Editing Khmer Rouge (section)

===== Before 1975 =====
{{further|Allegations of United States support for the Khmer Rouge|Operation Menu|Operation Freedom Deal}}
[[File:Bomb craters in Cambodia.jpg|thumb|An aerial view of bomb craters in Cambodia]]
The relationship between the massive [[carpet bombing]] of Cambodia by the United States and the growth of the Khmer Rouge, in terms of recruitment and popular support, has been a matter of interest to historians. Some scholars, including [[Michael Ignatieff]], [[Adam Jones (Canadian scholar)|Adam Jones]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.mcvts.net/cms/lib07/NJ01911694/Centricity/Domain/155/Textbook.pdf|title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction|last=Jones|first=Adam|publisher=Routledge|year=2006|pages=189–90|access-date=25 January 2019|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805203324/https://www.mcvts.net/cms/lib07/NJ01911694/Centricity/Domain/155/Textbook.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Greg Grandin]],<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGGzBgAAQBAJ&q=%22grandin,%22+khmer+rouge|title=Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman|last=Grandin|first=Greg|date=2015|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|isbn=978-1627794503|pages=179–80}}</ref> have cited the United States intervention and bombing campaign (spanning 1965–1973) as a significant factor which led to increased support for the Khmer Rouge among the Cambodian peasantry.<ref>Kiernan, Ben (Winter 1989). "The American Bombardment of Kampuchea 1969–1973". ''Vietnam Generation''. '''1''' (1): 4–41.</ref>

According to Ben Kiernan, the Khmer Rouge "would not have won power without U.S. economic and military destabilization of Cambodia. ... It used the bombing's devastation and massacre of civilians as recruitment [[propaganda]] and as an excuse for its brutal, radical policies and its purge of moderate communists and Sihanoukists."<ref name="Kiernan 2008" />{{rp|16–19}} Pol Pot biographer David P. Chandler writes that the bombing "had the effect the Americans wanted – it broke the Communist encirclement of Phnom Penh", but it also accelerated the collapse of rural society and increased social polarization.<ref name="Chandler 2018" />{{rp|96–8}}<ref>Chandler, David (2005). ''Cambodia 1884–1975'', in The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia, edited by Norman Owen. University of Hawaii Press, p. 369.</ref> [[Peter Rodman]] and [[Michael Lind]] claim that the United States intervention saved the Lon Nol regime from collapse in 1970 and 1973.<ref>Rodman, Peter (23 August 2007). [http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0823iraq_rodman.aspx "Returning to Cambodia"]. Brookings Institution. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110165813/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/0823iraq_rodman.aspx|date=10 November 2011}}</ref><ref>Lind, Michael, ''Vietnam: The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict'', Free Press, 1999.</ref> Craig Etcheson acknowledged that U.S. intervention increased recruitment for the Khmer Rouge but disputed that it was a primary cause of the Khmer Rouge victory.<ref>Etcheson, Craig, ''The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea'', Westview Press, 1984, p. 97.</ref> [[William Shawcross]] writes that the United States bombing and ground incursion plunged Cambodia into the chaos that Sihanouk had worked for years to avoid.<ref name="Shawcross 1979" />{{rp|92–100, 106–112}}

By 1973, Vietnamese support of the Khmer Rouge had largely disappeared.<ref name="Cook 2017" /> On the other hand, the CCP largely "armed and trained" the Khmer Rouge, including Pol Pot, both during the Cambodian Civil War and the years afterward.<ref>Bezlova, Antoaneta (21 February 2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090223174332/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KB21Ad01.html "China haunted by Khmer Rouge links"]. ''Asia Times''. Retrieved 21 February 2009.</ref> In 1970 alone, the Chinese reportedly gave 400 tons of military aid to the [[National United Front of Kampuchea]] formed by Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge.<ref name="Xiamen Forum 2013" />