Post-War Dai Li?

[JellyBear]

Whenever I see the Dai Li in one of the later Book 2 episodes, I notice that they only ever seem to act on orders.
They did everything that Long Feng said without a word, and once Azula became their leader, the same with her.
They seemed kind of like Mai- willing minions.
I started thinking that, now that the war is over, what would happen to the Dai Li?
I came up with two theories:
A.) They came under rule of the Earth King.
I'm almost positive that with the war over, Earth King Kuei probably returned to his throne. It would make sense, then, if he took control of the Dai Li, and used them to do what Avatar Kyoshi meant for them to do; defend the city and protect it's culture. I also think that, if this occured, he'd use them for more day-to-day tasks like escorts. (Like how General Fong from The Avatar State was planning to take the Gaang to Omashu).
B.) The Earth King hires a new Advisor, who controls the Dai Li.
It also seems possible that Kuei would hire someone new to take Long Feng's place, someone he could trust with the Dai Li. Perhaps this could be Toph...?
If it were Toph, she would be a much better leader of the Dai Li, and could use them for tasks like I mentioned above.

What do you think? Is there a theory you agree with, or do you have your own?

[akako]

The Dai Li essentially betrayed their king and even worse, their nation and people and aided in the fall of Ba Sing Se, the capitol city of the Earth Kingdom, allowing the Fire Nation to take over. I don't see the people trusting them after such a serious offense, much less the king. Treason wasn't tolerated in the Fire Nation (as Zuko can assess.) I don't see it being any different in the case of the Dai Li's betrayal of Ba Sing Se.

Their punishment was undoubtedly severe, given the circumstances.

[shimura]

Perhaps... the Dai Li aren't even in the picture anymore. Azula had brought a contingent of them to aid her at the Fire Nation palace. Did she bring them all, perhaps? And when the war ended, perhaps they were disbanded by Zuko then.

If the Dai Li remained in Ba Sing Se, I would guess the Dai Li would at the very least be disbanded, and at worst tried and punished to the fullest extent of Earth Kingdom law.

I personally question the necessity of the Dai Li in the first place. They were supposed to be protectors of the cultural heritage... but what is that, really? What part of the "cultural heritage" was the Dai Li supposed to "protect" that a common military and police force could not? I don't really understand Avatar Kyoshi's thoughts or what she was really trying to protect. I've done some googling trying to find some info, but I couldn't find any real detail.

In addition, the very language "protecting the cultural heritage" sort of disturbs me. One might argue that the Nazi Gestappo of 1940s Germany had a similar definition and purpose-- rooting out "dissidents", which would happen to include pretty much all non-aryans, and those not sympathetic to the current governance...

My vote goes to dismantling/disbanding the Dai Li completely.