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United States as they speak of the destruction , the death , the many loved ones lost . The feelings toward the past and the United States is understandable . A report from the mid-1970 ’ s suggests that Kissinger gave the approval for almost 4,000 bombing raids on Cambodia and even went as far as providing “ legitimate ” reasons for keeping the information from the media . In fact , a 1970 report says that he told staff that anything that moved was to be bombed .
The total death toll is unknown , some say as many 150,000 in that four-year period , many more since , as the effects of fifty years ago are still felt . It ’ s a figure and a reoccurring problem that Kissinger denied at the time and denied until his death .
Many of the bombs that fell from the sky failed to explode , creating a legacy that haunts until this very day . Cambodia is littered with what is called “ unexploded ordinance ”, weapons of mass destruction that still plague the jungles , the fields , and the villages of a beautiful landscape . And then , when the bombing when silent ,
another evil rose .
Many suggest that the Khmer Rouge came to power as a result of the destabilisation of Cambodia ’ s government due to the American bombing . In their arrogance , Kissinger , and Nixon , released an evil greater than theirs , and with it the greatest genocide of the 20th century , arguably of all human history .
In another period of four years , Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge were responsible for the destruction of at least a quarter of the Cambodian population , over 1.7 million people were killed between 1975 and 1979 , as they used propaganda to drive nationalism against the evil falling upon them delivered by the United States . It had been seen earlier in the 20th century and now the people of Cambodia were witnessing it from a faraway land .
In more recent times , Khmer Rouge officials have been tried and many have alluded to the fact that they were able to seize power by using Kissinger and Nixon to drive the force . It ’ s a fact not lost when visiting the Tuol Sleng S-21 Prison , a museum located in the Cambodian capital
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