Mr. Speaker. on December 15. I called upon Secretary of State William Rogers to immediately provide refugee relief for an estimated 2 million Cambodians who have been driven from their homes since the war in Indochina spread into that country. I have received a response that I find quite frankly. unbelievable. The Department of State asserts that few. if any. refugees have been created by the bombing of Cambodia. This is simply not true. A still unreleased GAO study reveals that at least 2 million Cambodians have been driven from their homes. and the war has resulted in 30.000 casualties. Since March. 1970. the United States has run tens of thousands of bombing sorties over Cambodia. There is no doubt that thousands of Cambodians have been driven from their homes as the result of American bombing. Yet. the administration is unwilling to accept any of the responsibility for a refugee problem that it has enlarged and. in part. created. Not only does the State Department claim that we are not responsible for the creation of the refugees. but they also claim that the Cambodians have not asked for help. The Cambodians have asked for help. but on an informal basis. Their pleas have been rejected and. at one point. the Cambodian government was advised to seek refugee aid from the Soviet Union or Japan. It may be true that the Cambodians have not made a formal application for aid. It surely would be foolish for them to make a formal application after the informal pleas have been totally rejected. On the basis of what I find to be a totally unsatisfactory response to my request for aid for Cambodian refugees. I have renewed my appeal to Secretary of State Rogers to provide relief for 2 million innocent Cambodians. I believe that it is high time that this administration faced up to the fact that it bears much of the responsibility for Cambodias refugee problem. The letters follow:
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refugee refugees