As I said, an Islamic regime is objectionable if it tolerates terror against non islamic minorities, thus creating, perhaps unintentionally, an environment that facilitates terror against external infidels - that is to say, terror against me and people like me.
You say a lot of wacky stuff, so it suprises me that I find this pragraph to actually make some sense.
> In this context a very strong case can be made that the US > caused the Khmer Rouge to come to power, precisely by > performing in a way similar to what you espouse.
That "case" is a nutty rationalization put forward by the former fans of the Khmer Rouge to rationalize their bad conduct.
No. You've got to do more reading. Sihoanouk was in power and loosely held a coalition together. In part because he believed it and in part because it was necessary to hold this coalition together, Sihoanouk did not spout particularly pro-American rhetoric. As a result, the US/CIA backed Lon Nol to overthrow Sihoanouk. Lon Nol could by no means hold things together , so in swept the Khmer Rouge, backed by Mao and the Chicoms.
Let's remember some facts here: The US backed the ferociously corrupt Chiang regime, even helping them sack China's treasuries. The US fought China in Korea and was now occupying it. MacArthur threatened to make China a nuclear "Parking Lot". The US was in Vietnam trying to fight their way up. So it would have been pretty evident to anyone watching that the US was trying to undermine the PRC. In fact, this was also a main motivation for the Cultural Revolution: Mao wanted to move heavy industry out into the countryside, away from easy bomb-ability by the Americans. (Of course, that idea was actually used by Mao for consolidating his politcal power which was always with the peasants, but that's besides the point).
Mao did the reasonable thing and fought us (and won) in all 3 theaters. I'll agree with you pretty quickly if you say Mao was a fairly Stalinist butcher, but in any event he made use of the Khmer Rouge to push a US-backed puppet out of the peninsula. Note that only after Mao kicked our asses repeatedly did Nixon and Kissinger decide to make friends with Mao and the PRC (which was the smart thing to do all along after the Sino-Soviet split).
What if the US had not followed such an aggressive policy towards the PRC? Chinese history gives us a clear indication: They would never have backed the Khmer Rouge. (Sihoanouk regularly traveled to China before and after that time, BTW, and was moderately friendly with Jong Nan Hai.) In addition, the notion of having to hide Chinese industry from the Americans could never have been used as a credible reason for lauching the Cultural Revolution.
In the end, our policies in SE Asia likely caused millions to be killed, and in the end were self-defeating. A complete fiasco. And the same thing is happening in the Middle East.
So even if one agrees that your goals are 'admirable' (and I question that), your methods would also be a complete, unmitigated disaster.
-TD
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