What Purpose Vietnam?

Question

From the stated purpose for going into Vietnam in 1959 to the present day, what have been the overall advantage and disadvantage of our involvement? In the end, has the world, the country, etc been done any service by our being there?

Answer 1

As far as our actual purpose for going, the goal has been met. The Vietnam War was about containing the spread of communism.

As far as the disadvantages or repercussions of our actions in Vietnam, many citizens have never recovered their faith in this country to do the right thing.

Answer 2

The stated purpose until the American War ended in 1975 (and the North and South were once again unified into one country) was to stop the spread of communism / protect our ally. Since then until today the stated purposes are either to help the country develop, or sell them something.

The US had an embargo for a number of years that continued the population's problems well after the end of the fighting, but that is over.

The communist government opened up the economy a bit more to private sector / capitalist-like activities and the economy definitely benefited - from the decision by the communist government.

The country has been benefiting from development assistance, and the economy is benefiting from US business interests and activities. That is not to say US business interests are necessarily in the interest of the Vietnamese.

Relations between the US and Viet Nam have gotten much better, so I think VN is benefiting from that. Some people are benefiting from the growing economy - many others are not. I am not convinced that VN's joining the WTO is going to benefit them, really benefit them, but that remains to be seen.

The Vietnamese got over the war a long time ago. Not true for many people in the US. But then, they won.

Answer 3

As a Marine Vietnam Veteran, I think I can say that the reason we fought was a noble cause: to keep S. Vietnam free and stop the spread of communism in S. E. Asia. Had the left wing gutless protesters and liberals in Congress BACKED the troops and the cause, S. Vietnam might be free today. Had the Democratic Party government that got us into it let the military fight the war the way it wanted to, we would have won. The US military won every single major campaign it fought there, yet we were hamstrung from doing the job right.

As for Communist Vietnam today...there are still people escaping from there to freedom here. Kinda tells you that communism sucks, doesn't it ?

Answer 4

The purpouse of veitnam was to prevent the spread of communisom, in the intrest of national defense. Although we could't prevent communisom in Nam, no other countries fell to communisom, so I suppose one could argue mission accomplished.

The purpose of Iraq, to overthrow a dictatorship and bring democracy to the country, again in the interest of nation defense. We haven't been attacked on home land since 9/11, so again, one could argue "it's working and we need to stay the course and fight terrorism in Iraq, so we don't have to fight it at home." - this seems to be the main argument to continue the war which I find quite ammusing.

I suppose I could claim- "I bought this magic rock after 9/11 that has the power to prevent terrorism, and we haven't been attacked since! The rock works." Kinda throws their argument out the window right.

One positive not on Iraq, we did overthrow a dictator, and brought democracy to a country. Do they even want democracy? It really doesn't seem like it. Is it worth the lives of our soldiers and a trillion tax dollars, well, thats not my decision to make.

Answer 5

I f you held stock in General Dynamics, Ford Motor Company (McNamara), Colt Firearms, or Dow chemical. Or if you imported liquor(Kennedy's) then there were great things about the war. You made tons of money off of it.
Has the country been done any service? I don't think so. It seems to have accomplished nothing. It took my youth and my brother. It took the innocence away from Americans and we started questioning things. Maybe some good did come of it.

Answer 6

Decode this lyrics "You raised me up"
"The young one" back in the past expose - Put flowers in your hair.
Expose that "The spoils of the war " was lost in time.
Joshua 7.11
The Iraq war expose the recovery of "The spoils of the war" on the Liberation of Freedom for the good of mankind with the creation of peace on earth goodwill to men from world war two.
The glory and honour that was lost in time being expose in the new millenium after the mystery of us-911.
Can only be trace with the missing key.
The gifts of life which all "The young one" were blindly searching in honouring and worshiping God for that Freedom.

Answer 7

Present day? Dude do you know what day it is? Vietnam was officially over for us April 30 1975. Alright- how long of an answer do you want? I have one but it's not short.

Answer 8

Good question. I would say that NO there were no advantages at all for our being there. I guess if you ask the people who get rich from our being at war,(namely politicians/rich folk) you would get an entirely different answer.
I think that the biggest disadvantage of our being there is that nothing was gained by our losses. Too many good people died for nothing but money.

Answer 9

Casualties and war shocked soldiers were the results of the US involvement in Vietnam. There was no gain due to the US defeat in the war.

Answer 10

Sounds like a HOME WORK QUESTION. Go do your own on line research instead of trying to plagiarize someone else's work.