Causes of the US attack on Vietnam
"I just tremble for my country when I think that God is just" -
US President Thomas Jefferson
US President Thomas Jefferson
In the second half of the XIXth century, Vietnam became a colony of France. The growth of national self-awareness after World War I led to the creation of the Vietnam Independence or Viet Minh League for 1941 in China - a military-political organization that united all opponents of French power.
The main positions were held by supporters of communist views under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. During the Second World War, he actively collaborated with the United States, who helped the Viet Minh with arms and ammunition to fight the Japanese. After the capitulation of Japan, Ho Chi Minh captured Hanoi and other major cities in the country, proclaiming the formation of an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, France did not agree with this and transferred the expeditionary force to Indochina, launching the colonial war in December 1946. The French army was unable to cope with the partisans alone, and from the year 1950 they came to the aid of the United States. The main reason for their intervention was the strategic importance of the region, which protects the Japanese islands and the Philippines from the southwest. The Americans decided that it would be easier to control these territories if they were under the rule of the French allies.
The war went on for the next four years and to 1954, after the defeat of the French in the battle of Dienbienfu, the situation became almost hopeless. The United States by this time already paid more than 80% of the costs of this war. Vice President Richard Nixon recommended the use of bombardment with tactical nuclear warheads. But in July 1954, the Geneva Agreement was concluded, according to which the territory of Vietnam was temporarily divided along the 17 parallel (where there was a demilitarized zone) to North Vietnam (under the control of the Viet Minh) and South Vietnam (under the rule of the French, who almost immediately granted it independence ).
In the US 1960, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon participated in the fight for the White House. At this time, the fight against communism was considered good form, and therefore the contender won who had a program to combat the "red threat" was more decisive. After the adoption of communism in China, the US government considered any events in Vietnam as part of communist expansion. This was impossible to prevent, and therefore, after the Geneva agreements, the United States decided to completely replace France in Vietnam. With the support of the Americans, the Prime Minister of South Vietnam Ngo Din Siem declared himself the first President of the Republic of Vietnam. His rule was tyranny in one of the worst forms. Only relatives were appointed to government posts, whom the people hated even more than the president himself. Those who opposed the regime were imprisoned, freedom of speech was prohibited. It is unlikely that it was to the liking of America, but that just will not close your eyes, for the sake of the only ally in Vietnam.
As one American diplomat said: “Ngo Din Ziem is certainly a son of a bitch, but he is OUR son of a bitch!”
The emergence on the territory of South Vietnam of underground resistance units, not even supported from the North, was only a matter of time. However, the USA saw only the machinations of the Communists in everything. Further tightening of measures led only to the fact that in December 1960, all the South Vietnamese underground groups merged into the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, called the West Vietcong. Now and North Vietnam began to support the partisans. In response, the United States has strengthened military aid to the Zhem. In December 1961, the first regular units of the US Armed Forces arrived in the country - two helicopter companies, designed to increase the mobility of government troops. American advisers trained the South Vietnamese soldiers and planned combat operations. The administration of John F. Kennedy wanted to demonstrate to Khrushchev their determination in the destruction of the “communist contagion” and their readiness to defend their allies. The conflict grew and soon became one of the "hottest" hotbeds of the cold war of the two powers. For the United States, the loss of South Vietnam led to the loss of Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, which threatened Australia. When it became clear that Ziem was not able to effectively deal with the partisans, the American special services, by the hands of South Vietnamese generals, organized a coup. 2 November 1963, Ngo Dinh Ziem, along with his brother, was killed. Over the next two years, as a result of the struggle for power, another coup took place every few months, which allowed the partisans to expand the occupied territories. At the same time, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and many lovers of the "conspiracy theory" see this as his desire to end the war in Vietnam by peaceful means, which someone did not like very much. This version is plausible, in the light of the fact that the first document that Lyndon Johnson signed as the new president was the sending of additional troops to Vietnam. Although on the eve of the presidential election, he was nominated as a "candidate of peace", which affected his confident victory. The number of American soldiers in South Vietnam has grown from 760 in 1959 to 23300 in 1964.
2 August 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin two American destroyers, Maddox and Turner Joy, were attacked by the forces of North Vietnam. After a couple of days, in the midst of confusion in the command of the "Yankees", the destroyer Maddox announced the re-shelling. And although the crew soon denied the information, intelligence said it was intercepting reports that North Vietnamese had admitted to attacking. The US Congress, by voting on 466 with votes “for” and not a single “against”, adopted the Tonkin resolution, which gives the president the right to respond to this attack by any means. This marked the beginning of the war. Lyndon Johnson gave the order to inflict airstrikes on the naval facilities of North Vietnam (Operation Pierce Arrow). Surprisingly, the decision to invade the United States in Vietnam was made only by civilian leadership: Congress, President, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rask. The Pentagon reacted without enthusiasm to the decision to "resolve the conflict" in Southeast Asia.
