Operation Freedom Deal
Operation Freedom Deal was a military campaign led by the United States Seventh Air Force, taking place in Cambodia between 19 May 1970 and 15 August 1973. Part of the larger Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War, the goal of the operation was to provide air support and interdiction in the region. Launched by President Richard Nixon as a follow-up to the earlier ground invasion during the Cambodian Campaign, the initial targets of the operation were the base areas and border sanctuaries of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong (VC).[9]
Operation Freedom Deal
19 May 1970 – 15 August 1973
- In U.S., adoption of the War Powers Resolution
- Delaying the fall of the capital Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge
- Accelerated collapse of rural Cambodian society, displacement of tens of thousands from countryside to city, increased social polarization[1]
- Pushing North Vietnamese troops further into Cambodia away from the South Vietnamese border[2]
- Khmer Rouge used civilian loss to promote recruitment, strengthened the hard-liners within the CPK[3]
Cambodian casualties: 50,000–150,000 (per Ben Kiernan; other estimates vary widely)[4][5][6][7][8] This figure refers to the entirety of the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, including the Operation Menu bombings. Vietnamese casualties: unknown
As time went on, most of the bombing was carried out to support the Cambodian government of Lon Nol in its struggle against the communist Khmer Rouge. The area in which the bombing took place was expanded to include most of the eastern one-half of Cambodia. The bombing was extremely controversial and led the U.S. Congress to pass the War Powers Resolution.[10]
Operation Freedom Deal followed and expanded the bombing of Cambodia conducted under Operation Menu in 1969 and 1970. Most of the bombing was carried out by U.S. Air Force (USAF) B-52 bombers. While the effectiveness of the bombing and the number of Cambodians killed by U.S. bombing remains in dispute, civilian fatalities were easily in the tens of thousands.[11]
Cambodian deaths caused by U.S. bombing[edit]
U.S. bombing of Cambodia extended over the entire eastern half of the country and was especially intense in the heavily populated southeastern quarter of the country, including a wide ring surrounding the largest city of Phnom Penh. In large areas, according to maps of U.S. bombing sites, it appears that nearly every square mile of land was hit by bombs with roughly 500,000 tons of bombs dropped.[25]
When extensive bombing by the U.S. of Cambodia began in 1969 it was primarily directed against the PAVN/VC and their supply lines and bases. As the PAVN/VC dispersed their operations deeper into Cambodia to escape U.S. bombing the area bombed by the U.S. expanded. Increasingly, U.S. bombing missions had the objective of supporting the government of Cambodia in its war against the insurgent Khmer Rouge.[26]
The number of deaths caused by U.S. bombing has been disputed and is difficult to disentangle from the broader Cambodian Civil War.[27] Estimates as wide-ranging as 30,000 to 600,000 have been cited.[4][5][6][28][29] Sihanouk used a figure of 600,000 civil war deaths,[30] while journalist Elizabeth Becker reported over one million civil war deaths, military and civilian included,[31] although other researchers could not corroborate such high estimates.[32] Marek Sliwinski notes that many estimates of the dead are open to question and may have been used for propaganda, suggesting that the true number lies between 240,000 and 310,000.[27]
Judith Banister and E. Paige Johnson described 275,000 war deaths as "the highest mortality that we can justify".[33] Patrick Heuveline states that "Subsequent reevaluations of the demographic data situated the death toll for the [civil war] in the order of 300,000 or less".[34] Of these civil war deaths, Sliwinski estimates that approximately 17.1% can be attributed to U.S. bombing, noting that this is far behind the leading causes of death, as the U.S. bombing was concentrated in under-populated border areas.[27] Ben Kiernan attributes 50,000 to 150,000 deaths to the U.S. bombing.[35] Kiernan's work before 1978, especially his work with the publication News from Kampuchea, was criticised as pro-Khmer Rouge when the Cambodian genocide was ongoing.[36] According to former diplomat Larry Clinton Thompson, 150,000 seems to be the best estimate.[29]
Another impact of the U.S. bombing and the Cambodian civil war was the destruction of homes and livelihood of many people. This was a large contributor to the refugee crisis in Cambodia with two million people—more than 25 percent of the population—displaced from rural areas into cities, especially Phnom Penh which grew from about 600,000 in 1970 to an estimated population of nearly 2 million by 1975. The Cambodian government estimated that more than 20 percent of property in the country had been destroyed during the war.[13]: 222
The legacy of unexploded bombs has had a long-term impact on agriculture in the affected areas. More fertile soil is often softer, and thus bombs impacting such soil are less likely to explode. Farmers in formerly bombed regions often work less fertile soil due to the perceived risk of uncovering unexploded bombs.[37]
Published government documents