Like so many of us touched by Cambodia, I've spent way too much time being upset and angry over the tragic history of my children's country of birth. I've done the crying at sites of historical horrors and heard the first-hand accounts of more suffering than anyone should ever have to imagine, must less live through or die from. I've read the books, seen the photos, watched the films and absorbed as much as I could of the Cambodia that produced these kids I love with every fiber of my being.

I am almost beyond reacting from the gut, having spent almost five years digesting the indigestible.

This sort of stuff, however, brings up the bile.

Nuon Chea, Brother Number Two to Pol Pot's Number One, a man with more blood on his hands than there is water in the Tonle Sap, having FINALLY been taken into custody after years of a comfy, cushy life at home, now has family demanding ... that's right -- demanding ... that he be released on bail.

The old git has been declared healthy enough for an 81-year-old by doctors in charge of such things, but his son is worried about his health, saying "we don't know how they are caring for him."

I can't help but wonder how much consideration Nuon had for the sick and the old he had marched out of Phnom Penh on the 17th of April 1975, and if he ever lost any sleep over the almost two million of his own people that died during the three years he and his pals were running the show.

The court has already agreed to change his prison diet so he gets more fish and veg, and they're putting in a Western-style toilet so he doesn't have to squat. Of course, he did his share of changing people's diets, too, didn't he?

At the same time Nuon's family is making their demands, the Cambodia Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC) is making theirs on his behalf, but they may be more concerned that he lasts long enough to face the music than that he's comfortable between now and then.

"CHRAC notes that the presence of Nuon Chea to be able to appear before (the tribunal) would be extremely and necessarily important in order to seek justice for all Cambodian dead and alive victims," the group said in a statement.

"CHRAC wishes to call upon (the tribunal) for both Cambodian and UN sides to pay much more attention for his health care ... to ensure that he would be absolutely able to stand before the co-investigating judges," it added.

With Pol Pot and Ta Mok already having kicked the bucket before anyone could drag them into consequences, the idea of keeping these devils alive long enough to make them suffer makes sense to me.

In a Time Magazine article titled, "In Cambodia, It's Never Too Late for Justice", it is insisted that justice has not yet been denied.

The fact that Nuon Chea is now in custody, as is Kaing Guek Eav, Duch, is said to be an indication that the world is on the verge of righting a great wrong. That has yet to be seen.

Nuon, however, has his own version, expecting to be exonerated and saying that he is "glad to go [on trial], so that people in my country and other countries will know the truth of what happened."

We do know what happened. The question is: Why is it taking so long to punish those that made it happen?

One of the saddest moments I've had in Cambodia ... and I've had it over and over again ... comes when someone asks the questions everyone wonders: Could it happen again? If it's asked of a Cambodian, the answer is always some variation of an emphatic "most certainly."