Pol Pot: Yet Another Homicidal Commie Murderer Who Put The Dick In Dictator

In 1975, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took control of the country, Cambodia's population was around seven million people.  By four years later, when the somewhat less homicidal commies from Vietnam liberated Cambodia, there were only around four million Cambodians.  

For those bad at math, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated THREE MILLION OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE in four years. So, yeah, his commie regime killed over 40% of the people.  (Some sources claim 1.5-2 million, but our Cambodian guides all used the three million figure, so that's what I will go with.)

From a percentage standpoint, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao were all amateur monsters.  (I know Hitler wasn't a commie, but it's no coincidence that four of the five biggest killers of last century were).  And, before you flip out, I said "from a percentage standpoint" and nothing else.

Evil exists in this world; the Khmer Rouge killings are as close to us now, less than 50 years ago, as Hitler's time was to the fall of the Soviet Union.  Mull that over. 

So, our first morning in Cambodia was a very emotional journey to one of the Killing Fields.  Choeung Ek lies on the outskirt of Phnom Penh, and is still with in the city limits.  I was surprised how quickly we got there on the bus, but it's only eleven miles from city center,

Choeung Ek is one of around 290 to 300 killing fields throughout the country (depending on the source).  Approximately 8.900 bodies were found buried here.

In case sheer numbers don't horrify you, how about these facts:  

• There is a memorial sign by the tree where soldiers would kill babies in front of their mother by bashing the baby's heads into the tree.  
• There is another one called "loudspeaker tree" because a loudspeaker was hung, playing loud music so anyone nearby could not hear the screams as people were bludgeoned to death.
• Oh, and they didn't use bullets to kill, since that would have been a waste of bullets.  Instead the Khmer Rouge used tools like pickaxes and other farming implements.  Often it took multiple blows to kill people.  They then fell into pits and were doused with chemicals to cover the smell.

Taking wooden walkways, you go past the pits where many bodies were found, and you can still see bone fragments and clothing sticking up out of the dirt.  Yes, it is as horrific to visit as it sounds, and because of that, should be visited by anyone going to Southeast Asia.

There is a memorial stupa dedicated to the victims of the genocide that has around 5,000 skulls in it that were recovered from the grounds.  

If you are a faithful reader of the blog, you will remember how taken I was by the Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal.  This display of bones is just sickening.  The bones in Evora's chapel were from people who died when their lives were over , some too young, others of disease, and others after a good long life.  The skulls at Choeung Ek are from people murdered under orders from a psycopath trained by Mao.  (Oh, and spare me the "true socialism has never been tried" canard.)

Who was killed?  Intellectuals, anybody who could read and write, Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese Cambodians, the few Christians in the country, Cambodian Muslims, and anyone they suspected of not supporting Khmer Rouge.  

It's a very somber, emotional place to visit, and a good reminder that there is evil in this world.