The Khmer Rouge vs the Lon Nol Government free essay sample

Of the many unjust horrors born of the 20th Century, from the jungles of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge regime claims absolute victory. It is the practice of Western nations to use the three stage theory of the Italian philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, to determine whether a war is morally justifiable. The Khmer Rouge rebellion against the Lon Nol government from 1970-1975 was fuelled partially by the just desire of a people to achieve freedom from a tyrannical leader. However, the tactics employed by the Khmer Rouge and the darker aims of its leaders resulted in arguably the worst human tragedy in recorded history. To determine whether the rebellion was ethically permissible, a range of primary and secondary sources will be analysed. The complex political background behind the uprising of the Khmer Rouge (KR) played a key role in the events of the 1970’s. Before the civil war broke out, the reigning monarch of Cambodia, Prince Sihanouk, introduced expansive improvements to the education systems in what would soon become Democratic Kampuchea (Dunlop, 2005, p. We will write a custom essay sample on The Khmer Rouge vs the Lon Nol Government or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 53). The schools, though in theory beneficial for the country, resulted in high numbers of unemployment among the educated. This, coupled with high taxation on farmers and the banning of rice sales to the Vietnamese Army, resulted in wide spread civil unrest (Dunlop, 2005, p. 59). Primary evidence of the student support for the KR regime can be seen in comment of Phal, an ex-Khmer Rouge military commander: We students could meet as we liked†¦it was the senior students who recruited the younger ones. [To us], communism meant the hope of a better and more just society. †¦The old people; they would tell us stories of how they had been oppressed. cited in Short, 2004 p. 154] It is agreed upon by multiple historians that when military General Lon Nol sent Prince Sihanouk into forced retirement in 1970 he initiated a reign of terror that would divide Cambodian society into two: the communist supporters of the Khmer Rouge and the conservative followers of Lon Nol. This state of absolut e division proved the breaking point for peace in Cambodia and civil war was officially declared (A World to Win 2010; Dunlop, 2004; Short, 2005). The Khmer Rouge rebellion began with the spreading of a just notion for freedom from oppression. According to internet philosopher, Alexander Moseley, to fulfill Thomas Aquinas’s first criterion for a just war (Jus ad Bellum) the belligerent must have a just cause and be prepared to use only the force that is necessary to win (2012). Notable historian, Philip Short (2004, p. 33), states throughout his book â€Å"Pol Pot: History of a Nightmare† that the initial intention of the KR was to free the village peasants, who claimed to make up the majority of the Cambodian population, from the gambles of the then government and to recreate the glory of the ancient Angkorian empire that ruled Cambodia in the 13th Century (2004, p. 33). In riveting primary evidence Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot claimed â€Å"If our people can make Angkor Wat†¦ they can make anything† (cited in Short, 2004, P. 293). Phillip Short adds to Pol Pot’s statement by providing his own, secondary opinion, â€Å"The[re] goal was no to imitate the past but to improve it†. An example of the mistreatment suffered by the Cambodian people is outlined in Irish photographer Nic Dunlop’s (2005, p. 71) book, â€Å"The Lost Executioner†. It describes the 1969 Operation Breakfast which involved the carpet bombing of rural areas in Cambodia by the US military that devastated the lives of thousands of Cambodian civilians. The bombing was carried out in a failed attempt by the USA to disrupt the southern part of the Ho Chi Minh supply trail used by the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War that raged simultaneously to supply the Cambodian civil war (Dunlop, 2005 p. 70). The cruelty of the controlling parties at the time was, in part, responsible for providing the inspiration for the Cambodian peasantry to take up arms against the government. So intense was the hatred towards the authoritarian powers of Cambodia that the first skirmish of the war, as historians Short and Dunlop agree, was conducted independently of KR influence (2004, 2005). According to Short (2004, p. 74), the aims of the KR were so popular amongst the peasant population that by the end of 1968 the ranks of the Khmer Rouge had swollen to more more than 10 000 volunteers. Arn Yan, a child of Cambodia’s revolution describes his families joy at the Khmer rouge’s rise to power â€Å"Everybody was extremely happy to get the new gover nment† (Pran, 1997, P. 135). The Khmer Rouge rebellion did have a just intention for challenging to the Lon Nol Government. The battles between the armies of the Khmer Rouge and the Lon Nol administration featured tactics of immeasurable barbarism which greatly outweighed the virtues each side wished to promote. The second criterion of a just war refers to the tactics and strategies utilized throughout the conflict. According to Moseley (2012), the key factors of justice during war (Jus in Bello) is the preservation of civilian neutrality and the proportionality of the military force used against that of the force needed to defeat the enemy. Short (2004 p. 174) claims that the military approach of the KR was through guerilla warfare, which included but was not exclusive to continuous hit and run