Operation Freedom Deal

Operation Freedom Deal

Date	19 May 1970 – 15 August 1973
Location	Cambodia
Result	Uncertain, possibly delaying the fall of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge.

Belligerents

United States

Khmer Republic

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Khmer Rouge

Commanders and leaders

Richard M. Nixon

Pol Pot

Casualties and losses

Khmer Rouge fighters and Cambodian civilians: 40,000–150,000 killed. This figure refers to the entirety of the US bombing of Cambodia, including the Operation Menu bombings.

Vietnamese casualties: unknown

Khmer Rouge fighters and Cambodian civilians: 40,000–150,000 killed. This figure refers to the entirety of the US bombing of Cambodia, including the Operation Menu bombings.

Operation Freedom Deal was a U.S. Seventh Air Force interdiction and close air support campaign waged in Cambodia (later, the Khmer Republic) between 19 May 1970 and 15 August 1973, during the Vietnam War. The initial targets of the operation were the base areas and border sanctuaries of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Khmer Rouge. As time went on most of the bombing was carried out to support the Cambodian government in its struggle against the communist Khmer Rouge. The area in which the bombing took place was expanded to include most of the eastern one-half of Cambodia.

Operation Freedom Deal followed and expanded the bombing of Cambodia conducted under Operation Menu in 1969 and 1970. Most of the bombing was carried out by U.S. Air Force B-52 heavy bombers. The effectiveness of the bombing and the number of civilians killed by U.S. bombing is in dispute.

With the end of Cambodian neutrality (due to a coup that ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk and installed pro-US General Lon Nol as president), the Cambodian civil war escalated as the PAVN reacted to military actions by the Cambodians, Americans, and South Vietnamese.

On 15 March 1970, Lon Nol issued an ultimatum to the North Vietnamese, ordering them out of the border areas. The PAVN and their indigenous Khmer Rouge allies had occupied eastern Cambodia for the previous ten years and had established a logistical system and Base Areas along the border during their struggle for a unified Vietnam. They were not about to abandon their zones of control without a fight.

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Wikipedia