In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare19 Elo 2024

S2 Ep17: Death From Above 1969: Operation Menu and Nixon's Secret Bombing of Cambodia

In March 1969, American B-52s began bombing Cambodia, a neutral country, in an operation so secret that even the Air Force's own reporting system was falsified to hide it. The campaigns were codenamed Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Dessert and Supper. The menu would run for fourteen months.

Time Period Covered: 1968 to 1969

How did Cambodia become the 'key' to Nixon's plan to end the Vietnam War? What was the secret bombing of Cambodia? How many bombs did the US drop on Cambodia? What factors led to the end of Sihanouk's leadership of the country?

In this episode Lachlan looks at the gradually degrading situation in Cambodia, and the destabilisation prior to a change in the White House that will only make matters worse. We look at Sihanouk's movies, the Cambodian economy, and the Khmer Rouge as they continue their 'armed struggle' across the country. Nixon's ascension to power is explored, his plans for a quick end to the Vietnam War, and the role Cambodia could play in producing this. The bombing, done in secret, is explained, as well as some comments on the general discourse around the idea of 'bombs over Cambodia' and the correction Kiernan made in his cowritten article.

Check out the YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/8QdRvpbMr_w?si=vTEurMs6dDEmjjHI

Sources

Short “Pol Pot”
Chandler “Tragedy of Cambodian History”
Shawcross “Sideshow”
Mark Atwood Lawrence “Concise History of the Vietnam War”
Kiernan “How Pol Pot Came To Power”
Osbourne “Sihanouk”
Heder “Cambodian Communism and the Vietnamese Model”

Article Links

https://quillette.com/2023/12/07/kissinger-and-cambodia/

https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/cambodian-genocide-program/us-involvement/united-states-bombing-cambodia-1965-1973

Support

https://www.patreon.com/shadowsofutopia

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S3 Ep10: Interview: The Man Who Stole the Gods | Douglas Latchford & Cambodia’s Looted Khmer Art with Matthew Campbell

Matthew Campbell, award-winning journalist for Bloomberg Businessweek and author of The Man Who Stole the Gods, joins Lachlan Peters to discuss Douglas Latchford, the extraordinary plunder of Cambodia...

15 Syys 1h 4min

S3 Ep9: 1973 Part One: The Return of the King

In early 1973, Norodom Sihanouk travelled down the Ho Chi Minh trail and back onto Cambodian soil for the first time since the coup. China Pictorial published a special issue of photographs to prove i...

1 Syys 1h 43min

S3 Ep8: Terrorism, Rock and Roll and the Battle of Angkor Wat

At the beginning of 1972, Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces fought each other in the temple complex at Angkor. In Phnom Penh, a city swollen with refugees and rocked by bombings, the radios played Sin...

31 Touko 2h 20min

S3 Ep7: How to Get Out of a War in Indochina: Nixon, Mao and the Paris Peace Accords

In February 1972 Richard Nixon flew to Beijing to shake Mao's hand. In May he went to Moscow. In between, North Vietnam launched the largest conventional offensive of the war and American bombers retu...

16 Helmi 2h

S3: Interview: Maoism, the Three Ghosts, and the Khmer Rouge with Matt Galway

In this extended interview, I’m joined by historian Matt Galway, author of Global Maoism, to unpack the intellectual, ideological, and historical foundations of Maoism and Cambodian communism.We begin...

19 Tammi 1h 31min

S3 Ep6: 1972 - Life (and Death) in the Liberated Zones. Regrets for the Khmer Soul and M-13

In 1972 a Phnom Penh schools inspector named Ith Sarin spent nine months inside Khmer Rouge territory and came back to write about it. Around the same time a French scholar named Francois Bizot spent ...

4 Tammi 1h 38min

S3: Interview: The Super Great Leap Forward and the Khmer Rouge Prison System with Henri Locard

This episode is a follow-up to the two-hour discussion I had with historian Henri Locard. The video of that full conversation is available for free on Patreon right here (or just go to https://www.pat...

22 Loka 20251h 8min

S3: Interview: Who Killed Haing Ngor? With Patricia Nunan

You've seen The Killing Fields, you probably know that Haing Ngor, who played Dith Pran in the film won an oscar. You might also know that he was murdered in Los Angeles. But the version of that story...

17 Loka 202534min