operations. The callous method of civilian executions and the systematic collection of victims’ heads that was introduced in retaliation to the attacks from the Khmer Rouge by the Lon Nol administration was matched only by the later actions of the Khmer Rouge. The rules of war in South East Asia are unlike the ideology based regulations prevalent in the Western world. Asian war tactics are the product of logic. When questioned on what was acceptable in war, an ex-Khmer Rouge Special Forces soldier replied in startlingly frank primary evidence: If we caught a government soldier, we killed him. There wasn’t any explicit guideline to that effect†¦It was a struggle without pity. We had to draw a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. That was the guiding principal. [ cited in Short, 2004 p. 191] Keeping in agreement with the pitiless nature of the war, the Khmer Rouge surpassed all previous atrocities with the use of civilian women and children as human shields (Short, 2004 p. 209). Phillip Short (2004, p. 209) describes government soldiers’ lack of reaction to the civilians and the subsequent open fire of machine guns on unarmed innocents. The use of guerilla warfare practiced by the Khmer Rouge did secure victory; however, the dirty and unjust tactics used set poor precedent for the events that occurred as a result of the war. The aftermath of the Cambodian civil war gave way to unjustifiable savagery amongst the victorious Khmer Rouge. Moseley (2012) describes the final criterion for a just war (Jus Post Bellum) as the end to the suffering inflicted by war and the commencement of peace (2012). The 1999 internet journal, A World to Win, describes the policies of the Khmer Rouge after their victory against the government. The paper, entitled What Went Wrong With the Pol Pot Regime, describes the evacuations of cities in which urban dwellers, or â€Å"New People† as they became known, were forcibly removed from the city and terrorized into becoming slaves on large rice paddies that spanned the country. Child survivor, Loung Ung (2000, Pg. 82), said that starvation and malnutrition amongst the new people often resulted in reports of people, making nutritional use of the surplus of decaying corpses, reverting to cannibalism. Ung (2000, Pg. 82) also mentions the execution of people who hoarded food, or were not efficient workers. Ung (2000 Pg. 6) mentions, in her autobiography, that the cruel conditions imposed on the new people were rarely applied to the original peasants, who were considered pure of Western corruption. Moly Ly, a child of Cambodia’s killing fields provides primary corroboration to Ung’s accusations of the heartless conditions faced by the Cambodian people. Ly states : Every day we were starving yet forced to work harder†¦Some people who were accused of being lazy were brutally executed simply because they were physically unable to work†¦ some people were so hungry that they dug up dead bodies and fried it [Cited, Pran, 1997, p. 9] It is mentioned by A World to Win (1999) that, after the victory of the KR, senior members of the Angkar, the organization, became paranoid about possible corruption within the senior ranks of the leaders (1999). An excerpt of a KR report on the issue offers primary confirmation of the underlying distrust amongst the leaders: [Hidden] enemies seek to deprive the people of food, while following our orders to some extent. These people exist in the army. They look like people conforming with the law. They take our circular instructions and use them to mistreat people and to deprive them, forcing them to work whether they are sick of healthy [cited in A World to Win, 1999] Dunlop (2004) describes that the KR’s solution to the corruption was the introduction of prisons for political enemies, such as Tuol Sleng; infamous for barbaric psychological and physical torture, with fewer than twenty survivors of the 20 000 people imprisoned. The comment from the report reflects the hamartia of the KR regime that lurked within the ideas, otherwise genius in nature. The flaw is best described by ancient Greek philosopher, Thucydides: â€Å"It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men. † (Brainy Quote, 2001) The timeless nature of the imperfection within the Khmer Rouge regime that ultimately led to the decline of justice in throughout their stint in power is symbolic of the universal lack of foresight championed by the human race. The lack of humanity and justice within the conquering Khmer Rouge followed the pattern of the profane tactics used throughout the civil war. The Khmer Rouge’s stint in power greatly contributed to the ongoing civil insecurity. Since the Cambodian liberation by the Viet Cong the former Democratic Kampuchea remains a shadow of its former self: with unexploded bombs littering the rice paddies giving Cambodia the highest amputee and child mortality rates in the world as of 1999 (A World to Win 1999). The greatest supporters of the rebellion remain largely unaffected by their previous actions, with many holding well paid government positions. The legacy of the Khmer Rouge’s fleeting power is still resonating well into the 21st Century. The righteous initial aims of the Khmer Rouge were insufficient justification for the moral turpitude of the Cambodian civil war. Cambodia’s subsequent spiral into anarchy is reflective of the need for meticulous precision in the planning and organization in the build-up stages of war. The human tragedy of Cambodia must be remembered to ensure that the same mistakes are never repeated. Humanitas respicere debet remissi antequam movet deinceps (humanity must look back before moving forward).