THE FAILURE OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE 'THIRD WORLD'--SEEN THROUGH THE LESSON OF CAMBODIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700260018-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: September 28, 1965
• Content Type: OPEN

create a dangerous confusion in our count y.?
I think that socialism will leave us alone,
at least until the departure (with no re-
turn) of the United States of America from
Indochina, which will incite Thailand to
proclaim herself more neutralist than we
establishing their influence in the nations of trol our incoercible need for saving our dig- are'
the "third world" at the expense of the So- nity. For, while the rich, when he loses his Then Cambodia will be a ripe fruit for the
cialist camp, are literally furious because honor still remains rich, the poor loses his Communists to savor without even going to
bl f i kln it as the Red khmers
o
c
h t
SEP 2 8 1955
$eptember.:,28, . Y9651 ~vGU CONU` `S'ib` fAL~ iEC~r2 "r ~L-1 A`i "vu" u I ovu' ?-1 24413
f
t-1 -Wpt/
A person like Chou En-lai, on the other
hand, said to us something like the follow-
ing: "The aid which we take the liberty of
offering to you is not what we would like it
to be. It is too modest, as compared with
our feelings of friendship and esteem. for
you, and we thank you for being so kind as
to accept it. We must make it clear to you
that there are absolutely no strings attached
to that aid, and that you are not required to
give anything in return. It is an honor for
us to be able to contribute, in an extremely
small way, to your national construction (or
defense) effort.
""We know that your progress is due solely
to your own efforts, to the work and the
sacrifices of your people. We greatly appre-
ciate your 'friendship, but we do not demand
that it be exclusive. We respect your non-
alinement and understand very well that you
have other good friends, even among the
lectuals would have become Communist-
being pushed into the Communist camp by
the lack of understanding, distrust, and in-
justice of the Americans and their disciples.
The Communist powers know perfectly
well that my presence in the government
serves as a restraint on the communization
of Cambodia.
But they are much too smart to fight me
and our government right now. They still
need me for a while; they need my uncom-
promising nationalism, for Cambodia to re-
sist the pressures and provocations of the -
American camp.
By fighting me now, the Communist pow-
ers would certainly not throw me into ,the
arms of the free world, even less into the
arms of the Americans. But they would
alienate the majority of the khmer people,
of our clergy, of our army, and of our police,
who are irreversibly nationalistic, And that,
mistake would create insurmountable diffi-
culties for a seizure of power by the Red`
klmers of the pracheachon and by the ex-
powers of the free world."
You will note the difference in the ways
of giving. On one side we are being hu-
miliated, we are given a lecture, we are re-
quired to give something in return. On the
treme left of the sangkum. The dispute
would enable the third thief-the United
-
SON is being flattered-and human beings have
?r' HE raD WOi WORLDof"S S WI-WI-1k; ~, EEN THROUGH can Tao THE L L., Ea90N
"THIRD their weaknesses, and it would be futile to
of CAMMODIA try to eradicate.
(By Norodom Sihanuk) As impossible it is for a Johnson to hide
The Americans, who think. they have all his pride of being rich, white, and powerful,
r
p
g
they have known nothing but humiliating last justification for existence. o ou e
failures there, as in our country, for instance. Hence it is easy to understand that we will make it drop directly into their mouth.
Undeniably they are very smart in the art would rather have a single Chinese Yuan of- . In striking contrast with the shrewdness
of making money in business and industry, fered with tact than, let us say, 100 American of the Socialist camp, the 'United States of
a...F --- i4 r,. 4,.,.ninn ..n1-, +hny ore ?Anilnra hrutc 11v thMwn into our face. America is, through the channel of the CIA,
the reason for their failures and of learning stand us, let their friend and ally, President not so much from South Vietnam, which has k
from them In order to avoid further failures. . Diosdado Macapagal, of the Philippines, who more serious worries, as from Thailand,
Many-and not the least of them-refuse will some day, in very similar terms, teach . which had been relatively spared. I shall
to recognize their mistakes, and place the re- the overly insolent American journalists the cite the secessionist subversion attempt in
sponsibility for their failure on the people same lesson, explain that phenomenon to our Koh Kong Province and the transfer of
whose hearts their country has been unable them. / liberation troops (our rebels) from the
to win. They then call those countries "in- Another charge made by the Americans South Vietnamese frontiers, almost lined in
Thailand
the Vietcon
to
ti
t
b
i
th
.
