The Washington Post News Articles
This Holocaust Still Goes On, Why Do We Ignore It?
April 14, 1983
In this week of remembering the anguish of the Holocaust,
in these days of commemorating those who survived, let us take just
a moment to consider the crimes that continue in Cambodia.
No one knows how many Cambodians were killed after the
communists took control of that country. Estimates run from
one-third to one-half of the population, which means the count is
easily 2 to 3 million. Following such slaughter, the Vietnamese
communists moved in, supposedly to stabilize the country. For those
who have been thinking of the Holocaust, this is analogous to the
Russians "liberating" Poland from the Nazis.
Currently, there are 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers occupying
Cambodia. Behind them, following a policy dictated from Hanoi,
hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese are beginning to settle the
country. There have been few clearer examples in history of a "final
solution" planned to eliminate a national and ethnic identity. The
Cambodians, who were almost wiped out, are now going to be absorbed.
Our media dance around this tragedy, reporting it in bits
and pieces, avoiding the jugular issues that are playing themselves
out for the world to see. The questions the media are avoiding are
two: Why are the Vietnamese really doing this? And why are so many
Americans remaining silent in the face of such a completely hideous
act?
The Vietnamese communists did not move into Cambodia to
liberate the Cambodians, any more than the Russians moved into Poland
to liberate the Poles. They do not remain in Cambodia to stabilize
that country, any more than the Russians remain in Eastern Europe
for the good of the people they conquered. The Vietnamese communist
move was, first, conquest. Or, as one Australian general said a few
years ago, "if you don't believe in the domino theory yet, go ask a
few million of the dominoes."
Second, it was a consequence of centuries of ethnic
animosity between the Vietnamese and the Cambodians, which has
periodically spilled over into attempts at genocide - usually at the
expense of the Cambodians. And finally, it is the clearest way for
the North Vietnamese, who have conquered the South and who
completely dominate the present communist government, to prevent
insurrection in South Vietnam. The troops in Cambodia are
principally South Vietnamese, with North Vietnamese officers to
prevent massive desertions into Thailand. If they were returned home
to a South Vietnam that is now rife with unrest and poverty, they
would endanger what many escapees indicate is a country ready to
revolt.
So the Vietnamese communists are exporting their domestic
strife, and fulfilling a long-held dream of conquest in the bargain.
Why do we not recognize this? First, we are bored and
embarrassed by Southeast Asia. Vietnam and its turbulence is old
news in a society that bums through issues and abandons them for
fresher stuff. More important, however, such recognition would
require many prominent Americans to admit that they were duped by
the communists in Hanoi during the war. Even now, one American
professor in Bangkok returned from a visit in Hanoi with a "high
Vietnamese official" (who would not be identified) and proclaimed
that, honest folks, the Vietnamese are just trying to help
Cambodia. What was the "high Vietnamese official" expected to say? What would happen to his position inside a totalitarian system if he
expressed the dissenting views that we go cherish in our own
political system?
Too many of our brightest people were too easily deceived
by creatures of a communist state during the Vietnam War. Too many
Americans are even today allowing ego to override intellect. So they
ignore the reality of their own deception, even as it unfolds before
their eyes.
It was our own country that was accused of "fascism" and
"genocide" during the war. But think of this for all our bombs and
soldiers, how many people risked their lives on frail little boats
in the open sea to escape the killing during the war? The answer is:
about the same number of people who are currently trying to sneak
from West Berlin into East Germany - zero. The notions of fascism and
genocide existed in Vietnam. Unfortunately, even many of our own
people branded the wrong side with such labels.
Perhaps the ultimate lesson of the Holocaust is that we do
not believe incomprehensible tragedies until they have played
themselves out. And then we console ourselves with little ceremonies
and empty phrases like "Never Again."
I wish it were not so.
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS