NAMES IN THE NEWS : Actor Ed Asner Tours Cambodia
Activist actor Ed Asner is touring Cambodia with a U.S. aid agency. Asner said he welcomes the change in policy that reduced U.S. diplomatic support for the Cambodian resistance coalition because of the participation of the murderous Khmer Rouge in the coalition.
“The situation is very complicated but that is no excuse for failing to make up for a horrible mistake,” Asner said in the capital of Phnom Penh as he mingled with foreign correspondents. He said the United States now should press for a free and fair general election in Cambodia and encourage neighboring Thailand to stop allowing China to run arms to the Khmer Rouge through Thai territory.
“People here are terrified that the Khmer Rouge will come back,” Asner said. “It is partly the responsibility of the West to make these people unafraid.”
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