When Giants Fight

We visited Toul Sleng, the most notorious detention Center of the Pol Pot regime. I had been there last year but familiarity does not reduce the impact this place has. The ghosts of the suffering that took place here are palpable. There's a chilling matter of factness to the place. Here are the quarters, the instruments of torture, and photos of the faces of the prisoners. It's left to you to imagine what it would be like for those in it, and what it would be like if your were there. It's solemnity makes it hard to talk or interact with people. I saw members of my team overcome and had every urge to go over to them to comfort them but the intensity of what you see all around you makes you want to retract into your shell and close everything off.

It is amazing how the ramifications of the stronger nations' foreign policies, past or present, in this region have made a huge impact. I'll post a quick synopsis. We fought a war in Vietnam against socialists sponsored by Russia. The king was neutral so the Americans sponsored a coup. The corrupt new leaders raped and terrorized, as they allowed the Americans to bomb the countryside. That led people to join the communist Khmer Rouge which eventually drove out the American backed government and decimated the country in five years. The Vietnamese came in and ousted the Khmer Rouge and fought against them for the next ten years. During that time, China and America refused to recognize the Vietnamese backed government and instead forced the UN to only acknowledge the Pol Pot regime as the rightful rulers of Cambodia.

American actions create ripples that continue for years. With such great power and reach should come great responsibility and awareness. We are all too comfortable to remain ignorant of the effect of our choices. Just because we have not personally chosen them does not absolve us from the guilt of actions taken in our name. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves on our history and our current policies. We must keep our government accountable to our human ideals.