The Killing Fields
Overview
 
The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

 where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...

 regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War
Cambodian Civil War
The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Viet Cong against the government forces of Cambodia , which were supported by the United States and the Republic of Vietnam The Cambodian...

 (1970-1975).

Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 indicate at least 1,386,734 victims. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million.
Quotations

[in his journal while imprisoned] The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive.

We must be like the ox, and have no thought, except for the Party. And have no love, but for the Angkar. People starve, but we must not grow food. We must honor the comrade children, whose minds are not corrupted by the past.

They brought in the whole fucking press corps. They want to sanitize the story. Bastards!

I can't eat eggs, someone told me they shrink with fright when you cook them.

Anything I eat's gotta be absolutely dead. That is why I can never eat an oyster. I read somewhere that they put that lemon juice on them just to stun them. What's the difference?

What pisses me off is that this country has a lot of faults and a lot of strengths and we have done nothing but play to the faults. I'll tell you Sid I will be damned glad to get out of here. This thing has dragged on too long for it to end in all sweetness and light and after what the Khmer Rouge have been through I don't think they're going to be exactly affectionate toward westerners.

[reading] Dear sir, My family and I are planning a touring vacation of southeast Asia and anticipate, uh 2 weeks in Cambodia touring the country. Would you please send tour information and brochures? Thanking you in advance, Wendal Payne. Wendal lives in Wisacky, South Carolina.

I know Sid but what can we do? It could be a bloodbath here. Look, excuse the pun but we're either staying or we're living.

 
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