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How Is Agent Orange Justified In The Vietnam War Unjustified?

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The Vietnam War was a gruesome trial of war that some people think should never have happened, but why do they think this? A large amount of evidence can back up the thought of the Vietnam War being unjustified. An example of this is Agent Orange, which is a generation's worth of disabilities and deformities caused by the unredeemable toxic chemicals dropped on the Vietnamese population. A second reason is that many people— including a large number of Americans — protested against the Vietnam War, because of the terror occurring. War drafts also were happening, which sent men (even if they did not want to) to fight in the war, which was yet again met with mass protests. Propaganda was also a large contributor to politics during this event, and many portrayed the blind escalation of the war. The Vietnam War stands as an undeniable testament to the …show more content…

This evidence highlights gruesome traps, such as the Punji trap, and bamboo spike pits intended to ensnare and impale US soldiers. Supporters of escalating the war would debate the inhumane tactics employed by opposing forces, such as the Vietcong, and argue that the use of Agent Orange to remove trees and foliage aimed to eliminate enemy cover, making it more difficult for guerrilla tactics to be employed against American forces. Despite acknowledging the negative and life-changing effects suffered by innocent civilians in Vietnam, they contend that the war was essential in preventing the spread of communism and its perceived domino effect on neighboring countries. While guerilla warfare was indeed very fearful for the United States and its soldiers, the effects of Agent Orange continue to be much worse than that of guerilla warfare because of the outcome that has stretched outside the fields of

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4. The Vietnam War saw the use of many controversial military tactics used by both the United States and their allies, as well as the Viet Cong and NVA. On the American side, one of the most prevalent and well known missions was Operation Ranch Hand, a decade long herbicidal warfare campaign that is still causing terrible birth defects to this day. The herbicides used in Agent Orange were contaminated with an even worse chemical, known as TCDD, which is a heavy carcinogen and teratogen. In the period that it was used, agricultural lands were sprayed with Agent Orange in an attempt to starve the enemy by destroying the main crop in the region, rice.

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“American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and our National Identity” is a book that takes us through 20 years of the War in Vietnam from about 1955 to 1975. The Vietnam War is the second longest war in US history encompassing 5 presidents which include Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Appy’s book gives a unique American perspective on incredible, horrifying, and inspiring stories in Vietnam as well as American. Through Apps book readers learn about different communism containment methods that America used. Readers also learn about different methods of attack on Vietnam from an American standpoint and how the different failures of the US army and US politicians turned many heads into hard truths about the war.

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50,000 tons of Agent Orange were evenly distributed over 3 million acres in South Vietnam. This dispersed over 500 pounds of deadly dioxin. The military used 27 times more herbicide per unit area than most domestic applications, and the dioxins emitted from this overabundance of herbicide created health concerns and risks for veterans, and their families. Other chemicals with the same effect were used in

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The United States was involved in the Vietnam War in the 1960s in order to support South Vietnam’s fight for an economic and cultural ties to the West. On the other hand, North Vietnam supported the ideas of a communist economy. However, the United States’s involvement in the war caused a million of dollars and lives lost, lost of faith towards the country’s government, and divided the nation instead of uniting as one. More than three million people in the war died, and out of those three million, 58,000 were Americans. The Americans and the people in South Vietnam had fought for their beliefs of a modern Westernized country while North Vietnam had fought for a communist economy.

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The Vietnam War a dark time in the U.S. history. The fears of communism, The use weapons like napalm and agent orange. The U.S. and the lies the government tried to cover up. in the begin people supported the war U.S. was trying to stop communism and vietnam is small it wouldn't take that long for them to give up right? Well the U.S. was wrong the viet men were never going to give up and the choices the U.S. government made were the deciding factor in this war

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It remained toxic for only days or weeks and then degraded,[i] but it had a toxic contaminant, dioxin, that did not degrade as readily and is still causing health problems in Vietnam”(“What is Agent Orange”). Due to this it’s understood what Agent Orange is made out of and provides information as to what lead to the medical problems in the people in Vietnam and anyone affiliated with it and how long each specific chemical lasted. Just as everything has a name, Agent Orange had a story behind the naming, “More than 19 million gallons of various “rainbow” herbicide combinations were sprayed, but Agent Orange was the combination the U.S. military used most often. The name “Agent Orange” came from the orange identifying stripe used on the 55-gallon drums in which it was stored”(“Facts about Herbicides”). This helps to show how much of the chemical was sprayed, leading to a visual of how much area could have been affected.

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Many lives were lost in the Vietnam War, leaving many families to ponder about their loved ones and whether they would return safely this supports my argument which entitles the Vietnam War was horrible and has made a mark in history. “It took us not 5 minutes to decide that when this thing came to the point of action we would be in it, if invited by the government of South Vietnam”. Robert Menzies, 1969. Source 1. Australia got involved in the war in the year 1962 because they feared they would fall to communism by the domino effect.

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Vietnam War proved to be unfriendly to the America’s environment just like the previous World Wars. During this time, America was finding it difficult to kill the Vietnamese soldiers. Vietnam is a region full of forests and the Vietnamese used forests as a cover. America decided to use chemicals to destroy these forests. Operation Ranch Hand was done by Americans to harm these forests.

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Although the Vietnam was caused by the United States trying to stop the spread of communism, the war had negative consequences on Americans and Vietnamese people. Thousands of innocent lives were lost and it had social, econmic and political

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1. Summarize the reasons that one individual might have been strongly opposed to the Vietnam War while another person from the same family or circle of friends may have supported the war. Many Americans were strongly opposed to the Vietnam war. These Americans had many reasons to resent the war effort occurring in Vietnam. One reason that many, especially young men, opposed the war effort was because of the draft.

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Many Americans opposed the war on moral grounds as they were dismayed by the devastation and violence of the war. Although, others claimed the war was going against the independence of Vietnam. Other reasons included the fact of people feeling like it lacked objectives and was unwinnable. However, the antiwar movement grew into an unstoppable force. Many people protested the war by means of persuasion by the “Vietnam Veterans against the War.”

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The Vietnam War, a bloody and gruesome war, spanning for about 20 years, took the lives of millions of people, and it was a war unlike no other, and it affected the public opinion of the US people in a very negative way, forcing them to almost turn against the government at one point in our history. It was one of the first public wars, where people all of the world, especially in America, were kept up to date and witnessed many of the tragic events unfold, right in their living rooms. It was a war of changing viewpoints and opinions, as many Americans began to question American military, power, authority and leadership. The vietnam war was also one of the most gradual wars the US has ever been involved in, where as starting from just some assistance

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Also, newspapers revealed stories and government secrets that proved that the American people were being lied to ( New York Times vs. the United States). The Vietnam war is believed by some to be a war deeply rooted in economics. Many aspects of the United States were affected directly. The Great Society programs were suffering because the money that was put towards the war, could have been used to help poverty programs.

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