Ethical Issues: The United States Intervention in the Vietnam War
The United States' involvement in the conflict began in 1950 with an advisory role towards the Diehm government of South Vietnam after the country of Vietnam split into North and South. At the time, the Cold War was in its early stages, leading to the communist-North breaking away from the US and French backed South. This move triggered widespread fear that communism would spread to South Vietnam because of the Domino Thoery that one communist country would influence and control the surrounding. Fear that communism would spread throughout the rest of Asia, prompted the United States to enter the conflict, in order to contain the reach of communism. However, in the years since the culmination of the war, it has been debated over what the United States' motive for entering the conflict really were. Did the United States have pure or evil motives for intervening? This question is the central ethical quandary of the Vietnam War conflict. Argument Supporting US Intervention:The United States was in a position as a global superpower to defend the basic human rights of citizens of South Vietnam who they deemed to be under the threat of "communist aggression." It can be argued that the US congress acted morally by granting President Lyndon Johnson the use of military personnel due to the Domino Theory which was strongly believed at the time. If the rest of Vietnam and the rest of the region had fallen to a communist regime, the trade and financial reserves of the US would have been strongly impacted, threatening the long term well-being of US citizens. There has been question over who is at fault for the moral dilemma of the US' role in the Vietnam War - the US government or its armed forces. It can be argued that the government was doing what it felt was best for the American people, while the members of the military were just doing the job it was tasked with upon being drafted into the service.
Argument Against US Intervention: The United States role in the Vietnam War can be questioned because they intervened in a conflict that was millions of miles away wasn't causing physical to their people. The question of whether the US government's honest motives were to stop the spread of communism or they were just simply protecting their interests in Vietnam's natural resources has been a subject of debate for years. However, what cannot be denied are the numerous reports of potential war crimes committed by the US armed forces. One of the most famous examples of what is considered to be a war crime is the My Lai Massacre of 1968 in which the US military killed 242 civilian men, women, and children, along with some soldiers also committing multiple rapes (University of Missouri). Instances like the My Lai Massacre and other potential war crimes puts the US' role in the Vietnam War in a very negative light, as the actions they committed while in the conflict appear to be very unnecessary. Even if stopping communism was the honest goal of the United States, the way they attempted to achieve that goal can be interpreted as questionable at best.