a214  0957  16 Apr 77
AM-Cambodia, Bjt - 2 Takes, 460-700
By GEORGE GEDDA
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - Two years have passed since a weeping U.S.
ambassador, carrying a plastic-wrapped American flag, fled Cambodia
shortly before the American-backed government there surrendered to the
superior firepower of the Khmer Rouge forces.
    The civil war which raged in Cambodia for the previous five years
had ended - but only in a sense. According to U.S. estimates, the
numbers of Cambodians who have been killed since the 1975 Khmer Rouge
triumph has exceeded the number of Americans who have died in all the
wars in which the United States has been involved in this century.
    Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Cambodians have died as a result of
executions, starvation, forced marches and other causes, these
estimates hold. To save ammunition, executions with pickaxes are said
to be common.
    Various American officials, basing their information largely on
refugee reports, gave this account of what has happened in Cambodia
since the Khmer Rouge achieved final victory two years ago Sunday:
    Aside from the obvious targets for liquidation, such as supporters
of the ousted Lon Nol regime, the Khmer Rouge have eliminated much of
the educated class in Cambodia, which includes anyone with a high
school education or more.
    Education is virtually nonexistent for children after they learn the
rudiments of reading and writing. Children are encouraged to spy on
their parents and other adults and to report to the authorities on any
sign of ''decadent'' behavior.
    There is no mass-circulation newspaper in the country, only a few
journals which are circulated to selected government officials.
Loudspeakers are the most common method the government uses to
communicate with the people.
    Whereas most Communist countries see the elimination of money as a
long-range goal, Cambodia already has withdrawn all currency from
circulation, substituting a barter system.
    There are now an estimated 200,000 persons living in Phnom Penh,
compared with 1.5 million in the capital's heyday and two million when
the city was swollen with refugees two years ago. Most of the
country's five million inhabitants work in labor camps in the
countryside. Many are required to spend their evenings writing about
past crimes they have committed.
    The regime operates in almost total secrecy. Although there is a
Cambodian Communist party, its existence is not publicly acknowledged
by the authorities. The leadership refers to itself simply as ''the
organization.''
    Another special distinction of the regime is its xenophobia. There
are only eight diplomatic missions in Phnom Penh. Among the excluded
countries is the Soviet Union, which still has not been forgiven by
the Khmer Rouge for maintaining relations with the Lon Nol government.
    MORE
    
1259pES 04-16
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a215  1001  16 Apr 77
AM-Cambodia, 1st Add, 210
WASH: Nol government.
    Some resistance to the regime ha     been mounted by refugees based in
neighboring Thailand. A Cambodian army unit attacked a Thai border
village on Jan. 28 and killed an undetermined number of persons. The
throats of several children were cut.
    One explanation for the fanaticism of the Cambodian rulers is that
it was forged by years of struggle under extremely arduous conditions.
    The fear and hatred of Western technology was demonstrated,
according to one refugee account, by two guerrilla fighters who
literally dismantled with their bare hands a T28 propeller plane used
by the Lon Nol regime.
    The Khmer Rouge have not attempted to conceal their heavy-handed
ways. A government newspaper said last year: ''The Khmer method has no
need of numerous personnel. We've overturned the basket, and with it
all the fruit it contained. From now on, we will choose only the
fruit that suits us perfectly.''
    The same article expressed disdain for Vietnamese Communists, who
adopted a much more tolerant attitude toward supporters of the old
Saigon regime and other antirevolutionary elements.
    ''The Vietnamese have removed only the rotten fruit and this causes
them to lose time,'' the newspaper said.
    
1303pES 04-16
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