A Justifiable War

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Recommended: Warfare in the modern era

A Justifiable War

"Was the booby-trap theirs or ours?" "And his question was the answer."-Bryan Alec Floyd. Throughout history there has been a countless number of wars. Some in the name of God or some other holy figure, others have been for noble things such as freedom, and some have been for simple things such as money and land, but for which one of these issues is it justifiable to lead men to their deaths for? When talking of just causes of warfare within the last thirty years many people think of Vietnam and whether or not it met up to the standards of a "good" war.

To fully understand a war one must first understand its causes. For Vietnam to have taken place it needed certain volatile elements, which at that time were overabundant. The end of World War II opened the way for the return of French rule to Indochina. Despite the ties he had forged within the American Intelligence community, and his professed respect for democratic ideals, Ho Chi Minh was unable to convince Washington to recognize the legitimacy of his independence movement against the French. French Generals and their American advisors expected to easily defeat Ho Chi Mihn's little weak forces. But after 8 years of and 2.5 Billion in U.S. aid, the French lost a crucial battle at Dienbienphu and with it,-their Asian Empire.-www.vhfcn.org/stats.htm

With the goal of stopping the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, America replaced France in South Vietnam supporting President Ngo Dihn Diem until his own generals turned against him, bringing political chaos to Saigon.-http://204.249.212.251/shsira/Vietnam.html. So with Ho Chi Mihn set on reuniting Vietnam, Lyndon Baines Johnson determined against it, and South Vietnam on the verge of collap...

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...o why this war was so unpopular. Most Americans could see no true reason as to why we were sending our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends to this foreign country to die besides a possible economic gain. Was it a justifiable war? No.

"Empty causes, direction for the soul, conviction for the mind."-Bad Religion. War is a truly ugly thing. It has become more gruesome as the years have gone by and as man created more deadly tools to kill with. Throughout history we have seen a countless number of wars take place and a countless number of men, women, and children die. Some for just causes and some for empty ones. In Vietnam we saw so many loved ones die for some cause that we can't exactly put our finger upon. We have not seen the end of war's ugly face yet as mankind, but hopefully we will be able to pick our battles more wisely in the future.

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