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The Cambodian Civil War lasted five years, from the coup in 1970 to the fall of Phnom Penh to the communists in 1975. During this five-year span, the Cambodians and Americans witnessed the rise to power of one of the most radical and brutal political parties of all time: the Khmer Rouge. Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge exploited the U.S. aerial bombardment as a means of propaganda, which proved extremely crucial for their rapid growth to power. Once Operation Menu started, it impacted the lives of thousands of rural Cambodians. As the U.S. commander in South Vietnam, General Abrams requested more carpet bombings of North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia and provided target locations to the White House in which he assured no civilian villages were, a false assertion. The moment these bombs hit, they began to terrorize the once peaceful Cambodian countryside. As one Cambodian survivor recalled, “We heard a terrifying noise which shook the ground; it was as if the earth trembled, rose up and opened beneath our feet. Enormous explosions lit up the sky like huge bolts of lightning; it was the American B-52-s.”

Read more here :https://sites.google.com/site/thesecretbombingofcambodia/rise-of-the-khmer-rouge-and-pol-pot

You can read about him and his rise to power here > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge 

by defeating combodian army