"I have spent many years working and living in Cambodia and I thought I understood the human tragedy of the "killing fields". Many of my very close friends in that wonderful country went through the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime but only now do I fully understand, as much as an outsider can, the sickening, depravity of the KR criminals as they tortured and killed their own neighbors and countrymen.

"My eyes were opened by Theary Seng's breathtaking, first hand account of her experience of the human carnage that took place before her very eyes. Theary's meticulous reporting of brutality toward her own family and millions of other Cambodians has had a tremendous effect on me.

"I have a deeper committment to the cause of a free, democratic Cambodia with respect for law and human rights that every human being should enjoy. Unfortunately in Cambodia today former Khmer Rouge leaders still run the government and the killing and disrepect for human rights continue. I pray that one day Cambodia will be a free country. Only then can the souls of the killing fields corpses rest in peace."

- Ron Abney, victim of 1997 Easter Sunday Massacre while serving as IRI in-Country Director