Center For Security Policy Applauds Senator Pell

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(Washington, D.C.): The Center for Security Policy today applauded the decision by the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), to withdraw his amendment to the State Department Authorization bill S. 928. The amendment would have precluded U.S. military aid from being provided to the noncommunist Cambodian resistance that is fighting 80,000 Vietnamese invasion troops and the forces of the Vietnamese-backed puppet government of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea.

"The Pell Amendment was born out of the concern that the U.S. not be associated in any way with the Khmer Rouge and its genocidal past," said Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the Center’s director. "However, denying aid to the noncommunist forces of Sihanouk and Son Sann simply because they have, of current necessity, a tactical association with the Khmer Rouge, would have an ironic and absurd result: It would ensure their continued dependence on the Khmer Rouge to survive in the fight against the Vietnamese and PRK forces. By preventing the creation of a real alternative, the Pell Amendment would also increase the chances that the Khmer Rouge will again gain power in the event Vietnamese troops withdraw as promised."

The Center released a paper on 12 May entitled Designing a U.S. Policy Toward Cambodia: Avoiding a Blood Bath and Supporting a Democratic Alternative to Communist Tyranny. It critically assessed the arguments underpinning Senator Pell’s amendment. The Center’s analysis noted that those "opposing U.S. aid to the noncommunist resistance forces . . . because of their association with the Khmer Rouge often seem to prefer the alternative of dealing with the puppet PRK government. This is especially ironic insofar as it not only amounts to abandoning the democratic elements in favor of a communist regime; it also ignores the fact that a substantial number of individuals once associated with the Khmer Rouge now hold senior positions in the PRK" — including Premier Hun Sen and Secretary General Heng Samrin.

"We are gratified that the concerns we and others in the national security community have expressed about the Pell Amendment have resulted in the withdrawal of this ill-advised legislative initiative," Gaffney said.

Center for Security Policy

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