Some ask the question, was the Vietnam War just? Some may say yes it was just,and others say that it is unjust. However,Certain people view justice as slippery concept. There are always ways to get aroud justice, and that is why people believe that justice is a slippety concept. Even Plato one of the brightest of his time could not figure out whether war was just or unjust. A Certain individual, by the name of Aquinas, also attempted to elaborate his view on the war through the document Summa Theologica. His reasons consisted of, First, the authority of the sovereign by whose command the war is to be waged(Article 1). The second reason being, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault(Article 1). Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil(Article 1). In the article of Summa Theologica, he alos talks about whether it is just to ambush in war. On the other hand , the novel written by Jonathan Shay, Achilles in Vietnam, he agrues that the war was unjust. He gives examples using the stories the returning soldiers from the war told him. With these stories and sotires from the Illiad, he attemtps to explain to the reader that the war was unjust , and that it corrupted the innocent people sent to the battle zone.War is not just something that just happens, rather, it is something that has been festering for a while, and once it reaches the surface it explodes like a volcano. This war began as a peacful assist to the Southern Vietnamese, then once JFK was assasinated the U.S. began to take over all aspects of the war. Is the war just or unjust, maybe both, but with careful analysis of the war, one will get an uprfront and personal view of whether it was just or not.…
