Vietnam War Case Study Essay

Jeff McMahan probes the morally-provocative question, “is morally permissible for an individual to join the armed forces if he will thereby become an “unjust combatant?” I will present two arguments to debate this question, epistemic justification and pacifism. I will implore the use of Reserve Police Battalion 101 as a historical example to support my conclusion that epistemic justification, or the moral permissibility for a man to join the armed forces in defense of an unjust cause, as the stronger of the two arguments. Before progressing any further, it is imperative to have a foundational understanding of “just combatants” and “unjust combatants,” as McMahan understands theses terms.

ANALYSIS America’s policy of containment, which lead to the further development of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshal Plan, aimed to contain the spread of communism and when Vietnam was being threatened by a communist regime, the Vietcong, America extended its policy of containment to Asia. (Source B)America extending its policy of containment to Asia meant that it would support the South Vietnamese government by supplying military aid and advisors and American troops to assist the South Vietnamese in preventing a communist takeover. (Source A)America was scared that the ‘Domino effect’ would occur in Vietnam, which was the theory that if one country fell to communism, which in this case would be Vietnam, all the countries that besieged it

As the Cold War raged on, the United States continued to try and contain the spread of communism. A popular belief during this time was the domino theory, which stated that if a country fell to communism, the surrounding countries would also fall. Therefore, the United States began sending aid to the South Vietnamese in order to resist the communist North. However, this quickly escalated into more and more troops being supplied, and the Vietnam War began to take shape. The Vietnam War would be marked by failure in both military and political leadership, angering the American public at every turn.

“There is at the outset a very obvious... connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America,”(Document E: Martin Luther King, Jr.). During the period of the Vietnam War, division struck the United States due to people’s vast opinions, this caused a rift in the country and began protests. Citizens of the USA did have legitimate reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but not all agreed with that. American citizens had many different reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but the biggest reason was that people were realizing how horrific wars truly were.

In its initial years, the Vietnam War had huge amounts of help originating from US citizens. We thought that the war would not take long at all and would make new American Casualties. Their thoughts started to change once they understood that the legislature had sugar coated how "well" the war was going when in actuality, it wasn't looking good. Major offensive attacks were launched by the Viet Cong on major bases. It was a decision of good or bad for the administration, their decision was constantly awful.

With all of the problems in our society, war is the most talked about dilemma in our messed up world. War could be both good and bad depending on a person’s view about it. War has some good objectives like erasing injustice and ending tyranny. If you think about it, there are also negative objectives, like how brutal war can be, or all of the innocent lives that are lost. In the book, My Brother Sam is Dead it explains how it may be like during the Revolutionary War, threw the eyes of a boy named Tim.

Nielsen Fotis Mr Winson Period 10 April 14, 2023 In 1955, the US involved itself in the conflict to help South Vietnam, a democratic country, fight against North Vietnam, a communist country. However, as citizens found out about corruption and undemocratic actions in South Vietnam, many of them became against the war, these people were doves. While citizens still focused on preventing communists from taking South Vietnam, they were called hawks. The Vietnam War heightened political, economic, racial, and social tensions in the United States because many hawks were for the war, but weren’t the people going to war, while many people going to war were poor or racial minorities.

In the essay “A New Moral Compact,” David W. Barno formally uses effective rhetorical techniques to successfully argue that a draft lottery system is essential for the United States’ involvement in armed foreign conflict to subside. The first way Barno creates an effective argument is by his technique of consistently using the literary device of comparison to identify the similar, yet different, nature of the participation in the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts to the Vietnam War. Within the first sentence of the essay, Barno informs the reader of the United States entering “its second decade of armed conflict,” which translates into eleven years of continuous strife that the nation has endured throughout Afghanistan and Iraq (15). This specific information is significant as the author later uses it for an effective comparison with the ten-year Vietnam War.

For as far as we can remember there has been conflict after conflict worldwide. A Lot of religions choose to live a life of pacifism and agreement instead of being associated with them. Pacifism is opposition to or war or violence as a means of settling disputes. Pacifists refuse, on moral or religious grounds, to bear arms or engage in any type of resistance. With that they do everything in their power to not be involved in wars.

“…We have perfected our weapons”, as Pope Francis said in St. Peter’s Square, “our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal we continue to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death”, which is why it should not be our only answer to all conflicts. At the time brutality may seem right, but later on people will suffer major consequences as referenced by Abigail, who falsely accused many who were executed, forcing herself to flee the country. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, people are falsely accused for crimes they would never come commit, yet they are found guilty based on the words of a minor. War is an unnecessary form of violence especially when it comes to the environment of children because in countries like Syria, child refugees are lacking education that is necessary for them to survive.

Throughout history, countries are inevitably pulled into conflicts that result in war. These conflicts usually occur because of interests in: economic gain, territorial gain, religion, and nationalism. America, like every country, needs a military to defend itself, especially when tensions arise in other parts of the world and when militia numbers start to decrease. This then allows the government to draft its population to serve in the military. People argue that young men and women’s bright lives are often cut short, and not allowed their Constitutional right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, but there are many benefits for the nation and the individual by serving one’s country.

One of the hardest questions for a Christians is is there such thing as a Just War and are Christians allowed to fight . You must carefully search the scriptures for truth and you must interpret the scripture with discernment. Sometimes as a reader, it can be easy to accept an author’s interpretation, but instead you must check the scripture for yourself. Christians are allowed to fight in wars and bear arms according to scripture . Just War, what does it really mean?

The Vietnam War started when French invaded Vietnamese territory and took it as their colony in 1887. Later in 1954, Vietnam was officially split into North(communist) and South(capitalist) Vietnam. The Viet Minh was the communist group who wanted to declare independence from France. The U.S did not want communism to be spread and that was the reason why they joined the war and supported the South. For the United States, a communist Vietnam meant the spread of the Soviet Union influence abroad the Asia’s territory (domino theory).

Vietnam War veterans represented 9.7% of their generation, and nearly half of the homeless veteran rate fought in Vietnam. The brave men and women that fought in this gruesome conflict signed their life to the federal government to protect and serve this great and powerful nation, and in return there were nothing but hateful, cruel acts towards them, such as called names like “baby-killers” or “murderers”, and even being spit on and trash thrown at them. Let alone the verbal and physical abuse, what made matters worse was that veterans couldn’t find work, after all the training, the experience, no one wanted them, which led most veterans to depression, anxiety and drug and alcohol use, because they felt like they couldn’t do what they had to do to support their family. However, would the homeless, drug and alcohol usage, and unemployment percentages be lower if America actually welcomed them home? These are the hardships Vietnam veterans had to go through when they came home, as heard from Wellston City Council Member and Airman Doug Wright, and what would be different if America wasn’t so hateful towards them and welcomed home the way they should’ve been.

A main source of the controversy and idea of violence that surrounds jihad today actually comes from Omar’s conquest of the Sassanid Empire, which Omar labeled a “jihad” (Ansary 44). It is the grouping of this conquest with the idea that it was fought and people died in the name of Allah, that gave people the first beliefs that Islam was a violent faith. This stigma has continued to stick around to modern times. In reality, however, this is no different than the conquests that the Byzantine Empire had been been waging around the same time period in the name of Christ, and what Pope proclaimed some four hundred years later during the Crusades. However, since Christian rulers then became the most influential following the fall of Islamic civilizations, Christians used these violent wars in the name of Allah against the Muslim community while glorifying their own wars to further the stigma of violence that still continues to permeate the Islam