It is an undeniable fact that some current soldiers were at one point fighting for ‘khmer rouge’ groups (though it would be nice to see more precision on this, since Khmer Rouge is a term of deep imprecision when talking about the armed conflicts of the last four decades).

Further, given the location, and the existence of the Anlong Veng area as one of the Khmer Rouge’s last holdouts (Ta Mok remains a feared and respected name in the area, years after his death), it merely makes sense to assume that a fair number of the most local soldiers fought for the Khmer Rouge at one point.

It’s the sort of reporting on Cambodia that infuriates a lot of us – there could very well be important news in there, but it has been subordinated to the stereotypes of Cambodian trauma – “Khmer Rouge,” skulls, child sex workers – that are most appreciated by a Western audience.