Why Duch’s Quote Makes No Sense

• April 17, 1975 - The Nightmare Begins

  The Khmer Rouge seize control of Phnom Penh.

• January 7, 1979 - Civil War

  The Khmer Rouge are overthrown by the Vietnamese military. Pol Pot and his top aides flee to Cambodia’s “Wild West” border with Thailand. Cvil war erupts.
  

• February 1, 1985 - Meanwhile in Hollywood

  “The Killing Fields,” a Roland Joffe film starring Haing Ngor as “The New York Times” reporter Dith Pran is released.

• March 25, 1985 - History Made in Hollywood

  Haing Ngor wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Dith Pran.

• November 9, 1989 - The Berlin Wall Falls

  The Berlin Wall falls. The East-West stalemate that saw Cambodia used as a proxy-war for the big powers has crumbled. The international community turns its attention toward “fixing” long-neglected Cambodia.

• October 23, 1991 - Paris Peace Accords signed

  Cambodia’s four warring factions - including the Khmer Rouge - sign the Paris Peace Accords, ushering a massive United Nations peacekeeping mission into Cambodia.

• April 14, 1993 - the KR Pull Out

  The Khmer Rouge pull out of the peace deal. This will eventually be seen as a gross strategic miscalculation on their part.

• May 1993 - Peace is Breaking Out All Over - Sort Of

  The UN-supervised elections are hailed as a massive success.

  Cambodia begins to form its new government. The only hitch? Incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen refuses to step down. The UN cobbles together a compromise: election winner, Prince Norodom Ranariddh is the First Prime Minister; Hun Sen is the Second Prime Minister.

• November 1993 - The UN says "Mission Accomplished"

  United Nations peacekeepers withdraw from Cambodia, once again heralding their $2 billion mission a success.

• February 25, 1996 - Haing Ngor is murdered in Los Angeles

  Haing Ngor is murdered in Los Angeles in what authorities call a robbery gone wrong.

• July 6, 1997 - Coup D'état

  Second PM Hun Sen overthrows Prince Ranariddh in a coup-d’état.

  Hun Sen overturned the results of the Cambodia’s first ever democratic election - and its a $2 billion price tag.

  With compassion fatigue setting in, the UN, ASEAN, EU and the rest of the international community go through the motions of objecting. But ultimately - they collectively shrug.

• April 1999 - Nic Dunlop finds Comrade Duch

  Approximate date of when Nic Dunlop finds Comrade Duch in Samlaut, Cambodia on the first of three reporting trips to the area.

• November 2009 - "It was Pol Pot." Say what?

  Kaing Guek Euv, also known as “Duch”, testifies before Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal that Pol Pot ordered the murder of Haing Ngor.