Posted on 04/23/2012 9:36:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The face of Sath Om reveals even more than her chilling words. The pain seems so immediate and real, it is as if time has stopped.
"It's still real," the 92-year-old survivor of the Cambodian genocide says through translation as the tears flow. "It's like a stick in your eyes when it's remembered."
Om has harrowing stories of life during the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 when upward of 2 million Cambodians died from malnutrition, disease and murder in the country's notorious Killing Fields. Om was burned out of her house and had to run for her life.
She was imprisoned for a time.
She was clubbed on the head, stripped and left for dead in one of the many killing fields strewn across the Cambodian countryside.
Her four children were taken from her and she never saw them again.
Her husband was led away. Although she was told they would be reunited, it never happened.
"I had no hope," she says.
She is the lone survivor. But each night she says they come to her: the spirits of her family asking for her help asking for justice.
As Om tells her story, she covers her eyes and ears, describing the visions and sounds of the souls of her husband, children, parents and siblings.
At other times, Om dreams she is again being taken away to be killed.
In those times of cold dreads, she's not even sure where the dreams and sleep end and the waking memories begin.
These days, Om tries to fill her days with activities and companionship to ward off the ghosts and keep her mind occupied.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Seems the ‘Western world’ has a history of ignoring active genocide. The Jewish genocide was largely ignored during WWII, even while bombers were in the air, and ‘boots were on the ground’.
Whatever happened to the Hmong? I remember the stories of the women having “hysterical” blindness because of the atrocities they had witnessed.
I still can see the images of the Cambodian cities being emptied of people as they were forced into the countryside. Those images never fade.
The French have a lot of blood on their hands. Simone Signoret herself held endless salons filled with American actors (Jane Fonda & the beautiful Jean Seberg for example) encouraging them to visit North Viet Nam and take up with the Old Black Panthers. It destroyed Seberg and turned Fonda into one of the most hated women in America.
Khomeini also lived in France defining his anti-Americanism. Of course, it really wasn’t Americans who paid - it was the citizens of Iran.
John
Kerry
A long time ago in another life I had a friend who escaped Cambodia. 22 of his family left their village and tried to walk to the Viet Namese border.
3 of them made it. 2 more died in a refugee camp in Nam.
The stories that guy told were awful, just awful.
Oh, there was no question to be answered. But your points are well stated and taken.
Um, I don’t presume to know God’s mind or the fate of these souls, but my hunch is that Kerry will end up at the furthest place in the universe from most of those millions of pour souls. Forever.
And if I were a better Christian, I’d grieve for his soul...
“Jane Fonda... Please pick up the courtesy phone...”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.