The New York Times > Books > Books of The Times | 'Pol Pot': Cambodia's Murderous Mystery Man

The New York Times > Books > Books of The Times | 'Pol Pot': Cambodia's Murderous Mystery Man: "ven among the most accomplished mass murderers of the last century, Pol Pot deserves a special place. In raw numbers, his achievements cannot match Hitler's or Stalin's, but statistics can be deceiving. In three years under the Khmer Rouge an estimated one and a half million Cambodians died, out of a total population of only seven million. Many were executed. Many more died of overwork, disease or starvation laboring quite literally as slaves to realize the political fantasies of their gently smiling, almost Buddha-like leader. For lethal speed and destructiveness, the Cambodian experiment stands alone and apart."