Secret bombing of Cambodia

On March 18, 1969, American B-52 bombers struck a target in eastern Cambodia, a neutral country, in the first raid of a campaign named Operation Menu, with phases called Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Supper and Dessert. Over the next fourteen months B-52s flew about 3,800 sorties and dropped more than 100,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnamese and Viet Cong bases and supply routes inside Cambodia. To keep the raids secret, a dual reporting system sent the real targets through special channels while official records listed targets in South Vietnam, and some records were burned.¹²

President Richard Nixon and national security adviser Henry Kissinger wanted to hit the sanctuaries without provoking protests at home or forcing Cambodia's leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, to object publicly. When The New York Times reported the bombing in May 1969, Nixon and Kissinger ordered wiretaps on officials and journalists to find the leaker. The secret held for most Americans until 1973, when former Air Force Major Hal Knight described falsifying records. The Senate held hearings, and in 1974 the House Judiciary Committee considered, but rejected, an article of impeachment over the secret bombing.¹²⁵