Top Khmer Rouge leaders guilty of crimes against humanity

[alp227]

Source: BBC

Two top Khmer Rouge leaders have been jailed for life after being convicted by Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal of crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea served as Pol Pot's deputy and Khieu Samphan was the Maoist regime's head of state.

They are the first top-level leaders to be held accountable for its crimes.

Up to two million people are believed to have died under the Khmer Rouge - from starvation and overwork or executed as enemies of the state.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28670568

[Warpy]

1. It took 39 years to get these murdering scumbags

Are y'all getting this?

As I've said in the last day or two, we can't expect a criminal administration to be brought to justice quickly. It takes time for their toadies to die off or retire out of government.

Then we get them.

None of them should have a day's peace. They know their guilt. They know the world has a long memory when it comes to men who take office illegally and become war criminals.

[totodeinhere]

2. Yes but several other Cambodian war criminals died of natural causes before they

could be brought to justice. And if it takes 39 years to get Bush and Cheney they will both be long dead by that time too. That's why I would prefer justice now rather than deferred justice.

[BrotherIvan]

8. I'm with you

Cheney won't live long enough but Condie is looking well. Bush and Rummy, you never know. I wish long life to all the torturers. And not a single moment's peace.

[Warpy]

11. Exactly

although I think prosecution will come as a complete surprise to Stupid. The man's mind really is blank, utterly empty. You can see it in his "art."

[BrotherIvan]

12. Like this

http://www.theonion.com/video/george-w-bush-debuts-new-paintings-of-dogs-friends,35799/

[billhicks76]

9. Next Stop

Wanted posters for Cheney, Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Imagine it, believe it and then watch it happen.

[Purveyor]

3. Gives me hope that someday even our own war criminals will be brought

to justice, i.e. Bush, Cheney, et.al.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Don't think that will ever happen, at least while they're alive

They know where all the skeletons are buried and have everyone scared shitless.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Keep in mind the Right Wing websites claim these guys were Liberals....

But then, they're so stupid that their eyes glaze over when you say there's such a thing as a Right Wing Dictator.

To them, "Right Wing" = "Small Government" = "Freedom".

Therefore ALL oppressive regimes MUST BE Big Government Lefty.

The Khmer Rouge used the entire population as slave labor for a wealthy elite and killed all who had a problem with that. They believed the entire population should pull itself up by their own bootstraps in all things even when it came to simple medicine causing mass death from preventable disease. They believed only the strong should survive. Sounds pretty Right Wing to me despite their calling themselves "Communists". They didn't share a damn thing. They exploited and murdered with the ultimate libertarian, capitalistic dream for the likes of Rand Paul.

[n2doc]

10. And they especially targeted anyone with an education n/t

[former9thward]

13. They were communist.

The took communism to its ultimate level of a pre-industrial society. Basically one big commune based on primitive agriculture. The left at the time ignored the genocide and said it was exaggerated. Norm Chomsky acted as an apologist for Pol Pot in those years. Even after Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979 the Carter administration helped the Khmer Rouge keep its seat at the UN. The Carter administration and the Reagan administration following both gave the Khmer Rouge money to fight Vietnam in the years after the invasion.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl04.html

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Communism is supposed to be a classless society which is the basis for "Commerade"....

Not that it ever actually achieved it.

There's always a ruling class to manipulate the people into servitude while telling them they're free.

[former9thward]

16. They were a communist movement.

A communist revolution. I know communists always say there has never been "true communism" anywhere because all those countries have been failures. Socialists say the same thing. I say this as a democratic capitalist so that is my bias. I believe those countries have been failures due to inherent contradictions in socialism and communism.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. Those countries have been failures because they have been dictatorships by committee.

[former9thward]

18. Which is the Leninist model.

Marx called for a dictatorship of the proletariat and Lenin made the Communist Central Committee to be the instrument of that proletarian dictatorship.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. History is filled with hijacked populist revolutions....

Napoleon is another example.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. Finally. eom

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, alp.

[Tikki]

14. History stands and we do remember...Please look for this important Documentary when it makes it's...

way to where you are. It is premiering this September in Long Beach CA which has the largest Cambodian population
outside of Southeast Asia.
Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll

http://www.dtifcambodia.com
https://www.facebook.com/CambodianRock
http://cambodiatownfilmfestival.com Long Beach CA

Tikki

[karynnj]

20. Secretary of State Kerry, who as Senator helped broker the tribunal, commented on this

Here is the State Department comment from Kerry:

More than 30 years after the Khmer Rouge slaughtered some 1.7 million people, Cambodians have received a small measure of justice and a reminder that justice may not be swift, but justice is resolute. Today’s verdict against two of the most senior surviving members of the Khmer Rouge is a milestone for the Cambodian people who have suffered some of the worst horrors of the 20th century.

Of all the work I was a part of as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 29 years, I’m especially proud to have traveled so many miles between Phnom Penh and Washington to work with Cambodians to create the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). This issue mattered deeply to me as someone who experienced American foreign policy in a personal way as a young man, serving in the region, and I wanted to be just as personally engaged in the work to find closure decades later.

The effort to try those most responsible for these horrific crimes was long overdue and absolutely vital.

I’ll never forget the inspiring story of the photojournalist Dith Pran, whose survival during those bloody years was a triumph of the human spirit. He once said, “The dead are crying out for justice.” And believe me: through the ECCC, the international community is working together to make sure that those cries are finally heard.

The United States will continue to support the efforts of the ECCC to secure justice and shed light on the darkest chapter of Cambodian history. Today’s verdict is a historic, if long delayed, step along the path for Cambodia. We must now help Cambodia’s people see the job through as they usher in a new era of justice, accountability, and reconciliation.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/08/230378.htm

Kerry's work on this referred to in his statement is well documented in this fantastic Prosense post - well researched as always!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x905152