Khmer Rouge

While the United Nations has belatedly opened its archives on war criminals of the Nazi period (“Facing up to Horror,” Editorial, Nov. 30), it continues to put the stamp of its spurious approval on war criminals of the more recent past. U.N. recognition of the Khmer Rouge-dominated coalition as the government of Cambodia is one of the most disgusting outrages of our disgraceful era of diplomatic history.

When Pol Pot and his sadistic cohorts were ousted after repeated brutal attacks on Vietnam from the palaces of Phnom Penh, where they had presided in barbaric luxury over the depopulation of their own country, the opportunity was tragically lost to dismantle their vicious organization and bring the leaders to trial for crimes against humanity. Now, through the workings of power politics, expediency and “pragmatism,” the possibility exists that the genocidal Khmer Rouge might actually return to power behind the “respectable” front of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was their figurehead before during the bloodiest atrocities.

Is this the lesson that we want to teach: Terrorism pays, mass murder is profitable, torture is a growth industry, and a pack of mad dogs gets a second chance to kill?

GILBERT DEWART

Pasadena