America in Vietnam

Week 2 Discussion

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“America in Vietnam” Please respond to the following:

The Vietnam War was a counterinsurgency that involved us in guerilla warfare that was similar, in some ways, to what we face in Afghanistan today. But the way the Vietnam War was conducted was considered to be immoral and unjust by many.

•Describe the prevailing arguments of what constitutes a “just war,” and assess the justice of the Vietnam War in that context.

•Speculate on how the world would be different today if the U.S. had not become involved in Vietnam.

The criterion that is used to determined a just war was summed up by Hugo Grotius a Dutch philosopher in the seventeenth century. He drew his conclusion from catholic theologians. The criterion is comprised of seven elements, which include the following:

1. There must be a just cause.

2. Right authority to initiate the war.

3. There is a right intention on the side of the party that intends to use force.

4. The resort of force is proportional.

5. Force is the last resort.

6. Peace is the goal of the war.

7. There is a reasonable hope of success.

Putting all the points into consideration, US involvement in Vietnam could be said to be unjust. It’s true that the US had declared the war properly and it has also a reasonable chance of success despite the loss. However, it did not go to the war for a just or moral reason. It’s apparent that the US lured into the war in a political effort to contain the spread of communism in the Southeast of Asia region. The “Just War” theory categorically, states that engaging in a war due to political reason is clearly unjust. Vietnam involvement had not in any way threatened the liberty and the safety of America by engaging in communism and the sums the whole matter up.

The main reason of US entry into the war was to contain communism which failed miserably. Without the fear of such a failure, the US could have entered into Afghanistan earlier and this could have minimized Soviet invasion. The Taliban would have risen to power and Osama Bin Laden would not became the face of terrorist movement. In short, the fear of another endless war could not have gripped US, thus allowing communists to become stronger in some cases.