The Vietnam War: When Right Intentions Go Wrong

‘Although the U.S.A went into Vietnam with the best of intentions, the conflict went horribly wrong.'

The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

The United States initially backed the struggling democratic South Vietnam in an effort to prevent what is known as the ‘domino effect' from occurring. The idea that the South falling under the communist north's control and ideology and therefore the rest of South-East Asia falling under a communist regime was quite a legitimate theory at the time, and therefore America did go into Vietnam with good intentions. Their intentions being good is arguable now, but during the early 1960's under the presidency of John F. Kennedy the escalation of American involvement in Vietnam was greeted with enthusiasm by the American public. However, John F. Kennedy's own enthusiasm was dulled and as he contemplated withdrawal from Vietnam, he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, to be succeeded by the more militarized Lyndon Johnson.

As Lyndon Johnson came into power, he upped the number of military advisors in Vietnam to 27,000 . His more active military stance, and commitment to the fight against communism saw U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalate as bombing of North Vietnam commenced, and ground troops scoured the jungles for Viet Cong. The conflict went horribly wrong when the U.S troops began to be ambushed and out-smarted by the Viet Cong. The U.S troops entered Vietnam well aware that they would be fighting in a war, yet the war wasn't the conventional type. The Viet Cong were known to use some cunning guerilla warfare tactics against the stronger and better-armed American forces. Hiding in trees, using local villagers to lead the troops into ambushes, troops were being slaughtered. This is one instance where the conflict went horribly wrong in Vietnam, during the combat on the ground.

During the peak of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, between 1967 and 1969 the U.S employed a strategy that proved to be a disaster on many different levels. With over 500,000 of their troops serving in Vietnam at the time, the widespread use of herbicides, particularly Agent Orange began being sprayed over the Vietnamese jungle by planes. The aim of this was to eliminate the ‘invisibility' of the Viet Cong and offer a safe path for the American troops to follow. This was a good idea in theory, but what the American strategists didn't think of was the toxicity of the herbicides, and the fact that not only would the Viet Cong be exposed to it, but their troops and innocent South Vietnamese would be also. A widely speculated and argued repercussion of this is that many Vietnam veterans, and Vietnamese villagers began to give birth to babies with birth defects. However, a confirmed result of the Agent Orange sprayings has been a significantly higher rate of diabetes . It wasn't until 20 years after the Vietnam War that research truly began into the affects of Agent Orange, and it is only now that the true affects are being revealed as diseases such as cancer and Hodgkin's disease are becoming prominent in veterans.

The conduct of soldiers in Vietnam, specifically towards the peak of the conflict has been argued extensively over the last 30 years. It is well known that soldiers were not the only people killed in Vietnam, but for the American troops to kill the innocent civilians they have been told to protect is a different consideration. The conflict went wrong when the American troops began to take aim at the villagers and destroy their villagers. It is still speculated today why this happened. Some feel frustration was the cause, others racism, but the fact remains that the American troops opened fire unprovoked. The My Lai Massacre is probably the most horrendous example of this, where American troops entered the village and slaughtered over 200 innocents with everything from machine guns, to machetes. This inexcusable behavior played no part in America's original intentions and was one example of where the conflict in Vietnam went horribly wrong.

The Vietnam War was one of the very few wars in American history, which by the late 1960's, the public had denounced it. Vietnam was no longer a supported cause by the American people, and mass demonstrations, and rallies began being held to try and end the war. Despite not being part of the conflict itself, the lack of support for the soldiers certainly took its toll on morale and on the tactics employed by the U.S Government. On October 15, 1969 , citizens across the United States participated in The Moratorium, the largest one-day demonstration against the war. Millions of people stayed home from work, school etc. to show their opposition to the war. This demonstration showed just how little support the American Government had from its people, and with claims of an ‘honorable' end to the war, Richard Nixon took up office. Despite his initial claims, all Nixon really did was remove the ground troops and concentrate heavily on the bombing of North Vietnam. Ultimately however, with the fear of impeachment, and with funding to Vietnam ceased Nixon was forced to withdrawal U.S forces from Vietnam.

Although the United States went into Vietnam with the intentions of preventing a ‘domino effect' of communism throughout South-East Asia, the conflict went horribly wrong in a number of ways. These included: the Viet Cong were an unbeatable enemy, the Agent Orange project, which is causing health problems in veterans to this day, the My Lai massacre and similar events which took place and the lack of support from the American public. U.S involvement in Vietnam, to aid the South from falling to communism, and to ultimately protect all of South-East Asia from communism was warranted, however the conflict in Vietnam went horribly wrong, and as a result, America lost the war against communism.

Bibliography:

Encarta Encyclopedia Article- The Vietnam War http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761552642 Visited on 30/10/2001

Vietnam War Overview http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview.html Visited on 31/10/2001

Agent Orange Information http://www.goiv.com/ao Visited on 3/11/2001

My Lai Massacre http://www.oz.net/~vvawai/sw/sw31/pgs_03-14/my_lai.html Visited on 3/11/2001