Colin Powell, who was a young officer in those years, said: “Our military was afraid to tell the civilian leadership that this method of war leads to a guaranteed loss.”
American analyst Michael Desch wrote: "Unconditional obedience of the military to civilian authorities leads, firstly, to the loss of their authority, and secondly, it unties the hands of official Washington for further, similar to the Vietnamese, adventures."
American analyst Michael Desch wrote: "Unconditional obedience of the military to civilian authorities leads, firstly, to the loss of their authority, and secondly, it unties the hands of official Washington for further, similar to the Vietnamese, adventures."
More recently, a statement by independent researcher Matthew Aid, specializing in stories National Security Agencies (US intelligence and counterintelligence intelligence services) that key intelligence information about the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 that caused the US invasion of Vietnam was fraudulent. The basis was a report by NSA historian Robert Heynok in 2001 and declassified on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act (passed by Congress in 1966). From the report it follows that NSA officers made an unintended error in translating information obtained as a result of radio interception. The senior officers, who almost immediately discovered the error, decided to hide it by correcting all the necessary documents so that they indicated the reality of the attack on the Americans. High-ranking officials have repeatedly referred to these false data in their speeches.
Robert McNamara, said: “I think it is wrong to think that Johnson wanted war. However, we believed that we had at our disposal evidence that North Vietnam was aggravating the conflict. ”
And this is not the last falsification of intelligence by the leadership of the NSA. The basis of the war in Iraq, lay unconfirmed information on the "uranium dossier." However, many historians believe that even if there were no incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States would still find a reason to start hostilities. Lyndon Johnson believed that America was obliged to protect its honor, to impose on our country a new round of the arms race, to rally the nation, to distract its citizens from internal problems.
When new presidential elections were held in the United States in 1969, Richard Nixon announced that the foreign policy of the United States would change dramatically. The United States will no longer claim the role of overseer and try to solve problems in all corners of the planet. He announced a secret plan to end the battles in Vietnam. This was well received by American society, tired of the war, and Nixon won the election. However, in fact, the secret plan was a massive application aviation и fleet. In 1970 alone, American bombers dropped more bombs on Vietnam than in the last five years combined.
And here we should mention another side interested in the war - US corporations that manufacture weapon and ammunition. In the Vietnam War, more than 14 million tons of explosives were blown up, which is several times more than during World War II in all theaters of war. Bombs, including high-tonnage and, now forbidden, fragmentary, equated whole villages with the ground, and the fire of napalm and phosphorus burned out hectares of forest. Dioxin, which is the most toxic substance ever created by man, was sprayed over the territory of Vietnam in quantities of more than 400 kilograms. Chemists believe that 80 grams, added to the water system of New York, is enough to turn it into a dead city. This weapon has continued to kill for forty years, affecting the current generation of Vietnamese. The profits of US military corporations amounted to many billions of dollars. And they were not at all interested in the quick victory of the American army. After all, it is no coincidence that the most developed state in the world, using the latest technologies, large masses of soldiers, winning all their battles, still could not win the war.
Presidential candidate from the Republican Party, Ron Paul said the following: "We are going to fascism, not of Hitler's type, but softer, as expressed in the loss of civil liberties, when corporations run the government and the government is in the same bed with big business."
In 1967, the International War Crimes Investigation Tribunal held two sessions, where testimonies on the conduct of the war in Vietnam were heard. From their verdict it follows that the United States is fully responsible for the use of force and for a crime against peace, in violation of established provisions of international law.
“In front of the huts,” recalls a former US soldier, “the old men were standing or squatting in the dust at the threshold. Their life was so simple, it all passed in this village and the fields surrounding it. What do they think of strangers invading their village? How do they understand the constant movement of helicopters cutting through their blue sky; tanks and half-tracked vehicles armed with patrols spanking through their rice fields where they cultivate the land? ”
US Armed Forces Vietnam War
"Vietnam War" or "Vietnam War" is the Second Indochinese War of Vietnam with the United States. It began around 1961 and ended on April 30 of 1975. In Vietnam, this war is called the Liberation War, and sometimes the American War. The Vietnam War is often viewed as the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and China, on the one hand, and the United States, with some of their allies, on the other. In America, the Vietnam War is considered the darkest spot in its stories. In the history of Vietnam, this war is perhaps the most heroic and tragic page.
The Vietnam War was at the same time a civil war between various political forces in Vietnam and an armed struggle against the American occupation.
"Vietnam War" or "Vietnam War" is the Second Indochinese War of Vietnam with the United States. It began around 1961 and ended on April 30 of 1975. In Vietnam, this war is called the Liberation War, and sometimes the American War. The Vietnam War is often viewed as the peak of the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and China, on the one hand, and the United States, with some of their allies, on the other. In America, the Vietnam War is considered the darkest spot in its stories. In the history of Vietnam, this war is perhaps the most heroic and tragic page.
The Vietnam War was at the same time a civil war between various political forces in Vietnam and an armed struggle against the American occupation.
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