Open letter to H.E. Kenneth Quinn, US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Mr Ambassador,

I would like to register my protest at the wanton act of violence which I witnessed

carried out within the US Embassy compound on St 240 on the morning of Saturday the

26th April, when embassy employees casually hacked to death two elderly, innocent

trespassers on US soil.

Two healthy, productive, nay, venerable palm trees, which provided shelter, bore

fruit and blocked, to some degree, my view of the enormous, ugly satellite dish within

the compound, were senselessly struck down.

I can anticipate the excuse as being one of security, but the only threat which these

two trees posed to the embassy was one of falling coconuts, and so could more easily

have been dealt with.

I would urge you, Mr Ambassador, to seek to protect the few remaining trees in the

area and in Phnom Penh overall. The US, quite rightly, vocally deplores free felling

practices in Cambodia and so should actively be seen to cherish rather than destroy.

May I suggest Sir, that in the future you might ensure that people exercise a little

more restraint closer to home. Save our neighborhood!

Respectfully yours,

- B. Roche, Phnom Penh.