Bombing Cambodia

The House Judiciary Committee brought five articles of impeachment against President Nixon.  Three were approved; two were rejected.  One of the rejected articles accused Nixon of launching a war in Cambodia without telling Congress.  All through the impeachment process, Nixon argued that he had only done what other presidents had done.  In the case of the Cambodia article, many House members thought he might be right.  Earlier Presidents had launched similar attacks.

I thought this was a bogus argument.  Nixon didn’t even tell his Secretary of State about the bombing of Cambodia.  It was not just bombing; American troops were sent into Cambodia to guide the planes to targets.  I believed at the time that adopting this article might dissuade future presidents from similar actions.

I was reminded of all this when I read the obituary of William Beecher, a reporter from the New York Times and the man who revealed the Cambodia bombing.  Nixon asked the F.B.I to wiretap Beecher to find out who leaked the material.  He also wiretapped 16 other journalists and government officials.  This happened in 1969 but was a precursor to Nixon’s later illegalities.