g,
.
re
y
y
e
r en
grates," even "seller-outers to communism." against the people who are under obligation ,
"Ingratitude" is the first reproach-in to them and who nevertheless refuse to fol- These liberators are now planted all along
plain words 'or in-between-the-lines-ad- ? low them in the domain of politics, is that the Dangrek Chain, engaging in unrestrained
anti-Sihanuk and pro-free world propaganda
they have sold out to the Communists
dressed by the 'Americans to those who have
,
,
for some reason or other, benefited from their Sold. out-but to whom? No doubt, be- . activities and attacking our border posts in
tudo toward them. Well, on that count, we could only sell out
The American (and pro-American) news- to the Americans, for the Soviet or Chinese
papers keep on addressing that reproach to Communists will never be rich enough to
us. Mr. Dean Rusk himself, in the letter compete with Uncle Sam.
which 'he wrote to our Government on the Cambodia, in spite of her very bad rela-
occasion of the breaking of relations between 'tions with the United States of America, has
our two countries, did not fail to remind us remained resolutely allergic to communism.
that the United States had given us substan- But, as Mr. Bertil Galland, a Swiss journal-
tial funds since 1055. 1st, wrote with remarkable lucidity, the
However poor psychologists they may be, Americans don't know how to grab this
the Americans ought to remember this ,chance (amazing for the free world) to
proverb which every schoolboy in the world have-not for them, but beside them-a
has learned: "It is not the gift that counts; Cambodia strongly attached to its monarchy.
it is the way in which it Is given." "The Americans," that college writes,'
On extending American generosity to the "ought to understand that the enthusiastic
"third world " President Johnson said, in rallying of a people around their prince is a
,.Peiping.
The Americans are forgetting that by up-
rooting our monarchy and discouraging
Sihanuk and the Sangkum, they are elimi-
our country. For the arrival here of a Son.
Ngoc Thanh, and, even more, of a Sam Sary,
would immediately throw our young people,
our peasants, our workers, and even our
clergy, into the arms of Peiping and, neces-
sarily, of Hanoi.
It is quite obvious that the,QIA has not
learned anything from the lessons of Cuba
and Santo Domingo.
Judging Incorrigible the CIA would "sack
me," as the saying goes, to get rid of me as
substance, "We are a white, rich, and ad- much more effective means for saving a well as, of the Sangkum.
vaned Nation, You are a colored, poor, and country from communism than all the I am warning the Americans, so long as
backward country. Because we are civilized, bombs of the Pentagon." ? we can contain the attacks of the Thanh
one of these days the Dominican Republic
will do and other nations of Latin America
for which the United States of America, as
a Washington-type policeman, happily de-
parted on a witch hunt,
parted
mse
modernized
you owe it to us, the
- Americans." to a plebeian throwing himself into the' This is not a paradox, but a reality: U.S.
arms of SEATO-and that choice [prefer- policy and U.S. aid are the greatest purveyors
--- once] is full of significance and intelligence.. of communism,
Source:. Kambuya (illustrated monthly), ? ' I have been assured on many occasions The United States of America has only one
August 15, 1065, editorial, pp. 10-25; trans- that if I were not the head of the nation, ' policy: if one Is no; for her, it is because one
lated from French by Elizabet) Hanunian. many of our workers, students, and Intel- Is against her. She accepts no other solo
:Approved For. Release 2005/01/05 CIA-RDP75-00149R00070026001&,1
we are giving you our pity and our money. Not only does the United States of Amer- traitors, we will remain neutral. When we
However, you must show us the gratitude Ica not forgive Cambodia for being a friend can no longer do so, we will be forced-for
that a poor man owes the generous and im- of China, but it makes her furious to see which the United States of America is to
do, without ever criticizing us, You must voring the republic. form of government),
help us repel communism in your zone. And but a prince and a former king.
