The Invasion of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War

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1 June 9th World Geography 11 The Invasion of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War Daphne Wood! On October 4th, 1965, the United States Air Force begun a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia and Laos. According to an official U.S. Air Force record, the U.S. dropped 2,756,941 tons worth of bombs in sorties and on sites indiscriminately (Owen & Kiernan, 62). As Cambodia and Laos are both neutral nations during the war and are both militarily weak, these territories are labelled as a safe zone where the Vietnamese Communist forces could establish bases for operations over the border. U.S s Domino Theory as well as the Containment Policy urged the superpower to demolish these bases that provide resupply, training, and resting for the North Vietnamese.! The bombing activity actually began four years earlier than what was widely believed on March 18, Moreover, it was not under the presidency of Richard Nixon, but rather, under that of President Lyndon Johnson. Nevertheless, on March 18, 1969, the United States begun a four year long secret carpet-bombing campaign in Cambodia and Laos in order to attack the base areas of the People s Army of Vietnam and the forces of the Viet Cong (Chomsky, n.d.). However, the operation was only authorized by President Richard Nixon and was done without the approval of the U.S. Congress. The bombings only became public knowledge in 1973, after which the bombings came to its end. The objective of the bombing was to attack the base areas and sanctuaries of the People s Army of Vietnam (North Vietnam s force) and the forces of the Viet Cong in Cambodia and Laos (Owen & Kiernan, 64). 1

2 ! As Vietnam was in French colonialism for over six decades, becoming part of the Indochine Francais (or the French Indochina) in the late 1880s, the nation s desire for independence intensely grew after the Japanese occupied Vietnam during the Second World War. In September 1940, the Japanese occupied Vichy French Indochina in order to prevent the Republic of China from importing arms and fuel through French Indochina to the province of Yunnan. During this time, the Viet Minh, a pro-independence league for Vietnam fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese.! When the Japanese surrender in 1945, Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Viet Minh, declares independence and unification of French colonial provinces as Vietnam. Although the Viet Minh was suppose to fight for Vietnam s independence, it was dominated by the Communist Party. In the Geneva Conference of 1954, the Geneva Accords temporarily separated Vietnam into two parts: a northern Vietnam to be governed by a communist government and a southern Vietnam to be governed by the State of Vietnam, an anticommunist government.! The U.S s Domino theory and Containment Policy was the eventual cause of the invasion of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War. The Domino theory was a theory held by the United States that if one region was under the influence of communism, so will its neighboring regions. In order to stop the spread of communism, the U.S. created the Containment policy to prevent any spread of communism abroad. So when the Communist-dominated Viet Minh declared independence for Vietnam, the United States sprung into action. When North Vietnam invaded Laos and Cambodia in 1959 to build invasion routes to South Vietnam, the United States wanted to destroy it. 2

3 ! During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Liberation Front and the PAVN utilized a network of supply routes that ran through Laos and Cambodia. As the war progresses, the United States invaded both Cambodia and Laos in order to disrupt these routes. However, the operation was never acknowledged or approved by the Congress. The initial operation was only authorized by President Richard Nixon.! A total of thirteen major operations were conducted by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) between April 29th and July 22nd, and by the U.S. forces between May 1st and June 30th. The objective of the campaign was to defeat the approximately 40,000 troops of the People s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong, who build camps in the borders of Cambodia and Laos. Because both nations were neutral during the war and were also militarily weak, these border are considered as safe zones where the Vietnamese communist forces could establish bases for operations over the border. However, these areas turn out to be an unsafe zones for the PAVN because the U.S. wanted to eliminate the cross border threat. As the U.S. is leaning towards its Vietnamization policy and military withdrawal, the U.S. secretly bombed these regions in order to stop the North Vietnamese from winning the war.! For Laos, the U.S. secretly waged widespread bombings runs on nearly every corner of the country, making Laos experiencing more than 30,000 casualties and 20,000 deaths during the bombings. A UN report noted that Laos is the most bombed country, per capita, on the planet. With 0.84 tons of explosives dropped per person from the years 1965 to 1974, the U.S. bombed nearly every quarter of Laos, with the eastern ends of the southern parts of the Laos with the most bombed. Despite the mass killing of the PAVN and Viet Cong army, as well as innocent civilians, the bombing only became public 3

