The Nation: The Debate: Key Issues and Answers

The key issues raised by the current debate over aid to Indochina:

How did the U.S. get involved in Cambodia?

In March 1970, a coalition of military officers, students, urban intellectuals and businessmen mounted a successful coup against Cambodia's neutralist chief of state, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Until then, the U.S. had limited (and sometimes severed) ties with Cambodia. A month after the coup, Phnom-Penh's new regime appealed to the U.S. for help in fighting the Khmer Rouge, which was then a ragtag Communist-led insurgency movement. Washington refused. On April 29,1970, U.S. forces invaded Cambodia...

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