Parrot's Beak

... the southeast corner of Cambodia known as the “parrot’s beak” for the way it juts out into Vietnam






A history of conflict in Parrot's Peak, Cambodia
The rivalry between Cambodia and Viet Nam started centuries ago, fueled by religious differences and by economic competition over the Mekong River basin, and has never ceased. Common cause against the South Viet Nam regime and the U.S. merely dampened mutual hatreds; even in the midst of war, there were incidents between them. In 1973 the Khmer Rouge attacked North Vietnamese who were maintaining a wartime supply line through the Parrot's Beak, where Cambodian territory protrudes into Viet Nam. The Cambodians suspected—justifiably, as it turned out—that the Vietnamese were holding Chinese arms meant for Khmer Rouge fighters.

























Our third choice is to go to the heart of the trouble. That means cleaning out major North Vietnamese and Vietcong occupied territories - these sanctuaries which serve as bases for attacks on both Cambodia and American and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. Some of these, incidentally, are as close to Saigon as Baltimore is to Washington. This one, for example [indicating], is called the Parrot's Beak. It is only 33 miles from Saigon. (from Richard Nixon's Speech regarding North Vietnamese and Cambodia)

Parrot's Peak Today