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On January 9, 1979, the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh fell to the Vietnamese.
Since April 17,1975, Cambodia had been under the uncompromising grip of a small group of Khmer Rouge
leaders under "Brother Number One," a man named Saloth Sar, known to the world as Pol Pot.
The toll of hardship, misery and death suffered by the Cambodian people during the period can
only be compared to the results of the genocide perpetrated by the German Fascists in the
1930's and '40's.The effects of a policy advocating the total annihilation of Cambodian society by the
Khmer Rouge are still felt a quarter century later in the Cambodia of the early 2000's.
Everything about the Khmer Rouge regime was extreme. From 1975 to 1979, Cambodia remained in
extreme isolation.
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"From the moment I departed Phnom Penh on April 12, 1975, I had resolved somehow to return to
Cambodia. I had left friends and one particular loved one behind.
I had recurring nightmares about Sinan. (See "1970") In the nightmare, this beautiful Khmer
woman was being forced to plant rice in a remote paddy. Her legs knee deep in water, the leeches
in the mud below attached themselves to her and sucked her blood dry. The
life was being sucked out of my loved one and her nation.
Through 1976 and 1977, I wrote repeated letters to the government of 'Democratic Kampuchea.'
[the official name of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge] 'Progressive journalist,' I wrote,
'wishes to report on your new revolution.' I flew to Paris in an effort to cajole KR officials. On assignment for NBC News in Tokyo in mid 1977, I accosted Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary in the elevator of the New Otani Hotel to try to persuade him to issue me a visa. All to no avail.
In 1977, I greeted signs that the Khmer Rouge and their Vietnamese communist allies were falling
out with pleasure. In September 1977, there were reports that Khmer Rouge troops had launched
cross border attacks against Vietnamese villages. I asked NBC News New York to let me lobby for a
visa to Vietnam. It would take months to get a visa from the Hanoi government - if I got one at
all. Much to my irritation, NBC gave the Vietnam assignment to a correspondent senior to me at
NBC. I would have to wait to return to Vietnam.
Tensions between Vietnam and Cambodia continued to rise as the end of 1977
approached. Cross border skirmishing continued. Vietnam was growing impatient.
Hanoi saw the Phnom Penh government as dangerous and irrational. It also saw Beijing's hand
behind a Khmer Rouge policy of xenophobia and expansionism. Vietnam broke relations with Cambodia
on December 31, 1977.War between Vietnam and Cambodia followed.
In the summer of 1978, a career switch from NBC News to ABC News brought for me a new position
and new opportunities.
From my new home in Hong Kong, I resumed efforts to obtain a visa for Vietnam.
In early 1979, with the help of an arrangement with a pro-communist Japanese News Agency known
as "Nihon Denpa," my producer John Lower and I finally secured visas for
Vietnam. Cambodia had just fallen to the Vietnamese. This was the opportunity I had waited for - to return.
On the April 12, 1979, four years to the day of my hasty retreat from Cambodia, I crossed the
Vietnamese-Cambodian border. We had driven down Highway One from Saigon to Phnom Penh.
Cambodia. Spring 1975. I had been offered a rare glimpse of Cambodia at that time, which only a
very few western journalists shared. A month after my journey, this dispatch appeared in the
"Review."
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