James A.. Donald wrote:
: : To continue, high US officials cited by the : : highly-respected Asia correspondent of the (eminently : : respectable) Far Eastern Economic Review predicted that 1 : : million would die as a consequence of the US bombings. US : : aid officials leaving Phnom Penh when the KR took over : : predicted that two years of "slave labor" would be : : necessary to overcome the effects of the bombing.
: : provided analyses by highly qualified specialists who have : : studied the full range of evidence available, and who : : concluded that executions have numbered at most in the : : thousands; that these were localized in areas of limited : : Khmer Rouge influence and unusual peasant discontent, where : : brutal revenge killings were aggravated by the threat of : : starvation resulting from the American destruction and : : killing. These reports also emphasize both the : : extraordinary brutality on both sides during the civil war : : (provoked by the American attack) and repeated discoveries : : that massacre reports were false
Presumably the "at most in the thousands" is a highly imaginative interpretation of Nayan Chanda, who said nothing of the kind. As to where "repeated discoveries that the massacre reports were false" comes from, no one has ever been able to suggest a source, although Chomsky clearly leads the reader to believe that the source is the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Actually it isn't clear if this is what he implies, because you have left out the middle of the quotation. You also haven't said where you're quoting from - a title and page number would let the rest of us check that you haven't just stuck two unrelated passages together to prop up your argument. mike.