As the chief Khmer Rouge torturer goes on trial today in Phnom Penh for crimes against humanity, we’d do well to remember a little bit of history. The Khmer Rouge may have been an indigenous movement, but the collapse of the Cambodian state and the resulting cataclysm were brought about by outside catalysts — an American military incursion and bombing campaign, and North Vietnamese support to the Khmer Communists.
This is something worth keeping in mind when mulling over the pros and cons of bombing al-Qaeda and Taleban sanctuaries in Pakistan. Cambodia’s history should be ample evidence that it is quite possible to kill a whole country by accident.
And you haven’t yet mentioned that part when the US and the PRC started jointly facilitating a guerrilla war on the Vietnamese occupation force in Cambodia (after the Vietnamese fell out with the Khmer Rouge).