power and authority to suppress and torture their people (2000).
             Thailand was also seen as a buffer, or stepping-stone depending on
             one's point of view, to control Communist expansion into the rest of
             Southeast Asia. Thailand was supposed to save Burma and Malaysia from
             succumbing to Communist incursions (Chokchaimadon, 2000). The problem was,
             of course, that the incursions had had a long time to in the planning. Not
             long before Dulles' press conference, the Vietnamese had defeated the
             French. At that point, SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) seemed
             unable to sort out the problems, and the United States stepped in. "The
             USA spent $141 billion on aid to the South Vietnamese government, but
             corruption and inefficiency led the USA to assume ever greater
             responsibility for the war effort, until 1 million US combat troops were
             engaged" (Hutchinson Encyclopedia, 2003).
             Dulles believed, or at least attempted to convince the press that he
             and the government believedâ€"that it was necessary to protect other
             Southeast Asian nations from Communism, and that it was in their best
             interests to do so. With proper guidance, he maintained, these nations
             could become functioning democracies, but not yet (Lewy, 1978, p
             ...