Map of U.S. Bombed Cambodia

Permalink Reply by KC Admin on January 15, 2009 at 11:05am

Actually, it was a lot more worse than that.

Facts:

U.S. bombs dropped on Cambodia from 1969-1974: 2.71 million tons
All bombs used by all countries in World War II: approx. 2 million tons (includes atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki)

The bottom line:

- More bombs dropped on Cambodia by US than used by all countries in entire World War II.
- Cambodia is the most heavily bombed country in the history of mankind.
- Estimates of civilian deaths range from 600,000 to 1,000,000 from the US bombings.

But who cares about Khmer lives? BTW, the clip that you saw was made before the U.S. declassified information about the actual tonnage of bombs dropped on Cambodia. The B52 pilots were instructed to bomb "anything that moved".

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Permalink Reply by Kimmie "Yada" on January 15, 2009 at 11:39am

Hello,

"Estimates of civilian deaths range from 600,000 to 1,000,000 from the US bombings." Is this an official statistic? I know that the bombing campaign was to flush out the Viet Cong that was using Cambodian border to hide "The Ho Chi Monh Trail". In Siem Reap, I visited an area where some of the bombing occurs. I presumed most of the area were scarely populared, with villagers and farmers.
Is there a good book you read that give an accurate picture of this?

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl02.html

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Permalink Reply by KC Admin on January 15, 2009 at 11:50am

Hi Kimmie,

Estimates of civilian death tolls from US bombings vary widely. There has not been an intensive study to ascertain the actual amount. Figures often have been manipulated to support the political interests of various parties.

As you can see from the posted map, about 1/3 to 1/2 of Cambodia was bombed; the bombings were not restricted to the Ho Chi Minh Trail as widely (and falsely) believed.

To put things in perspective, Israel has recently dropped about 100 tons of bombs on the Gaza strip, killing about 1,000 people so far. The tonnage dropped on Cambodia was about 27,100 times that amount. Given the same kill ratio, 27,100 x 1,000 = 27.1 million people.

But Cambodia didn't have 27 million at the time. But no matter how you look at it, the 600,000 to 1 million figure is probably a little conservative considering the sheer amount of bombs dropped. World War II, by the way, killed around 60 million people, and less bombs were used in that war.

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Permalink Reply by Kimmie "Yada" on January 15, 2009 at 12:09pm

I blame the Lon Nol's regime in the fiscaso? They were getting thousand from the US. They were so corrupt. I always think that if it were not for Lon Nol's regime the Khmer Rouge would not have win so must support and would not have been successful.

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Permalink Reply by Kambu (ខែមប៊ូ) on January 15, 2009 at 1:03pm

True Lon Nol regime was corrupt. But, did you know that the KR could barely fight against the Khmer Republic Army. The Khmer Republic Army kept the KR at bay for several years. The bombings in part lead many of Lon Nol soldiers to join the KR. In 1975, when the fightings supposedly ceased, the KR promised to the Khmer Republic Army that there would be no more bloodshed. The KR betrayed the Khmer Republic Army and Khmer people. I would not solely blame Lon Nol. There were many other contributing factors.

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Permalink Reply by iDream on October 27, 2009 at 9:45pm

The trigger of the Cambodia Civil War is the U.S. The U.S bombed that worsen Cambodia's condition and Lon Nol was not really a part of Cambodia Civil War at all, so is the King. Without the U.S bomb there's no way that KR could win the Khmer Republic Army. Remember that the Army of the K-Republic were well-equipped and well trained soldiers where the KR army were nothing but a group of angry citizens. They were formed several years before they took over the country and I don't think that's enough time for them to trained their soldiers in such a short period. In fact, they were living in the jungle and who supplies them for all they needed?

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Permalink Reply by Kambu (ខែមប៊ូ) on October 27, 2009 at 10:44pm

iDream,

I believed the communist China was supplying the KR. I believe their only heavy fighting weapons were the RPGs. You are very correct that the KR could barely fought against the U.S.-backed Khmer Republic Armed Forces.