don't you over forget it, if your stomach is Mao Tse-tung takes pleasure in proclaim-
1 t if h f fi __
ou
t
n
ess emp y, y
avo weapons or g
g Ing that he prefers a prince refusing to aline
the Reds and your rebola,,if your country can . hi
lf with the United States of America
 24414 Approved For R m s,LC W]5-00~ 0H700260 ember 28, 1965.
tion; be it Gaullist France or' Sihanukist is getting out of SEATO, and If Do Gaulle is In our day and age, a base of U-2 planes
Cambodia, bristling up against the United States of in Pakistan, a missile base in Turkey, or a
The publishers of big American news- America, it is directly and undeniably the naval base in Japan cannot adequately pro-
papers have classified Do Gaulle as enemy work of Washington-and not of Peiping or tect the territory of the United States of
No. 3 of the peace-after Mao Tee-tung and of Moscow. America against a possible Communist strike.
Chou En-lai. The Americans-have always used this kind What good Is that rampart when Pakistan
As for Sihanuk, head of a pocket-size of language In dealing with the third world: becomes the bosom friend of Red China, when
kingdom, he does not deserve to figure in "If you are not for us, you are against us Turkey maintains the best of relations with
such a classification: he is quite simply the and for the Communists." U.S.S.R., when Japan-at least her young
"lackay of Peiping." The third world answers: "That is. wrong, people-protests the coming of an American
Do Gaulle's. crime is to want a French- We want to be neither for you nor for the battleship and receives the cnvo`ys of the
not an American or a Soviet-France. Communists. We are for our national gov- White House with a hail of stones or a pro-
Sihanuk's crime is to want a Cambodian ernment, for our country. We want.to be fusion of booing?
Cambodia, escaping both the free world and the friend of all and satellite of none." What good is the Thai "bastion," when the
the Communist camp. The United States of America comes back: long-time pro-Chinese spy center for south-
Let us consider the case of President "By reasoning that way you act like pro- east Asia in Bangkok Is next door to SEATO
Nasser: he receives economic aid from the Communists. You are therefore our enemies, headquarters; when the inhabitants of the
Soviets and the Chinese, though he is ex- We shall act toward you accordingly until provinces bordering on Laos, according to the
V- ran,
tremely hard on the local Communist- wh
om
he has outlawed and forced to join the
country's only party.
The Communist powers have made no
-
cclylug~
gross 6t11
remonstrations, or remarks, on this matter, g pidity, why would not the people border populations do not know the name
and imperturbably continue to give him concerned be tempted to follow the example of the Prime Minister of the Thai Govern.
considerable aid and unflinching nnutin"i of Cuba and of thn -m-+,,,,.,,,.,,.- . _ _ .
For much less serious reasons, the. United The aggressive militarism of the United
States of America is threatening to cut off States of America, finally, completes the
aid to Nasser, Sukarno, and others. Nobody triptych , (aid-policy-militarism) which
knows as yet the result of that absurd encourages the progress of communism in
method of procedure, I the world.
What is wrong with the Americans is that In South Vietnam, for example, tens and
they mave a mind like bookkeepers who are perhaps hundreds of thousands of young
incessantly keeping book on the returns - people who were nationalistic or unpolitical
Nixon, who failed in his attempt to becomo
the Chief Executive of the United States of
America, said with almost unbelievable
coarseness: "There is no reason for fattening
those countries for the Communists who
will take them over." The countries to
titian referred were Latin American nations
which just once (and timidly) voiced some
reservations on U.S. policy in Santo
Domingo.
