The USA has a very complicated history with other countries’ affairs.

One of our somewhat lesser-known fuck-ups occurred years before Osama, Saddam, or Gaddafi were even on our radar.

The year was 1975 and our wounds were still fresh from the Vietnam War. That was also the year that Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge—led by the oppressive dictator Pol Pot—came to power.

It’s a story we know all too well. We support the “good guys” who later turn out to be actually the bad guys (think Afghanistan). At the time, we supported the Khmer Rouge monetarily and politically, since the regime was Vietnam’s despised enemy.

The Khmer Rouge aided our vicious war goals in some way by brutally murdering Vietnamese people and other ethnic minorities in the country. But they were not only targeting foreigners—they attacked anyone who could pose a supposed threat to their power.

Inside a Khmer Rouge prison cell (Kouam/CC BY)

The Khmer Rouge even targeted Buddhist monks and intellectuals. You were at risk if you knew another language or if you demonstrated your intelligence in some way.

It was so out of control that anyone who even looked smart was murdered and this included people who merely wore eyeglasses.

One Reddit user describes the brutality his family reportedly suffered:

The killing fields were places where hundreds of people were murdered, including infants and children who were slaughtered after their parents had perished to preemptively stop them from seeking revenge in the future. Some babies were smashed against trees, according to the confessions of a former Khmer Rouge member.



Choeung killing field with a round basket full of bones. (Michael Darter/Wikimedia Commons)

Another redditor describes the lengths that people allegedly went through to avoid such a punishment:

And this Reddit user admits to having alleged ties to those who participated in the massacre:

The regime was unbelievably cruel and insane. Thousands more died from disease, imprisonment, and starvation thanks to the regime’s policies.

When the Khmer Rouge’s reign ended in 1979, around two million people had perished in what is referred to as the Cambodian Genocide, according to Yale University.