That there was corruption, confusion and mismanagement around the Phnom Vor where the hostages were held is something that I have never tried to hide. It is not a pretty picture, but in the circumstances of Cambodia it is surely not unexpected. Two decades of horrendous violence, in which those with education and professional training were all but wiped out, where the infrastructure is only rebuilt to a rudimentary level, do not lead to efficient command structures. There is simply no evidence that the Cambodian Government acted towards us in bad faith and deliberately provoked the killing of the hostages. What Sam Rainsy forgets is that the Khmer Rouge do not need reasons to kill people.
Logic dictates that it was in their interests to keep the hostages alive.
After all they were a source of income and supplies. The Cambodian Government and military knew from day one that the three governments wanted their respective citizens back alive. They had more to gain from our gratitude at their safe release than anything else. It is hard to see what Cambodia had to gain from the hostages death. Their capture was damaging to Cambodia's interests, to its tourism, to its economy, to its credibility and to its relations with Australia, Britain and France.