The Vietnam War
Muhammad Pirzada
Who, What, When, Where and Why.
The Vietnam war was a costly armed conflict between the communist North and the South allied by United States of America. The war begin in 1954 when the communist leader Ho Chin Minh came to power and attacked the non-communist South. Lyndon B. Johnson sent in troops to fight the war. The war was concluded by Richard Nixon in 1973 when he ordered the withdrawal of the troops and signed a peace accord. The war resulted in death of 58000 American troops. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.
Media
Vietnam was the first war that issued full freedom to the press, allowing media to cover the war as they saw it. Without censorship, appalling images enabled the public to see war, as they never had before. Many people believe that it was the media that sparked the lack of support for the war. Scenes at the Vietnam war were organized and brought forward in front of public through the growing television news broadcast and news papers, journalists would risk their lives in capturing the horrifying scenes.
Bias
With all the failures of the war displayed to the citizens of US there were countless brave efforts. The American public deserved to know about a VNAF Skyraider pilot who had been shot down five times, and continued flying, despite his several fused vertebrae. Americans who volunteered for three, four, five, six, or even seven tours as advisors, choosing to serve in Vietnam again and again, not as bloodthirsty and uncaring killers, but as very normal, decent human beings who could eloquently and convincingly explain their motivations, which was ultimately to see Vietnamese people have a life of peace and decent government.
Criticism
I believe the War in Vietnam can be viewed through the lens of a Marxist view, USA becoming a super power at that time and against the communist culture was providing support to all countries who were against it as well. Lyndon B Johnson showed the military power of the nation by sending in troops for support believing in an easy victory, US dropped more than eight million tons of explosives. This was three times as much as the total tonnage dropped by all belligerents during the whole of the Second World War. But the result was a retreat with a death toll of 58000 Americans.
News Report & Prespective
I believe the war with Vietnam was an effort to abolish the communist rule but it was not easy. American government thought the fight would be an easy one; the operation rolling thunder was a decisive method of getting the communist side of Vietnam under control but the incident at My Lai Massacre brought the troops under heavy opposition from none other then the citizens of USA calling them baby killers. None the less the war resulted in a disappointing defeat with numerous causalities.
vietnam news report