Some academic and journalist specialists in Southeast Asian affairs were particularly stern in their rejection of what they considered propaganda from those who would not forgive the revolutionaries for having defeated the American-supported side. There were even those who defended the pitiless uprooting of the urban populations, either because they said it was inspired by the new government’s humane striving to lead the millions from the foodless cities to places where rice was growing and fish were swimming, or because they believed the leaders harbored well-grounded fears that the vengeful Americans were about to bomb Phnom Penh and other towns.