Hardly a sideshow
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William Shawcross does an excellent job in describing US policy in and towards Cambodia right up to the take-over of the country by the Khmer Rouge.
Shawcross admits to not having been to the country, but he makes good use of hundreds of interviews and a rich supply of US Government documents to write a very good account of what happened to Cambodia during the Nixon and Ford Presidencies. He covers all relevant aspects of the issue. When I read the chapter on `The Advisor', one does get the impression that the National Security Advisor is a rather shady character.
The most interesting bit of the book is actually the Appendix, where Shawcross details the controversy the publication of his book has caused. In the first part Shawcross lists the inaccuracies in Kissinger's memoirs with regards to Cambodia and also appears to suggest that Kissinger's actions created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge to take over the country in 1975.
The second part of the Appendix is a copy of Kissinger's authorised response to `Sideshow', written by his aide Peter W. Rodman for the American Spectator in March 1981. I did not find his arguments terribly convincing, but he has the right to speak up. The third part of the Appendix is the author's response to Mr. Rodman and in the last part of the Appendix Mr. Rodman fires off a hate-mail-type letter. To me it read like the sort of rubbish you often hear from the propaganda departments of totalitarian states. In the late 1990s - if I am not mistaken - Kissinger had to admit that he lied in his memoirs after he was confronted with the original documents. That doesn't exactly add quality to Mr. Rodman's replies.
The very first page of the Appendix shows Kissinger trying to convince Prince Sihanouk to change his memory of certain events in Cambodian history presumably in a bid to make Kissinger appear in a better light. That conclusion is almost inescapable.
The only complaint about `Sideshow' I do have is that the book can be very hard to get hold off.
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Detailed and extremely well written
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This is a superb account of how US escalation of the Vietnam conflict led to the destruction of Cambodia and how the extent of US cross-border bombing was illegally concealed by the Nixon administration. It is remarkable that practically all of the heavyweight histories of the Vietnam war make little mention of this aspect of the conflict.
In addition to extensively referenced details of the history, the appendices to the book contain numerous literary critiques of 'Sideshow' that appeared in the popular press. These make fascinating reading and several defensive pieces originating from those close to Kissinger, together with the author's refutation, read like the closing arguments from high-court barristers.
For a coherent and comprehensive guide to a much neglected aspect and rather shameful episode in the US involvement in Indochina, read this book.
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