Agreeing with Pol Pot: The Other Side of the Story

Soldiers of the Khmer Rouge.

An influential Pol Pot.

A chilling video including photographs of vitcims, museums, and murals illustrating methods of torture and execution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-SI8RF6wDE

"Pol Pot's Charisma" by Socheat Som:
http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/pol_pot1.htm

"Return to the Killing Fields" by Dith Pran:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DA163DF937A1575AC0A96F948260

In an event of mass genocide, torture, execution, etcetera, etcetera, the finger usually points in one direction or at one person. For example, when the Holocaust is mentioned, most immediately think of Adolf Hitler. Mention September 11, 2001, and many think of Osama bin Laden. When someone discusses the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Pol Pot's name is immediately associated with the atrocities of the Killing Fields. However, could one single individual successfully murder over one million people within the course of four years? Moreover, if a single person had killed that many people, wouldn't drastic measures have been taken to stop the killings and that individual? Most realize that in order to get by with such high rates of execution and torture, one person could not do it alone-- he or she would have to have some help. Hitler had his enormous army of Nazis helping him out with the relocation and extermination of Jewish people, just as bin Laden has his Al-Qaeda followers conducting suicide bombings and bombing specific targets, such as the World Trade Center. Pol Pot did not kill over one million Cambodian people alone. He had followers, which, in turn, means that he had a group of people who believed that what he was doing was what was best for Cambodia. In fact, these followers of Pol Pot so adamantly believed in him and his Communist ideals that they became soldiers of his Khmer Rouge regime and executed hundreds of thousands, possibly over one million, Cambodians, which, now, brings us to the question-- should the blame be placed solely on Pol Pot for the monstrosity of the Killing Fields in Cambodia?


Of course, there are ample reasons to point the finger at Pol Pot for what happened in Cambodia from 1975-1979. People were murdered, tortured, separated from families, homes, loved ones, the list could possibly go on for forever. After reading some of the accounts of those who survived the Killing Fields, many can quickly see why so many despised the actions of Pol Pot. He recruited thousands of young soldiers to kill a significant portion of the Cambodian population. People were placed in labor camps and forced to work unreasonable hours for little to no pay, and they were given little if any food to eat. Many died because of the lack of sustenance, and the lack of nutrition and medical care caused many to die from diseases like malaria. According to Dith Pran, a survivor of the Killing Fields, Cambodians were given such meager rations of food "because the Khmer Rouge wanted [Cambodians] to become so weak [that Cambodians] would not have the strength to rise up against [them]" (2). Also, Pran talks about seeing engines of automobiles melted down to use as tools for farming, and the tires made of rubber were melted to make shoes for Khmer Rouge officials, while "the rest of the population walked to work, barefoot" (2). After surviving the torture of the Killing Fields, Pran was runited with his sister; however, because both were so malnourished and thin, they did not recognize one another (Pran 2). Thus, the monstrosity and brutality that Pran and several others endured give legitimate reasons and excuses for solely blaming Pol Pot because the executions and torture were carried out under his leadership.


Even though executions, torture, deportations, and separations occurred under the dictatorship of Pol Pot, soldiers of the Khmer Rouge were acutally the ones carrying out the heinous acts. Therefore, Pol Pot must have done something to persuade people that his ideals would better the country of Cambodia. In his article "Pol Pot's Charisma," Socheat Som makes reference to David Chandler's biography of Pol Pot when he describes the leader as very likable. Pol Pot presented himself "as calm, self-assured, smooth featured, honest, and persuasive, even hypnotic when speaking to small groups" (Chandler 5). Pol Pot was exposed to the ideals and practices of Communism while studiying at a French university. When he returned to Cambodia, Pol Pot became a teacher at a college in Phnom Penh. Most would probably agree that teachers and instructors play a very influential role in the lives of growing and learning students. Because so many students often look to their teachers as role models, Pol Pot was able to influence many young people by the ideas of Communism (Som 1). Also, many consider college students to be vulnerable because they are searching for their place in life. Many of those students probably found their place behind Pol Pot as a member of his Khmer Rouge regime.


I am by no means endorsing Pol Pot's actions nor am I arguing that he does not deserve any blame for what happened in Cambodia during those four monstrous and brutal years of 1975-1979. However, the point does need to be made that Pol Pot did not see to the torture and murder of over one million Cambodians alone. Although he was making sure that his soldiers and followers did carry out the executions, many many others were on Pol Pot's side when they joined the forces of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot thought that by murdering thousands of intellectual Cambodians or forcing them to become slaves, he was making everyone of the Cambodian country on an equal plain. Although recognizing Pol Pot's intentions as a rational way of thinking seems to be completely irrational on my part, the only way to completely understand why Pol Pot killed so many Cambodians is to put his side of the story into a rational argument. Obviously, several people agreed with his philosophy enough that they were willing to join the Khmer Rouge and barbarically execute and torture hundreds of thousands of people daily. By acknowledging (but maybe not agreeing with) the reasoning behind Pol Pot's destrution of millions in the Cambodian population, we are better able to understand Pol Pot and develop a more accurate, logical, and valid opinion of the occurrances based on evidence rather than an irrational opinion based on emotions.

