The Obligation to defend South Vietnam - Essay Example

They could not just ignore “the long-suffering people of South Vietnam” (Westmoreland 1). In addition, the power of North Vietnamese military was stronger than that of South Vietnamese military when North Vietnamese were attacking South Vietnamese unjustly. According to Johnson (1), the war was characterized as unparalleled brutality. The simple farmers were one of the kidnapping and assassination targets. The children and their mothers were killed in the middle of the night since their fathers and husbands were loyal and obedient to the state.

Consequently, the villages were always affected by attacks and raids that were majorly conducted in terror strikes and towns. North Vietnamese, Viet-Cong, attacked villages and killed not only soldiers but also civilians. Viet-Cong killed women and children. “In 1857 they reverted to terror, both indiscriminate and selective, with the assassination of teachers and local leaders. This terror rate went up every year” (Westmoreland 1). The Americans thought they should help Vietnamese to make order.

The purpose of the U.S. was not only just to fight against Communism, but also to defend South Vietnamese from brutal attack of North Vietnamese. The reason why the U.S. had to be involved is that Americans and other democratic countries feared the spread of Communism because it possibly would threaten the democracy in the world. Eventually, it will threaten the freedom in the U.S. also. Therefore, Americans were committed to stopping it. In his April 7, 1965 speech, President Johnson addresses this growing problem: "Over this war-and Asia- is another reality: the deepening shadow of Communist China” (Johnson 1).

Americans and people of other Democratic countries were afraid of the power of China; Americans thought unless they help Asian countries to escape from the danger of Communism, China would threaten and "dominate all southeast Asia” (Johnson 2). It was not only a problem