Ta Mok
In 1987 the opinion that the NADK was "the only effective fighting force" opposing the Vietnamese was expressed by foreign observers. In an interview published in the United States in May 1987, Sihanouk reportedly said, "without the Khmer Rouge, we have no credibility on the battlefield... [they are]... the only credible military force." Led by senior figures such as Son Sen, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ta Mok with an unclear hierarchy and loyalty structure the NADK units were "less experienced, less motivated, and younger" than the early to mid 1970s generation of Khmer Rouge fighters. Terror against civilians, murder and destruction of property and economic resources and the invoking of traditional Cambodian hatred of the Vietnamese as a means to recruit personnel only gained limited success as most Cambodians preferred to live under Vietnamese occupation rather than to endure another Khmer Rouge reign.