[mc32]

It doesn’t matter who. The mechanism is always divide and conquer with the help of “useful idiots” in their parlance who are usually very enthusiastic members who believe the dogma a little too much and thus get in the way of “progress” and get “ditched” so to speak.

[3131s]

These were not "useful idiots", and I don't think this oversimplification will help anyone understand what really happened in Cambodia. The mostly teenage-aged members of the Khmer Rouge had legitimate grievances of their own and Pol Pot capitalized on this, the extreme brutality of the US government, to oust the Lon Nol government on the basis of its alignment with the US.

[Nasrudith]

Well there is the useful and the purge when they are no longer useful makes them the idiots because they brought about the means of their downfall. They are no different than the brownshirts as their intentions didn't matter in the end. Stupid is as stupid does and given the sheer list of victims they deserve no sympathy.