The Vietnam War Was Not JustIn the 1960's and the 1970's the USA was in a war with Vietnam we took over after the French stopped fighting the North. We were helping the South fight the North. The war was fought in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The Vietnam war was not just because we provoked the war, we did not declare war, and the war was not a last resort.
The United States CIA provoked the war. The CIA was attacking North Vietnam and then the North Vietnam responded by attacking the CIA. "On the other question, whether initial substantial attacks against North Vietnam could produced." (From The Gulf of Tonkin) This quote is convincing because it is from our President. Another man said that the Untied States is "unleashing the CIA to conduct psychological warfare against the North." (Rotter) "The North Vietnamese Navy, in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law, have deliberately and repeatedly attacked United States naval vessels lawfully present in international water, and have thereby created a serious threat to international peace." (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) This is not true because they later produced the letter that said the CIA attacked the North Vietnamese first. That is how the US provoked the Vietnam War. The United States did not declare war on North Vietnam. To have a just war you need to declare war and the United States did not declare war. In class we talked about just war theory and you need to be attacked, declare war, and there was not any destruction going on at all. The United States, President Johnson was given the right to go to war with Vietnam with not declaration of war. (Zinn) This quote is convincing because this happened in the timeline were the declaration of war would have been. "The Gulf of Tonkin allows all out war against North Vietnam without a formal Declaration of War from congress". (Debate on Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) Some say that the United States was really attacked first therefore we did not need a declaration of war. The United States Government has said that we attacked the North Vietnamese first therefore we needed a declaration of war. That is how we did not declare war first, because we said that they attacked us first which we learn is not true. The Vietnam War was not a last resort. No one was in any danger and no laws were being broken so the United States did not need to go over there and join the war. In a phone call that President Johnson was in he says "this is the biggest damn mess that I've ever saw." (Document C) This quote is convincing because the President knows that they are going to end up in war but it is not a last resort. "In early August 1964, President Johnson used a murky set of events in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam, to launch full-scale war on Vietnam." (Zinn) Zinn says this because it was showing that Johnson planned on going to war. Gerald Cline says "The United States had to go to war for last resort because we were stoping communism." This does not make it last resort. Communism is not a last resort reason to go to war. That is how the Vietnam War was not just because we pushed North Vietnam to far, we never had a war declaration and the war was not last resort. |