Psychological Effects of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge

Pol Pot . . . Leader of the Khmer Rouge

When people think of human genocide, mass executions, unbearable torture, and blatant brutality towards members of the human race, most immediately think of Adolf Hitler or Sadaam Hussein. However, one that is not as well recognized as Hitler or Hussien is Saloth Sar, also known as Pol Pot. When I first heard the names Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime, I had no clue who or what they were. After conducting research, however, I became aware that what Hitler is to a person of Jewish faith, Pol Pot is to most Cambodians. In the years during the Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot sucessfully murdered around 650,000 people from urban areas of Cambodia and about 675,000 people from the rural areas via "execution, starvation, overwork, disease, and denial of medical care" (Kiernan 4). In most situations, Pol Pot killed the intellectuals of Cambodia because he saw them as a threat to his Communist ideas, and he considered the peasants to be the "true working class of Cambodia" (Tep 81). When most hear of the number of fatalities that occurred in during the reign of Pol Pot, most shudder to think of the pain and suffering that the victims went through, and more than likely, immediately identify Pol Pot as a madman without any human feelings or emotions. Although the brutality and monstrosity of the Khmer Rouge caused insurmountable amounts of suffering for those who were killed, as well as those who survived, the only way to really understand the executions in Cambodia is to look at the goals that Pol Pot was attempting to reach with his plan.

Although acknowledging that Pol Pot's actions have logical reasons behind them seems to be repugnant for those who were killed, the only way to truly understand Pol Pot is to put him in a rational light. According to Steven Vincent, those who carried out the torture and executions saw the murders as a "logical step in eliminating Cambodia's poverty, corruption, and disease" (1). Most of us in the United States would consider human genocide to be barbaric, devilish, corrupt, irrational, the list could go on. However, when we look at the situation through the eyes of Pol Pot, we see that genocide, execution, and torture was the only way he thought that he could purify his country. Also, he punished people working in the rice fields with severe beatings in order to make them work harder and/or faster. In Pol Pot's mind, these whippings, probably prevented others from "slacking off" and taught them a lesson. Although we usually do not beat children to the point of death or severe injury, do we not give them spankings to correct their behavior? His actions were extreme, and we definitely do not have to agree with the way he carried out the "purification" of his country. However, when we emotionally detach ourselves from the executions, we can see logic (however rational or irrational it may be) behind the motives and actions of Pol Pot.

Regardless of the logic behind Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's actions, most would agree with the fact that the brutality and the suffering the victims endured is tragic. Most people hate to see others enduring pain and suffering. However, as much sympathy as we can feel for those victims, we will never entirely understand the actual effects of the monstrosity that occurred in Cambodia unless we personally went through it. The various methods of torture and execution included "electric shock, fingernail extraction, and near-drowning in vats of water, as well as merciless beatings and roasting on heated metal bedframes" (Branigin 1). Obviously, we can see the suffering that the victims of Pol Pot physically endured, but what about the others? What about those who watched their friends, family, and even perfect strangers go through all of this torture, yet they came out alive? What about the prison guards and officials of the Khmer Rouge regime who carried out the torture? Indeed, all of these groups of people suffered in different ways. In one article, Richard Rechtman analyzes the psychological effects that the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime caused. In the article, he discusses one of his patients who had recurring dreams of what he survived/witnessed in the Killing Fields of Cambodia (Rechtman 8). Although he survived, the patient said that he felt as if he belonged among those who had been killed in the mass executions of the Khmer Rouge regime (8). Also, Rechtman points out that the executioners had to mentally force themselves to believe that those who were killed did not contribute to the country and thus, must be executed (5).

After hearing of all of the trauma, torture, and executions that the people of Cambodia endured, many (myself included) may have a hard time sypathizing with Pol Pot and those who carried out the murders and and torture sessions. However, when we step back to look at who all have suffered, we realize that even the "barbarians" endured some form of psychological pain. For example, according to Rechtman, the prison guards and Khmer Rouge officials had to dehumanize the victims in order to make themselves believe that Cambodia would be better off without them (5). Also, Rechtman discusses S21 The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, a documentary in which two survivors meet with the executioners from Tuol Sleng. In the documentary, the prison guards, "without any guilt, without any awareness of the horror they describe, they merely and clearly expose the daily job of an ordinary extermination prison guard: insulting, hitting, and killing. As they put it, they never thought they were killing human beings" (Rechtman 4). Although these officials do not suffer in the same way that victims and survivors do, this documentary presents the obvious psychological dehuminization effects of continual murder. We see that the brutality and monstrosity of mass genocide is long-lasting, and it extends much farther than those who were murdered. It also included the witnesses-- whether it be with recurring nightmares or shakes or coldsweats with the mention of Pol Pot's name, as well as the killers and executioners who served under the leadership of Pol Pot.