: "We are not communists ... we are revolutionaries" who do not 'belong to the commonly accepted grouping of communist Indochina."
I think what Pol Pot meant was that he wanted no part of the Indochinese Communist Party, which was a front for the Vietnamese government. Pol Pot was also bitterly opposed to the more "liberal", Soviet-sonsored system that was in place in Vietnam. I think it's fairly clear that he saw himself as a leftist, however. Witness hiw he named his country "Democratic" Kampuchea, implying that he was defndinbg the interests of "the people". Also his criticism of "bourgeois" and "western" elements.
Also, if the US was such a good friend of Pol Pot, 1) why did we strike Cambodia during the Mayaguez incident, 2) shouldn't even more blame reside with China, who was an even better friend?
