Press reports emanating from both superpowers have been filled recently with slanders against Democratic Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia). One by one these lies are being torn apart by visitors and honest journalists in the region. A recent example was exposed by the journalist Marcel Barang, writing for Australia's Nation Review. Barang visited the scene of last summer's "massacre" of Thai villagers by "Cambodian communists" which were reported at great length in the Western press. Villagers interviewed by Barang had a knowledge of the local area which Kampucheans could not have had. By the villagers' own testimony, Barang revealed that these killings were done by others, in cooperation with the reactionary Thai Border Police. Who were the real murderers? A story told months later reveals a role played in the Thai border raids by a CIA-founded group called the Khmer Serei. The story takes place December 20 when the village militia of Ban Klong Maad stopped a bus with the name of a religious school painted on the side. Upon questioning, the villagers discovered many inconsis- tencies in the travelers' stories.

When Thai Border Police arrived, they discovered M-16 rifles, ammunition and hand grenades and food enough to feed the 30 passengers for three months. One of the passengers whispered to the police that he and the others were members of the Khmer Serei. The raiders were allowed to go free.

In the Feb. 14 issue of the Thai weekly Atit, Chana Smutawanich, a Thai police- general, gave more information on the Khmer Serei activities. General Chana is an authority on the Khmer Serei since he introduced them to CIA officials in the early 1950s.

Chana himself served as Thailand's ambassador to the Lon Nol government. But now under present conditions, he writes that it is "foolish to back the Khmer Serei," who he believes have no future.

However there are some powerful forces who still use these fascist gangs to stir up trouble along the Kampuchea- Thailand border in order to discredit the socialist government in Kampuchea and provoke bad relations with its neighbors, Thailand and Laos.

Says Chana, the Khmer Serei leaders "usually travel as [Cambodian] refugees with surprising freedom in Thailand, France and the U.S. All of them have homes in Thailand. They get support from some big powers, who use them politically and strategically in creating tensions and conflicts along the borders."

May 1, 1978

CIA Front Group Creates Kampuchean "Atrocity" Stories