Pol Pot and U.S.

Your editorial (“Killing Fields Unavenged,” April 17) is correct to call for continued efforts to bring before an international tribunal all those who are guilty of war crimes during the reign of terror in Cambodia in the 1970s. Such efforts should not end simply because of Pol Pot’s death. But you make the mistake of limiting those guilty of war crimes in Cambodia to leaders of the Khmer Rouge. Have you forgotten about the bloody U.S. bombing campaign of Cambodia that preceded (and arguably facilitated) Pol Pot’s seizure of power?

According to a study by the Inquiry Commission of the Finnish government, the U.S. bombing caused the deaths of 600,000 Cambodians and created 2 million refugees. Rather than regretting that the international community has lost a chance to prosecute a war criminal now that Pol Pot has died, we should work to bring the likes of Henry Kissinger, in addition to surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge suspected of war crimes, before an international tribunal.

By definition, international law is based on universal principles and, as such, does not allow for selective application. To suggest otherwise is to deny the justice deserved by the victims of Cambodia’s killing fields--those created by the U.S. government as well as by the Khmer Rouge.

JOSEPH NEVINS

Venice