Lost Republic

Details are Sketchy has a nice find from the New Republic which I have reposted below. The author of the New Republic blog is actually the Editor-in-Chief of the publication which makes his comments even more inexcusable. Basic research does not seem to worry Mr. Peretz. Not surprisingly, there is no way to contact him directly and point out the errors in his blog, but you can contact the assistant editor Mr. Parker at: (rparker@tnr.com) and let him know the correct spelling of Khmer....

Clueless in Washington

November 18th, 2006

Martin Peretz of The New Republic has this to say about the Khmer Rouge Tribunals.

Cambodia is finally trying some Khymer Rouge officials in a combination of a court and truth and reconciliation process. My guess is that many, if not most of the Khymer are dead. And, as for their Cambodian victims, aside from the rough million or more they actually murdered, large numbers of them will also have died.

In addition to the completely asinine spelling of “Khmer,” Peretz is wrong on just about every account. So wrong, in fact, that it quickly becomes obvious that he has no idea what he is talking about.

There is no truth and reconciliation process. The cynical would argue that, at least at this point, there is not even an agreed set of rules for the court to work by. And while Peretz may be right when he says that some Khmer Rouge leaders are now dead, it’s also correct to say that many are not. Much the same can be said for the KR’s victims — while many have died, there are literally millions still living — as anyone who possesses even the most superficial understanding of the country could point out.