Is Vietnam war a genocide?

Question

Considering the number of civilian killed by US troops. BTW, what was the reason again for the US army to be in Vietnam?

Answer 1

After WWII, President Truman (and the other western allies) viewed Communism (in the form of the Soviet Union) as the greatest post-war threat. The turning point for Asia came in Dec. 1949 when Chinese communist forces won the civil war in China. Now the U.S. feared all of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand) might fall to communism.

France had attempted to regain control of its Southeast Asian colonies (including Vietnam) after WWII in 1945. They were fighting Ho Chi Minh and his communist rebels. Starting in 1950, the U.S. started to send military aid to France to help in its effort against the Viet Minh (the communist rebels). This was part of the U.S. goal of "containment" of the spread of communism.

When France pulled-out of Vietnam in 1955-56, the U.S. basically felt it had to fill the void in order to prevent Ho Chi Minh from unifying Vietnam under communist rule (the 1956 peace accords with France had divided Vietnam in half). So starting in 1955, the U.S. starting sending military advisors to assist the South Vietnamese Army. The conflict continued to escalate as communist rebels in the South gained more control of the countryside, which required more & more U.S. military advisors & equipment to prop-up the South Vietnamese army. Finally, in 1965, we sent combat troops to prop-up South Vietnam.

Answer 2

What's wrong with your question is that you have your order screwed up.  You first have to know why we were there before you can even consider whether it was genocide.  Genocide should not be watered down by using it to describe events such as Vietnam, as our intent and purpose was never to cause the extinction of the North Vietnamese.  The deaths to the North Vietnamese were caused as a byproduct of our actions, not as our purpose for being there.

Answer 3

no sorry. far more were civilians were killed by Vietnamese both North and South than by US forces. did that make it a Genocide?

Answer 4

And how many civilians were killed by US troops? How many were killed by North Vietnamese or Viet Cong?  How many by South Vietnamese?  Really a tiring question rehashed from the 1960's.  No the War in Vietnam was not genocide; what happened afterwards in Cambodia was but since the US wasn't involved and can't be blamed that doesn't matter does it.

Answer 5

They claim it was because of communism, but it was just a money maker for someone. A wag a dog deal like Iraq.

Answer 6

See above answer for the definition of genocide. The U.S. was in Vietnam to supposedly stop the spread of Communism.  Of course you will get very different answers depending on who you ask.

Answer 7

Ask John McCain he practically lived with the Viet Cong for 5 years.

Answer 8

/facepalm

Answer 9

Genocide is a conscious effort to eliminate a religious, ethnic, racial, etc... group.  That is not what happened in Vietnam regardless of what the civilian casualty numbers were.

The Army was there because it was ordered to be.