"I was a boy during the Pol Pot times, and I can still remember how they would line up people - 10 people, 100 people - and tie their hands and shoot them in the back." - Buntha Krouch (Shenon 1)

During the 16th century Machiavelli wrote, "the end justifies the means." Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did not take this concept lightly as is apparent in the genocide they inflicted on their own people. 1.7 million died, all because Pol Pot wanted Cambodia to become an agrarian "utopia" (Margolic). This came to be for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Cambodian economy had undergone a devastating impact by the Indochina War. Secondly, political instability in Cambodia at the time was so serious reform needed to take place. Thirdly, external relationships Cambodia had with surrounding nations and the U.S. also fueled the Khmer Rouge for a revolution. The ideas of...