In this picture, U.S. soldiers survey the Cambodian town of Snuŏl after it has been almost completely flattened by U.S. bombers.

The United States dropped three times the quantity of explosives on Cambodia between 1970 and 1973 than it had dropped on Japan for the duration of World War II. Between 1969 and 1973, 539,129 tons of high explosives rained down on Cambodia - more than one billion pounds (about 400 million kg). This is equivalent to some 15,400 pounds (6,063 kg) of explosives for every square mile of Cambodian territory. Considering that probably less than 25 percent of the total area of Cambodia was bombed at one time or another, the actual explosive force per area would be at least four times this level. Source: “The Rise and Demise of Democractic Kampuchea”, by Craig Etcheson. The CIA officially estimated that 600,000 Cambodians were killed directly by the bombing campaigns. Not to suggest that history books have been “sanitized” in any way (heaven forbid!!! What society would ever lie to its children like that??), but it would be very difficult to find a grade-school textbook anywhere in the Western World, let along the USA, that gives accurate accounts of the Cambodian branch of the war in SE Asia.