Sympathy for the Devil - the Untold Nate Thayer Story
Journalist Nate Thayer, after having survived a landmine blast while covering Cambodia’s civil war, 1989.
Photo by Philip Blenkinsop. Used with permission.
8 June 2026: I’m delighted to share that on the weekend, I signed an agreement with Rob Thayer, as the representative of the Nate Thayer estate, that allows me to seek publication of Nate Thayer’s unpublished manuscript.
My goal is to produce a book that keeps Nate’s words intact, and supplements his narrative through interviews of the people who knew him, covered some of the same stories, and shared in some escapades. I’d also like it to be rich with photography from the “era:” the decade plus from when Nate first started going to the border, until when he joined Nic Dunlop to confront Comrade Duch.
I am currently seeking a book agent, publisher and funding. A synopsis, below.
Sympathy for the Devil – the Untold Nate Thayer Story
History doesn’t happen by itself
It’s a story that’s never been told: how American journalist Nate Thayer found Pol Pot, one of the worst war criminals of the 20th century.
It takes a larger-than-life figure to singlehandedly track down a paranoid and secretive war-criminal, and the swashbuckling Thayer does not disappoint.
Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge -- the genocidal communist insurgency that took power in Cambodia in 1975. History is agreed: US folly in the Vietnam War, next door, fueled the Khmer Rouge rise to power.
Overthrown in 1979, Pol Pot and his forces melted into the jungle, from which they continued to wage war. By 1997, Pol Pot had not been seen by outsiders in nearly two decades. Until Thayer found him.
Thayer thought he was living the last chapter of his Cambodia career – finding and interviewing Pol Pot, and bearing witness in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s suicide.
History had other ideas.
Months later, Thayer and colleague Nic Dunlop confronted “Duch,” a torturer who ran a notorious Khmer Rouge prison, whom Dunlop had found. Thayer’s courageous interview of Duch paved the way for Cambodia’s war-crimes tribunal, opening in 2009.
Thayer’s quest was not without its costs. But his most serious injury may have come from an unlikely source: Ted Koppel, of ABC News Nightline. Thayer sold footage of Pol Pot to the program, elements of which they shared online and with competing journalists - before Thayer’s own articles came out.
To Thayer, Koppel stole the story of his career. This represented a “moral injury” – a form of PTSD – and unleashed a landslide of latent trauma from which Thayer never truly recovered.
Thayer’s been described as a “gonzo” journalist, a Hunter S. Thompson-like figure who undertook a mission to find Pol Pot amid Cambodia’s lawless 1990’s. He enjoyed his share of intoxicated, and occasionally gun-toting, exploits.
But his commitment was real, and his contribution was profound: Thayer’s singular work brought about an international war-crimes tribunal. By finding Pol Pot and his inner circle, he also wrote the closing pages of the Vietnam War.
Thayer passed away in 2023. His incomplete memoir, assorted stories, and photos have not yet been published.
Who Killed Haing Ngor? - I am producing a real-time and crowdsourced investigation and discussion into the 1996 murder of the Cambodian doctor, activist, actor and survivor of the Khmer Rouge. Launched February 2023.
Image from the making of “The Killing Fields,” in which Ngor played New York Times assistant reporter Dith Pran during his harrowing escape from the Khmer Rouge. Photo courtesy of Roger Warner.
Who Killed Haing Ngor is an investigative podcast into the murder of the Academy Award winning star of the seminal film, "The Killing Fields."
Ngor was just starting his life as a doctor, engaged to be married, when the Khmer Rouge took over his country, Cambodia, in 1975. Barely surviving, he resettled in the US as a refugee. That’s when Hollywood casting agents came calling. Ngor shot to global fame for his role in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields" – considered so powerful, it’s credited with helping launch Cambodia’s peace talks – only to be gunned down outside his home a dozen years later.
The LAPD rounded up some usual suspects: three teenage gang members. Who Killed Haing Ngor is confident they are innocent. One, a client of the Innocence Center, remains imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
The podcast takes us from the streets of LA to Cambodia’s “compassion fad” moment brought about by a massive UN peacekeeping mission – the 1990’s blueprint for nation-building. That attracted both the do-gooders and the criminal elements so prevalent in the country today.
So Who Killed Haing Ngor? Join journalist Mary Patricia - “M.P.” – Nunan for an exploration of everything the LAPD overlooked, and how the international community’s best intentions … don’t always work out as intended. Season three is out now!
Photo courtesy of Roger Warner.