42 See Engelbert and Goscha, Falling Out of Touch, p. 64. The money had been given to Chea by Vietnamese colleagues in the Indochina Communist party and was intended to buy a house for an ICP cadre in Phnom Penh. This intriguing tale of double-dealing may explain why Chea was reluctant to follow Sar into the forest in 1963 and also suggests, in view of Chea’s long career, an overwhelming, self-abasing loyalty to the party. Vietnamese Communists accepted Sar’s promotion, referring to him by 1964 as Anh Hai (”eldest brother“)—a position probably occupied by Ho himself within the Vietnamese party. Sar was also known to the Vietnamese as Hai Thien (”the good-natured one“).

43 Nuon Chea, ”History.“ According to his confession, Siet Chhae was removed from party work after the promulgation of the list; he followed Sar to Office 100. On Saloth Sar’s conversation, see author’s interview with Keng Vannsak (October 1986). See also ”Interview with Comrade Pol Pot,“ March 1978, p. 22 (uncatalogued item in Tuol Sleng Archives, Phnom Penh).

44 See Robert Jay Lifton’s persuasive article ”Protean Man,“ Partisan Review (Winter 1968): 13—25. Throughout his career, Pol Pot seems to have associated clandestinity with success.

Chapter Five

1 The label “Khmers rouges,” coined by Sihanouk, was never used by members of the Communist movement to describe themselves. I have borrowed the last phrase from Timothy Carney, “The Unexpected Victory,” in Jackson, ed., Cambodia, 1975—1978, pp. 13—35.

2 For a discussion of the politics of this period, see Chandler, Tragedy, Chapter 6.

3 See the confession of Chhim Samauk (Pang) (July 1977). See also the confession of Siet Chhae (Turn) (November 1977): “Meeting the Brothers at Office 100, I could see how combative they were in their work. Even if they were feverish they worked. I saw the Brothers writing documents themselves, and also stenciling them themselves.” Office 100, clearly a Vietnamese base, may also have been a Vietnamese designation. In 1970 the Vietnamese had five rear service groups (RSGs) operating along the Cambodian frontier. One of these, based in Svay Rieng, was known as RSG 100. Conceivably, a unit bearing this number had operated farther north in 1963. By 1970 RSG 100 had over two thousand Vietnamese troops under its command. I am grateful to William Turley for this information. See also the confession of Ney Saran (Ya), which locates the camp in 1964 “at Daom Chambak in Tay Ninh province [in Vietnam], within 10 kilometers of the border.” Appendix 2 lists personnel at Office 100, as recorded in several confessions from Tuol Sleng.

4 In his confession of December 1978, Kheang Sim Hon (But) asserted that Saloth Sar at one stage taught him to sing the “Internationale.” See also Im Naen’s and Som Chea’s confessions. Chea came to Office 100 from Phnom Penh in 1964. Chou Chet was never at that base, but his confession corroborates Im Naen’s. Poignantly, Naen’s faithful service as a cook was transmuted in her confession into a series of botched attempts to poison various “brothers.”