"Distortions at Fourth Hand" by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman critically examines how the Western media constructed a false history of postwar Cambodia to absolve the U.S. of its crimes. The study exposes how key atrocity reports were based on staged photographs, unreliable refugee accounts, and estimates from U.S. intelligence sources rather than verifiable forensic evidence. The report also highlights how the widely cited 1.2 million death toll was first attributed to the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, making it a politically motivated fabrication. By analyzing these distortions, the book demonstrates how media narratives were shaped to serve Cold War propaganda, ensuring that history would blame revolutionary forces while erasing the true causes of suffering in Indochina. (edited)