[PJ-Comix]

Diem was so loved that those Buddhist monks set themselves on fire. One problem was that you had the Catholic Diem family ruling in a nation of mostly non-Catholics. Think we would have been stupid enough to install a Christian ruler in Afghanistan? Of course not.

[RLK]

Diem was so loved that those Buddhist monks set themselves on fire. One problem was that you had the Catholic Diem family ruling in a nation of mostly non-Catholics.

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That a hand full of deluded fanatics burned themselves misses the point. The reason the Buddhists killed themselves was because of the effectiveness of Diem's pograms and the irrelevance of Buddhism. Catholocism brought litteracy, medicine, and other advancement to the country. The Buddhists were becoming irrelevant. People were turning from Buddhism. It was a dying organization. In protest, a few Buddhists committed suicide. They were the Taliban of the area who couldn't adapt to the present time. So be it.