The Soviets and the Chinese make believe
that their aid is being paid without security;
without guarantee of reimbursement. How-
ever, that investment is a highly paying
proposition.
In Cambodia, for example, where the
Chinese have become so popular because of
their elegance, their know-how, and their
savoir-faire, it no happens we are being
suspected of being their vassals. The Dean Rusks and the McNamaras man-
age to see Communists everywhere, especially
in Asia and in Latin America. By getting
themselves into a frenzy and treating the
genuine nationalists like Communists, they
create Communists at every step, thus be-
of your ways). Nis a joke-at -1 yy'"' ?" "` -?' vwpl-u llbbellLlg
mast tho+ a 1.. Neutrality r ,_ _.. - a_ j-_? to radio Bangkok years ago and are listen.
munism, because of the protectorate estab-,
lished . over their country by the United
States of America, and of the bombs dropped
on their heads, and of the napalm.
In order to eliminate a dozen Vietcong,
-presumed to be In a given area, the Amer-
leans use big stuff-tons of bombs, incen-
diary liquids, toxic powders, and so forth.
They destroy entire villages, killing hundreds
of innocent persons, as well as the crops.
The survivors, who. do not know how to
get support or even compassion from their
government under orders of the aggressors,
and who naturally want to avenge their dead,
are joining the ranks of the Vietcong: The
. Those People there should h
b
a giant with feet of clay. She has become a
giant made of clay, because she does not have
the courage to face reality and takes refuge
in wishful thinking,
She failed to understand that In order to
contain communism she must help forge a
chain of strongly nationalistic, irreprochably
Independent and genuinely free states headed _
by obstinate and even intractable leaders,
like De Gaulle in France and (I say this
without false modesty) Sihanuk in Cam-
bodia.
She preferred to create a chain of lamenta-
bly vassalized nations supported at a loss-
a rotten branch, deceiving from a distance
but .breaking as soon as one leans against it.
The Americans will understand only after
their total effacement of the third-world that
an ideal, or an ideology, is not conquered by
the force of arms or money, but by offering
another ideal, or another ideology, more in
keeping with the nature and aspirations of
man-accepted as an intelligent being.
For having tried to make them understand
this vital truth, the France of General do
Gaulle-which, pursuing his line of reason-
ing to the end, this year refused to partici-
pate in the work of SEATO as a rightful
member-the Americans and their fanatics
called France, I said, a saboteur of the anti-
Communist alliance and accused her of
"playing into the hands of Peiping."
If France, a big power, ally of the United
States of America and member of the atomic
club, has for the Americans become the pur-.,
veyor of communism, how can we expect our
the Communists. .
ave
een al-
i
0- g oosmle craft able to accurately hit a certain uity and
their feelings and their anger, if Pakistan target, i,e.. a certain moon nratar fruit of f the third world to maturity
s
n
light of
communism, if are living In the age
Cuba has slipped toward es of o g Invoked. We propaganda' will History prove which one day makes that the
Latin America Is becoming anti-American, sales, of satellite spies In space, of small Americans were the ones who bro h
if the Japanese people are no lon r hidin
th
e
can
( no uding the with military bases is incomprehensible as It would be unfair to blame 1
Latin American countries), we are balking it on the
against coercion. king well as unjustifiable-even if the security Communist powers which are not there for
of the United Stat i
b i
the americans, infuriated by our immoral laws. ?rne neutralist leaders were im- tamea us in our fight against imperialism,
neutrality (according to John Foster Dulles) prisoned, tortured, sometimes shot to death- We can do no more but to let the Commu-
have done everything to force Us to give it just like the Vietcong with gun In hand. nists pick the fruits of a victory which we
up. Now, the result has been the opposite Those who could not escape are now in the would never have been able to carry off with-
of what they expected: that neutrality has maquis, where the Communist forces have out them.
turned into balking, taken them in hand. The neutralism of `the third world will .
