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Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge A Brief History and Analysis of Pol Pot s Regime

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  Ari Schwartz
  Prof. Bauzon
  South East Asian Studies
  November 15, 2003
  Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge: A Brief History and Analysis of Pol Pot's Regime and American Involvement
  A Historical Background of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge
  Pol Pot is a name that for most connotes cruelty, and for Cambodians fear and loathing. His regime saw the death of an estimated one to 4 million, and the destruction of the lives of nearly every Cambodian national. Although Pol Pot's regime does not compare to Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia in terms of sheer numbers killed, R.J. Rummel, a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, rates the Khmer Rouge regime as the deadliest of the 20th century. As Rummel states in his paper "Death by Government," "Pol Pot and his crew likely killed some 2 million Cambodians from April 1975 through December 1978 out of a population of around 7 millionThis is an annual rate of over 8 percent of this population murdered." However, even during its heyday of cruel activity, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge received gracious assistance from the United States. What the Khmer Rouge and who Pol Pot are, how they ascended to power, and why the United States backed them are pertinent questions to any study of Southeast Asia. Essentially, the support of the Khmer Rouge regime was an exceptionalistic realpolitikal decision based on the United States' "domino theory" of the Cold War, having little to do with support of popular government and more to do with its anti-Communism campaign worldwide...