USA: CAMBODIANS REACT ANGRILY TO COMMENTS MADE BY POL POT

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(24 Oct 1997) English/Nat
Cambodians in the United States have reacted angrily to comments made by former dictator Pol Pot in his first interview for 18 years.
Many expressed disgust after hearing him claim that mountains of skulls symbolizing his brutal rule were a macabre hoax.
It is in this house that Thouk Ou has come to terms with his experience of the murderous regime of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.
A Cambodian who loved his country, he had to flee with his wife and three-year-old daughter in 1975.
Three times he was sentenced to death by the Khmer Rouge, all three times, he managed to escape.
On Thursday, as the first interview with Pol Pot for almost twenty years was broadcast around the world, he joined with other Cambodians who managed to escape the Khmer Rouge.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Pol Pot is not a human being, he's an animal. And he should be treated like an animal. Put him to trial like an animal, tear him up like an animal."
SUPER CAPTION: Thouk Ou
Thouk Ou lost his mother, his sister and his brother in the Killing Fields.
Many others here have tragically similar stories.
Family and friends they will never see again, brutally murdered by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
As they watched the images and listened to the words of the man they call "the butcherer," feelings of anger and hatred returned.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Everybody hates him, everybody. But, just, in our way in Cambodia, the Cambodian way, it's easy for us to forget, but in our minds, for the old people like me, we never forget that."
SUPER CAPTION: Assompion Som
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"How can he hide it? What did he do to our family, our parents, our brothers and sisters? By telling us that he didn't kill the people, I don't know how he can say that, I don't know how he can talk like that."
SUPER CAPTION: Hory Ou
For the younger generations, like Sophea who attends college in Washington, the interview brought feelings of confusion.
SOUNDBITE:(English):
"When I looked at Pol Pot, I was saddened because he looks just like my grandfather. But then my other, more dominant side kicked in, and I was angry. I thought, how could this happen?
SUPER CAPTION: Sophea Touch
But for now Pol Pot seems unlikely to face the trial these people feel he richly deserves.
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