Cambodia

If Kishore Mahbubani would have his way, the U.S. would support the Khmer Rouge-led Cambodian opposition in fighting Cambodia’s Hun Sen government (Op-Ed Page, Oct. 25). Mahbubani suggests we listen to Sihanouk, the most mercurial of leaders, who was all but totally discredited after his performance at the Cambodia peace talks in Paris in August.

Hun Sen, whom Mahbubani describes as a member of Pol Pot’s “tribe,” in fact joined the Khmer Rouge as an 18 year old responding to the same Prince Sihanouk’s call to arms after his own overthrow by U.S.-supported Lon Nol in 1970. Hun Sen defected from the Khmer Rouge ranks seven years later (after two years in power) and played no role in Pol Pot’s brutal repression of his countrymen.

Mahbubani has toured the U.S. selling Singapore’s line about morally ambiguous choices the West must make between the Hun Sen government installed in Vietnam (which has done an impressive job rebuilding the country) and a coalition with Prince Sihanouk as a figurehead but in reality buttressed by the Khmer Rouge’s superior military power.

The Khmer Rouge leadership from Pol Pot down is virtually intact. The day they reach Phnom Penh under the guise of “participating” in an open political process is the day they begin their seizure of power.

Perhaps Mahbubani should be Singapore’s first ambassador to the new government so he could open his eyes to what the Khmer Rouge does to innocent civilians under its rule.

RICHARD WALDEN

President, Operation California

Los Angeles