Norodom Sihanouk

King of Cambodia

CLARIFICATION

in answer to the book "Warrior Prince” by Mr. Harish C. Mehta

Phnom Penh, Friday October 19, 2001

In "indirect response" to certain particularly grave distortions of history by Samdech Ranariddh and Mr. Mehta in this book, I would present my readers with a number of eloquent accounts by highly respectable men and by intellectually honest and well-informed journalists.

(Author's note: my underlining)

a) Washington D.C., 16 April 1970. Statement by Senator Mike Mansfield to the US Senate. Excerpts:

"What for 15 years had been the sole oasis of peace in Indochina has been transformed inside a month into a bloody battlefield. (...) The conflict already includes a potentially horrific genocide (...) against hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese civilians - for the most part farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers - who had lived for many years in reasonable peace in Cambodia. In short, the Pandora's Box that had been kept closed by the authority and diplomacy of Prince Sihanouk is now wide open. For years, Cambodia has been in the eye of the hurricane in Indochina, and now it is being swept away in the full fury of a racial, ideological and militaristic tempest”.

b) Associated Press, Singapore, 19 March 1970. Excerpts:

"A Western diplomat in Singapore, asked to comment on the overthrow of Sihanouk, likened the event to the fall of former French President de Gaulle. “He did a great deal for his country and for his people, and he will be forever remembered for that." he said”.

c) “Le Monde Diplomatique", 12 April 19170. Article by Daniel Roy. Excerpts. “No doubt wishing to avoid accusations of abuse of personal power and election rigging, Sihanouk allowed several Sangkum candidates to stand in each constituency. This led to a bidding war of promises difficult to keep, a costly orgy of publications and leaflets, a handing out of perks of all kinds: positions, honours, money. Those who triumphed in this game were, without exception, the richest and the  feudalists. (...) These “blues" make up a combative right wing, with massive financial resources. (...) The great mass of the peasants and small landowners kept to the “middle way” recommended by Sihanouk. (...) To come back to this right wing, it was driven mainly by what might be called "the villa owners' party”. (...) It is understandable that the departure of the Americans (in 1965) would have conflicted with the interests of certain tradesmen and businessmen of many procurers and much of the criminal underworld: thus there carne into being a party anxious, for some fairly sordid reasons, to see the dollars return. (...) As for comparing Mrs. Monique Sihanouk to Mrs. Hu, it is a joke in particularly bad taste. Princess Sihanouk, the most discreet of wives, occupied herself primarily with benevolent work, and with the Cambodian Red Cross in particular”.

d) Le Nouvel Observateur, 1970. Article by Jean Lacouture. Excerpt:

“A group of small-scale adventurers are seeking, by staking its all, to weld this tiny kingdom into a strategic ensemble dominated by American and Thai special services in Bangkok”.

e) Dispatch News Service, Washington D.C., 1972. Article by Richard A. Fineberg. Excerpts:

“The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a crucial role in encouraging the coup that toppled Prince Norodom Sihanouk and plunged Cambodia into the Indochina war, according to Cambodia's recently named prime minister, Son Ngoc Thanh. Describing Sihanouk's overthrow in a series of interviews last year with Oxford University scholar T .D. Allman, Thanh said that CIA agents promised they would do "everything possible" to help if the Cambodian plotters   successfully mounted a coup (..). Shortly after the March 1970 coup, Thanh's own forces, trained by U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam, were dispatched by plane to Phnom Penh, where they played a vital role in defending the Cambodian capital for Gen. Lon Nol. (...) Sen. Mike Gravel (D., Alaska) said on Tuesday that White House denials of U.S. involvement in the 1970 coup are "incredible" (..). "It is incredible to take the position as the White House has done that the U.S. conducted continuous clandestine incursions into Cambodia, hired and trained members of a sect avowedly dedicated to Sihanouk's overthrow (je souligne .N.S.), and still did not know that a coup was being planned”, Gravel said. (..) Gravel said, "it is doubtful that the prince could have been overthrown without clandestine U.S. support for the coup". According to Son Ngoc Thanh, CIA agents assigned to Thanh's staff were kept aware of developments concerning the coup including secret meetings between Thanh and aides of Gen. Lon Nol. (..) According to Thanh, beginning in 1965 the U.S. paid "millions of dollars” to train, arm and support his forces, most of whom were recruited from the Cambodian minority living in South Vietnam's Delta region. Thanh told Allman, who was on assignment for the (Manchester) Guardian, that in 1969 a U.S. agent assigned to Thanh's staff assurances that the U.S. would support a two-pronged invasion of Cambodia by Thanh's partisans. The plan, Thanh said, was "to penetrate the (Khmer) country" from the South Vietnam and Thai borders. (..) Large scale Khmer Serei defections to the Cambodian government were reported in 1969 (...) The repatriated Khmer Serei units were serving in the royal army under Lon Nol and spearheaded political demonstrations in Phnom Penh just before the coup. (..) After checking with his "American friends”, Thanh committed his U.S. trained and financed forces to the Lon Nol coup. The CIA, he said, promised that the U.S. would do "everything possible" to help. (..) until the March 1970 coup, Thanh engaged in anti-Sihanouk guerilla efforts from Thailand and Vietnam".