4 knowledge in Why was the bombings done in secret? Why wasn t it approved or acknowledged by the U.S. Congress? Daphne Wood! Menu was a top secret operation. Very few individuals had complete knowledge of the operation. Only the pilots and navigators of the aircraft knew the location of the targets. It is also required for these pilots and navigators to swear for secrecy before the operation could be commenced. Afraid that the proposal of the bombing will be thrown aside, resulting in not only a congressional disapproval, but also the withdrawal of funding for the entire war effort, Nixon kept the bombing a secret. Not to mention, Nixon was also afraid that the idea of the bombing would led to his impeachment due to the cruelty and illegality of the bombings.!! Despite Nixon s secrecy and fears, both happened. From when the United States launched the Menu Campaign -- a codename of a Strategic Air Command bombing that targets Cambodia s border areas labelled Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, Dinner, Dessert, and Snack -- on March 18, 1969, the US continued the air strikes for the next three years under President Nixon s order. The secrecy of the Nixon administration had its impact in It wasn t until the year 1973, four years after the beginning of the Menu Campaign, that the U.S Congress discovered about the carpet-bombing campaign.! In December 1972, Major Knight wrote a letter to Senator William Proxmire, for a clarification of the U.S. policy on the topic of the bombing of Cambodia. Upon reviewing the records of U.S. air operations in Cambodia, nothing was mentioned about the Menu Strikes. The Congress was not convinced, so investigations come in. Angered by the destruction that the bombings had caused and Nixon s urge to keep it a secret, the Congress legislated a halt. Not only was the Congress upset over the number of casualties 4

5 caused in these region, but also was angered over the covertness of the entire mission. According to an Air Force historian Captain Earl H. Tilford, Deception to fool the enemy was one thing, but lying to Congress and key members of the government, including the chief of state of the Air Force and the secretary of the Air Force, was something else.! Despite U.S s efforts to stop the North Vietnamese, going as far as keeping Operation Menu a secret among its own congress, it did not work. Although several North Vietnamese bases were destroyed with the carpet-bombing campaign, there were approximately 40, ,000 Khmer Rouge fighters and Cambodian civilians killed (Owen & Kiernan, 67). In the summer of 1973, the Congress legislated an end to U.S. military activity in, over, or off the shores of Indochina. However, Henry Kissinger, President Nixon s advisor, argued that the bombing of Cambodia was not a bad, secretive U.S. action. Instead, the U.S. are only bombing the North Vietnamese troops that had invaded Cambodia, that were killing many Americans from these sanctuaries (Shawcross, 395). Nevertheless, the North Vietnamese won the war against the South (and the US) on April 30th, 1975.! On July 2nd, 1976, Northern and Southern Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. With the communist takeover of the nation, it is as if U.S s nightmares -- the Domino theory -- are gradually coming true. On April 17th, 1975, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia fell into the power of the Khmer Rouge. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, Cambodia has turned into a communist country. However the victory of the North Vietnamese was not the only loss the U.S had to face.! The ramifications of the U.S secret bombing campaign does not only concern around the victory of the communist PAVN, but also on the number of civilian casualties 5

6 inflicted by the campaign (Owen & Kiernan, 68).The impact of the bombing campaign turns out to be quite substantial. The casualties of innocent civilians in Cambodia angered the populace because it is the bombings that led to the expansion of the Vietnam War in Cambodia, the coup d etat in 1970, the rapid rise and eventual victory of the Khmer Rouge, and ultimately the Cambodian genocide (Owen & Kiernan, 63). Approximately 500,000 people have died as a direct result of the U.S. bombings, and over hundreds of thousands of people had died from the effects of displacement, disease, or starvation (Chomsky, n.d).! The Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), eventually propagandized the U.S. bombing campaign to a great extent. According to a CIA report, it is estimated that the U.S. bombing campaign was the key factor of the success of the Khmer Rouge. Due to the secret bombing, the Khmer Rouge s popularity was able to rise; The Khmer Rouge rebels actually increase in popular support through the U.S. bombings, which are intensely propagandized.! After the bombing campaigns were publicized, the secrecy of the topic became a subject of contention. This had not only intensify the opposition to the U.S. military project in Indochina, but has also raised questions on military discipline and honesty. For example, after the Menu revelations, the world questioned on U.S s military discipline, control over the military, and the effectiveness of the Congress (Shawcross, 287).! All the negative repercussions of the bombing campaigns were all due to its secrecy. For example, Operation Menu was kept a secret among its own Congress with only very few individuals having full knowledge of the mission. Even though President Richard Nixon wanted to keep the operations a secret due to the fear of congressional 6

7 disapproval, the revelation of these bombing campaigns eventually raise attention to U.S. military project in Indochina. It can be concluded that a nation s congress approval is an important aspect during war. Especially if the campaign was as big as bombing campaign that aims to destroy bases of opposing forces that are out of region. 7

8 Work Cited Chomsky, Noam. U.S. Secret Bombing of Cambodia rabble.ca: n.p. n.d. Web. Larson, Peter. US Bombing in Laos n.p Web. Owen, Taylor, and Ben Kiernan. Bombs Over Cambodia New Haven: Yale, Print. Profile: Operation Menu History Commons: n.p. n.d. Web. Shawcross, Wiliam. Slideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the destruction of Cambodia New! York: Cooper Square Publishers, Print. 8

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos Annotation

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos Annotation Name Directions: A. Read the entire article, CIRCLE words you don t know, mark a + in the margin next to paragraphs you understand and a next to paragraphs you don t