The rationale for the US to enter the Vietnam war was based primarily on two premises: One is the Domino theory. If South Vietnam fell to communism, so would the rest of Southeast Asia. The other is the US wanted to establish credibility to its allies that, in the post WW II era, it could be trusted as a protector/defender against the Soviet Union. The well being and the freedom of South Vietnam was really an after thought. This is evident through the abrupt US pull out and the lack of discussion for the neutrality of South Vietnam during the US and North Vietnam’s negotiation process.
The war itself was really lost shortly after its started. At the time, Lyndon Johnson was most interested in promoting his “Great Society” initiative and saw the war as a distraction to it. Being both ignorant and arrogant, after all Vietnam is but a tiny country, Johnson felt that North Vietnam could be bombed and leveled into submission. So the massive bombing raids along with bad land policies were implemented. More bombs were dropped in Vietnam that the entire WW II combined. Atrocities on innocent civilians were committed by both US and South Vietnamese troops. Burning of homes, the My Lai massacre, agent orange, the raping and the savaging were among them. Unlike popuplar claim, the South Vietnamese, for the most part, cared not for Marxism. They just wanted to be left alone. The horrible actions of the American and the South Vietnamese soldiers left the great majority of Vietnamese with a seemingly obvious choice of supporting the North Vietnamese who promised them peace. The North Vietnamese also committed serious crimes as well. But somehow, they did a better job in propaganda warfare. Unlike other wars where there are points which the agressor could conquer and ultimately declare victory, this was not the case in Vietnam. Marching into Hanoi (the Capital of North Vietnam) then would be the same as going into a empty town. The North Vietnamese army and leaders were so mobile in the jungle that no amount of bombing or military excursions could severely damage them. With time on their side and with supply support from China and the Soviet Union, the North Vietnamese were able to maintain and plan their march into South Vietnam. Meanwhile, the American’s will to fight the war became virtually non-existent in the US. In 1973, the Geneva agreement between the US and North Vietnam effectively ended US military engagement in Vietnam. South Vietnam troops fought on until 1975.
In my judgment, the significant point about this war, or in any other wars, is the war actually began after the last bullet was fired. People lost their homes, families and friends. The country infrastructure was ruined. Human wisdom and knowledge passed from one generation to another got lost. The Vietnamese lost 2-3 million lives. Who helped these people? The communist North Vietnamese pursued their retaliation campaign against South Vietnamese soldiers and their families who fought along side with the American soldiers. The so-called “re-education” camp was created to imprison them. In fact, the late Francis Cardinal Thuan, who is being investigated by the Church for possible sainthood was placed in this camp. Have you seen the movie “The Killing Field”? If not, could you imagine what Al-Qaida would do to the Iraqi soldiers we have trained if we were to leave Iraq now? The Communists were just as determined to go after catholics. Many priests and religious were imprisoned. Countless catholics became martyrs. Until this day, the mission of the Church has been severely restricted.