However, our reaction was easy to foresee: The mania of the Americans for occupy- thus have disappeared from the earth, which
s 1 1 ing foreign countries and studding the world Is the fault of the Ameri
Like all the other countri
I
o
and wait until they come of their own the American forces. p But that victory will leave us face to face
accord-disgusted by the mistakes, pressures, ' The 'United States of America, on the with the victor-communism,
and, sometimes, duress on the part of the other hand, saw to it that those who wanted, As tired heroes we will not be able to fight
Americans, out of patriotism and nationalism, a neutral against communism, which has dons up no '
United Stites of America has therefore
created many more Communists than the
has destroyed.
When' that situation is laid before them,
the Americans answer with irriation: "If we
leave this country, it will fall within the hour
entirely into the hands of the Communists."
Insofar as South Vietnam is concerned,
it was not true several years ago. It is prob-
ably true today. For the Americans have,
by their immeasurable stupidity, made
"Reds" out of all those who only wanted a
"Cambodia-like" neutrality for their coun-
try-i.e., independent of the Americans and
choice. Their choice for them is Americani- '. lowed to govern their country with the sup-
zation or communization, port of 'the people which would not have
Since they have no national choice, the failed to defend the independence of Vict-
people prefer communism to the intolerant, ` ham, but which would obviously have impli-
brutal, and vindictive free world, as the Com-- cated the withdrawal (but orderly, without
munistsdo not push them into their camp humiliation and with undue hardshi )
f
Approved For Release 2005/01/05: CIA-RDP75-0Qi_49ROD0700260Q18,1'
Lca some aayr ' ..
Tile United States of America leaves the
people of the third world, who refuse to give
up their nationalism and their independence, .
only one way out: to fight until final victory
 Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700260018-1
That is the lesson to be learned from the
aberrant policy of the Americans. That will
be the conclusion to be drawn from their
startling and decisive failure in the third
world.
POSTSCRIPT
May I be permitted to quote, as last month,
.these astonishingly accurate and deep lines
written by the great British historian, Ar-
nold Toynbee, from his book, "The United
States of America, Involuntary Heirs to
'Odious Colonialism":
"To the people who suffered under West-
ern domination in the past' his voice (Presi-
'dent Johnson's-the author) sounds like the
Ifaiser's and Hitler's. The United States of
America is absolutely against the determina-
tion of the non-Western majority of the
human race to bring about their own libera-
tion from Western domination, which it has
endured for the last 200 years.
"The United States of America, not realiz-
ing what she had done (to deserve this), has
fallen heir to British, French, Dutch, and
-Japanese colonialism. Consequently, she
has attracted to herself the hatred aroused:
by the European and Japanese colonialists
against themselves. It is a formidable herit-
age; and even the U.S. military potential
will not be strong enough to bear up under
it for long. The haste on the part of the
United States of America to occupy the place
in Vietnam which had been Inevitably va-
cated by France demonstrated that colonial-
ism had ceased to be possible (or, accept-
able). By assuming this anachronistic role,
the United States of America has placed her-
self into an untenable position.
"When the non-Western people got rid of
European and Japanese colonialism, they
thought for u while that they had really re-.
gained their independence. But now., the
Americans have taken on the relief and are
dictating to the Asians what they should or ',
should not do.' In other words, the Ameri
cans, In their turn, are treating the. Asiatics
like natives, which is making them furious.
"The only practical foundation for co-
existence between the non-Western'majority
and the Western minority of the human race.:
is the absolute equality of relations.
"All Western powers, even including the
United States and the weak but incorrigible'
Portugal, will have to accept equality in the
long run. The sooner they accept it, the
smaller will be the price they will have to
pay,
This final condemnation of U.S. ,foreign
policy is even more impressive in that it was.
voiced by an eminent Westerner, a, citizen
of a country that is a loyal ally of the United
States of America.
The price the American people will have
to pay for the blunder of their leaders .will;
,oertainly be a very heavy one.
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700260018-1 .