Vietnam Workers Party

Vietnamese, ethnic

under French colonial rule

Khmer Rouge persecution of

Khmer Rouge purge of

Lon Nol's persecution of

under Sihanouk

Vietnamese occupation

anti-resistance offensive

attempt to clear Phnom Penh of unwanted residents

functions under Vietnamese control

international reaction to

invasion of Cambodia

Khmer Rouge genocide publicized by

puppet government.
See
Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation; People's
Republic of Kampuchea, government

reluctance to admit Cambodia's problems

resistance against. See Khmer Rouge resistance; Resistance; Resistance, non-communist

sanctions against

withdrawal from Cambodia

See also
People's Republic of Kampuchea

Vietnam lobby

Vietnam Veterans for America

Vietnam War.
See
Second Indochina War

Vietnam War memorial (US)

Vietnam Workers Party
See also
Indochinese Communist Party; North Vietnam; Vietnam; Vietnamese communists

Violence, in cultural heritage

Voice of America

Von

Vo Nguyen Giap

Von Vet

Vorn Veth

Waldheim, Kurt

Walesa, Lech

War communism.
See
Khmer Rouge revolution; Russian revolution

Warsaw Pact
See also
Soviet Union

Weather

Webb, James, Jr.

Weiss, Cora

Western Zone

White Crocodile

Wolfowitz, Paul D.

Women

in Khmer Rouge army

torture of

Woodcock Commission

Woodcock, Leonard

Work
See also
Labor, forced

Workers Party of Kampuchea.
See
Communist Party of Kampuchea;
headings beginning with
Khmer Rouge

World Bank

World War II

Xenophobia

encouraged by Lon Nol

Ieng Sary identified with

of Khmer Rouge
See also
Minorities

source of Cambodia's

Xu Dunxin

Yasushi Akashi

Young, Andrew

Youth
See also
Children; Students

Youthevong, Prince

Yugoslavia

Zhou Enlai

Zones

autonomy of

buffer zones

leadership
See also specific leaders

organization and administration of

use in eliminating regional identifications

For the original edition, I thanked all who have helped me in various ways to research and write the book: my editor Alice Mayhew for believing in the book and accepting all the twists and turns along the way; Mey Komphot and Chhang Song who introduced me to their country during the war and helped me understand the tragedies then and later; the political scientist Stephen R. Heder who translated documents, patiently answered my queries about Khmer Rouge politics, and read my manuscript, for which I am greatly indebted; the diplomat and historian Tim Carney who generously aided my search for materials and also read part of my manuscript; the May and Ram family—Sisopha, Bopha, Thanh, Khunh, Tavy, Someth, and Orphear—for their friendship and knowledge and James Fenton who brought us together; Prof. Edward Friedman for his counsel on Asian revolutions; Peter Pringle and Etel Adnan for help shaping the beginning of the book; Ben Kiernan for sending his Ph.D. thesis; the
Washington Post
with which I was associated for much of my research, and especially my former colleagues H. D. S. Greenway and the late Laurence Stern for their early inspiration, Lynn Darling for her constant encouragement, and John Burgess; all of my colleagues in the press and the diplomatic corps who offered aid and comfort, especially M. M. Sathiah, Kishore Mahbubani, Alexandro Casella, Betsy Kenedy the late Neil Davis, Dominique Girard, Desaix Anderson, David Hawk, Christopher Hitchens, and Nayan Chanda; William Goodfellow and the Center for International Policy for one year's study fellowship; Bob Borosage and the Institute for Policy Studies for an office; Carol and Ping Ferry for a travel stipend; J. R. Reeder for filing Freedom of Information Act requests; Dr. Marianne Faure and Wendy Law-Yone for their thoughtfulness; Steve Mendelson for his drawing; and my special gratitude to the many Cambodians whom I interviewed in and outside their country and who generously shared their stories in often appalling circumstances.

For the revised and updated edition, I want to thank Peter Osnos for including this book in the first list of his new company PublicAffairs. It was a special honor since Peter was the
Washington Post's
Foreign Editor who sent me to Cambodia in 1978 and never stopped encouraging my writing. Robert Kimzey has been a steadfast editor at PublicAffairs and I thank him as well.

When I went through the manuscript I had the invaluable counsel of Stephen Heder whose careful reading of all the new research over the past decade helped bring the book up to date. My editors at the
New York Times
were always understanding when I needed special time for this work. They include Joseph Lelyveld, Bill Keller, R. W Apple, Jr., Andrew Rosenthal, Michael Oreskes, and Adam Clymer.

Most of the diplomats and Cambodians who helped me with their often extraordinary cooperation are cited directly in the text and footnotes. In addition to them I wish to thank the following people.

 

James Burnet; Patrice DeBeer; Christophe Peschoux; Tony Jackson; Charles-Antoine de Nerciat and Mary Sun who were also generous hosts in Bangkok; Nadege and Helie de Noailles; Natalia Jimenez and Edmund Fawcett; Ambassador Ha Van Lau; Bob Donahue and Walter Wells of the
International Herald Tribune;
Ward and Sarah Just; Tran Ngoc Kha; Robert Kaneda; Elizabeth Fox and Stanley Meisler; Kech Le Rang; Kech Sysoda; Amb. Yukio Imagawa; Mimja Yang and Roland Paringaux; Mark Storella; and Alessandro Casella.

 

FOR THEIR HOSPITALITY IN CAMBODIA
:

 

Timothy Carney and his wife Vicki Butler; Xavier Roze; and Khieu Kannarith.

 

 

Tiziano and Angela Terzani.

 

 

H. E. Ali Alatas; Amb. Kishore Mahbubani; Amb.Tommy Koh; Urs Boegli; Dalena Wright; Yevgeny Afanasyev; Anne Garrels and Vint Lawrence; Theresa and George Bren; Ann and Walter Pincus; Karen DeYoung and Henry Champ; Dana Priest and Bill Goodfellow; John and Susan Marks; Christy Macy and Taylor Branch; and Rithy Panh for the beautiful movie he produced from Bophana's story that helped convince me to republish the book.

Finally my late brother John and my sisters Susan, Janice, and Mary provided invaluable support, and Salvatore Lombardo was especially generous.

Elizabeth Becker was a
Washington
Post correspondent, then became the Senior Foreign Editor of National Public Radio and is currently the Assistant Washington Editor at the
New York
Times in charge of foreign and financial news.

She has reported from Cambodia since 1973, writing in publications including the
New York Times, the London Review of Books, the Far Eastern Economic Review, and Die Tageszeitung. When the War Was Over
won a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was the basis for the documentary film
Bopbana
by Rithy Panh. She is also the author of
America's Vietnam War,
a narrative history.