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Cambodia bombing runs Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020708/ap_wo_en_po/cambodia_us_bombing_1http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020708/ap_wo_en_po/cambodia_us_bombing_1
U.S. firm provides Cambodia detailed list of 1970s U.S. bombing runs
Mon Jul 8, 9:17 AM ET
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A U.S. defense contractor Monday provided the Cambodian government with computerized information detailing thousands of U.S. bombing runs on Cambodia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, officials said.
The information is intended to help Cambodian de-mining groups clear land for settlers and agricultural development, officials said. The information came from the U.S. national archive, originally supplied by pilots after completing their missions during the Vietnam War.
U.S. bombing against suspected Viet Cong supply lines through Cambodia, which neighbors Vietnam, began in 1969 and bombing of suspected communists in Cambodia continued sporadically until 1973.
Tens of thousands of Cambodians were killed and injured in the raids, many of which were orchestrated secretly by U.S. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and later declared illegal by U.S. Congress.
Many of the bombs did not explode and are scattered about the Cambodian countryside, along with unexploded ordnance from more than 30 years of recently ended civil strife in the country, one of the poorest in the world.
In a ceremony at the government's Cabinet office, Cambodian authorities accepted the information, contained in a CD-ROM, from Michael Sheinkman, a private analyst with ties to the U.S. Defense Department. The donation has the blessing of the U.S. government.
"We look forward to this database helping us do our work," said Sam Sotha, the director general of Cambodia's national authority on de-mining.
The database details of thousands of bombing runs, a Cambodian official said on condition of anonymity.
Sheinkman, a geographer for the Federal Resources Corporation of Fairfax, Virginia, located just outside Washington, D.C., described the information as the most complete database of a U.S. bombing campaign ever collected.
Sheinkman told The Associated Press that the CD-ROM records the activities of all aircraft involved.
"If they were dropping leaflets, that's in the database. If they were shooting bullets, that's in the database. Large bombs. Cluster bombs — anything that was in the air at the time it was recorded," he said.
U.S. Embassy Defense Attache Col. Mike Norton, who attended the ceremony, said the information may not be of "pinpoint" accuracy.
"But it's better to know, 'Okay, this is the general area something may have happened.' It will assist the de-miners in their planning of demining operations," Norton told the AP.
Cambodia, funded by international donors, spends millions of dollars each year clearing land mines from its pockmarked countryside.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020708/ap_on_re_as/cambodia_us_1
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0708-06.htm
Firm Provides Cambodia Bombing Runs
Mon Jul 8, 9:26 AM ET
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A U.S. defense contractor provided the Cambodian government with computerized information Monday detailing the hundreds of bombing runs that American planes made on Cambodian territory during the Vietnam War.
The information is intended to help Cambodian demining groups clear land for settlers and agricultural development, officials said. The information came from the U.S. national archive, originally supplied by pilots after completing their missions.
U.S. bombing runs against suspected Viet Cong supply lines on Cambodian soil began in 1969 and bombing of suspected communists in Cambodia continued sporadically until 1973.
Tens of thousands of Cambodians were killed and injured in the raids, many of which were orchestrated secretly by the Nixon administration and later declared illegal by Congress.
Many of the bombs remain unexploded and scattered about the Cambodian countryside in addition to the thousands of more unexploded ordnance from more than 30 years of civil strife in the country, one of the poorest in the world.
In a ceremony at the government's Cabinet office, Cambodia's de-mining authorities accepted the information, contained in a CD-ROM, from Michael Sheinkman, a private analyst with ties to the U.S. Defense Department. The donation has the blessing of the U.S. government.
"We look forward to this database helping us do our work," said the director general of Cambodia's national authority on demining, Sam Sotha, a Cambodian-American citizen.
Sheinkman, a geographer for the Federal Resources Corporation of Fairfax, Va., described the information as the most complete database of a U.S. bombing campaign ever collected.
"If they were dropping leaflets, that's in the database," Sheinkman said. "If they were shooting bullets, that's in the database. Large bombs. Cluster bombs — anything that was in the air at the time it was recorded."
U.S. Embassy Defense Attache Col. Mike Norton, who attended the ceremony, said the information may not be of "pinpoint" accuracy.
"But it's better to know, 'OK, this is the general area something may have happened.' It will assist the deminers in their planning of demining operations," Norton said.
Cambodia, funded by international donors, spends millions of dollars each year clearing land mines from its pockmarked countryside.
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