BANGKOK, Thailand -- In November 1975, seven months after Pol Pot
seized Cambodia, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger asked
Thailand's representatives about Pol Pot's brother-in-law, Ieng Sary.
Thailand's Chatichai Choonhavan had recently met Ieng Sary in Bangkok.
"Did Ieng Sary impress you?" Mr. Kissinger asked.
"He is a nice, quiet man," replied Mr. Chatichai who was then foreign minister.
"How many people did he kill? Tens of thousands?" Mr. Kissinger responded.
"Nice and quietly!" exclaimed the State Department's then-Assistant
Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Philip Habib.
"Not more than 10,000," said Mr. Chatichai, who later became
Thailand's prime minister.
"That's why they need food. If they had killed everyone, they would
not need salt and fish. All the bridges in Cambodia were destroyed.
There was no transportation, no gas. That's why they had to chase
people away from the capital," Mr. Chatichai told the Americans.
"But why with only two hours' notice?" Mr. Kissinger asked referring