The Vietnam War: The Rules Of War

War is a very complicated issue, but it has always been part of human nature. Human beings have always turned to violence to get what they want. From the story of Kane and Able, The Revolutionary War, World War Two, and the modern day conflicts in the Middle East and the around of the world, people continue to use war to get what they want. War is complicated for multiple reasons, but one key problem is the rules of war. Civilian’s prosperity has been at the forefront of modern wars, but it hasn’t always been they case. Before the Geneva Conventions created the rules of war, which are guidelines that countries should abide by during conflict, parties would partake in incredible immoral acts upon their enemies and civilians. One example of this type of action, is the US carpet bombings in the Vietnam War.

During this time, the Vietcong were using trails and other assets in these countries and their own, to fight the South Vietnamese and US forces in Vietnam. The US couldn’t properly identify these Vietcong targets from civilian targets. They also decided that destroying these targets outweighed the potential civilian loss, because they believed that it would protect their forces while also ending the war as soon as possible. The US would bomb areas of potential Vietcong assets and supplies, which killed thousands of civilians while also destroying civilian food and property. These bombing were immoral because they broke the rules of war, which states forces should never target civilians. You could just look at this one immoral issue of this war, or you can try to look at the bigger picture and ask why the US felt justified doing