Beyond the Killing Fields: War Writings Book

Contents

Preface: How I Came to Know War and Why This Book....................ix
Acknowledgments....................xi
CHAPTER ONE. Cambodia, an Unnecessary War....................1
The Big Picture....................1
Waiting for Peace to Fall from Heaven....................8
Worst Accidental Bombing of the Indochina War....................9
The Children Are Starving-to Death....................12
Kissinger, in Secret, Blocks Peace Talks....................15
Corruption Oozes from Every Corner....................18
Reporters May Be Weary but the People's Lot Is Deadly....................20
Capital Defenses Begin to Crumble....................24
Marine Helicopters Evacuate U.S. Embassy....................26
Fear for Schanberg and Dith Pran, Who Stayed Behind....................29
Khmer Rouge Close In....................29
City Scenes Turn Surreal....................34
Reporter's Notebook: The Day Before the City Falls....................35
The Final Hours....................39
Cambodian Reds Herd Millions into the Countryside....................42
Our Brush with Death....................52
Grief and Animosity in the French Embassy Compound....................53
Evacuation Convoy to Freedom in Thailand....................58
CHAPTER TWO. The Killing Fields....................63
The Death and Life of Dith Pran....................63
CHAPTER THREE. East Pakistan Fights to Become Independent Bangladesh....................113
Pakistan's Military Cracks Down on East Pakistan Freedom Movement....................113
Pakistani Army Sets Dacca Ablaze....................114
Reporter's Notebook: Sticks and Old Rifles Against Tanks....................117
Bengali Officer Feigns Death and Escapes Execution....................120
Cholera, Hunger and Death as Refugees Flee to India....................122
A Brutal Occupation: Ethnic Cleansing, Thousands Massacred....................124
Hindus Become Special Targets of Pakistani Terror....................127
Indian General: "We Will Let Loose the Hounds of War"....................129
Indian Victory and Pakistan Surrender....................131
Reporter's Notebook: With the Indian Army on Its Push to Free Bangladesh....................136
The Price of Bengali Independence-Graveyards, One After Another....................140
U.S. Prolonged the War by Delaying Pakistani Surrender Message....................144
CHAPTER FOUR. Vietnam, 1972....................151
Saigon Division Mutinies and Flees Communist Offensive....................151
Reporter's Notebook: Mutinous Soldiers Sow Fear in a Fiery Rampage in Hue....................154
Vietnam's Queen Mother Ages Alone, Says Son in Paris Doesn't Write....................160
Downed U.S. Pilot Celebrates His Rescue from the Gulf of Tonkin....................162
The Saigon Follies, Or, Trying to Head Them Off at Credibility Gap....................164
CHAPTER FIVE. Return to Cambodia: A Military Coup....................175
Pol Pot's Poison Legacy....................175
CHAPTER SIX. The Cover-Up of U.s. POWs Left Behind in Vietnam....................191
How John McCain Buried Information on American Prisoners Abandoned by Washington....................191
CHAPTER SEVEN. The Bush Doctrine in Iraq....................211
The War Planned Years Before 9/11 by Cheney and Co....................211
A Reporter's Itch to Return to the Action-and the Madness....................215
Index....................219
About the Author and the Editor....................227