Jozeph Kaddissi EN 102 Composition 2 (1:15-2:30) 21 February 2011 Vietnam War: The Fight against Social Injustice The war in Vietnam occurred at a period when the United States perceived communism as a serious threat to democracy, capitalism, American peace of society, and the civilized world. During this period, the USSR and the United States were deeply engrossed in the cold war. The war in Vietnam is only one among the many proxy wars between the communist countries led by the USSR and the capitalistic countries led by the United States. The communist North Vietnam had embarked on a war campaign against the south. Motivated by the need to deter the spread of communist ideology, America felt obligated to intervene to preserve the sovereignty of South Vietnam and possibly to end any further communist incursions in the north.
During 1957 and 1965 they have some problems with the government and North Vietnam send their troops to fight against the government. After this the war started. The North Vietnam has the support of other communist countries for example the USSR and the South Vietnam have the support of the US, this because the US was anti-communist. The US sent equipment and troops to South Vietnam, because they were going to help them win this war against the communism. When the war started many American people was against it and want this to end son as possible.
If the United States cannot respond to a threat near our own borders, why should Europeans or Asians believe that we're seriously concerned about threats to them? If the Soviets can assume that nothing short of an actual attack on the United States will provoke an American response, which ally, which friend will trust us then? (Reagan, 2012). This statement had to do with his concern over the events that were happening in Central America, which during this time had the Pro Soviet Sandinista government running Nicaragua which in had just ridded itself a previous dictatorship in 1979. This was also problematic because in 1981, Sandinista-supported Marxist guerrillas launched an offensive against the government of El Salvador, which was pro-American (Russell, 2010).
When the Cold War began, many countries started to immediately take sides, either with the Soviets, or with the U.S. Even though it started in Europe and Asia, the Cold War eventually reached Latin America. In 1975, right-wing dictatorships of Latin America, (mainly Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia), joined forces in a campaign to eradicate communist ideas, and Soviet influence. They were Technically and militarily supported by the U.S until 1978. Of course, even though the U.S was supporting dictators, it was far more important to stop the evil Communists!
Opponents say that the Americans only purpose for entering the gulf war was to protect its access to gulf oil. They accuse the country of not standing by the democratic ideals that it says it adheres to. Critics bring up the fact that the United States government supports dictators in smaller countries to further its objectives. D’Souza argues that American domination is much different than previous empires in that we do not sustain this with force. He asserts that Americas influence is the source of its power.
At the same time they tried to create a strong non-communist South Vietnam under the leadership of Diem. By the late 1950s, the communist rebels in South Vietnam declared a revolutionary struggle against Diem, so as to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. In turn, by the 1960s the USA became more and more alarmed at this prospect, leading to further intervention in Vietnam to stop this. When Kennedy was inaugurated he inherited many crises around the globe, the most pertinent was the loss of Cuba. After the well known Bay of Pigs fiasco, he felt he was advised that he needed a foreign policy success.
Surviving Mexico’s Dirty War After reading “Surviving Mexico’s Dirty War” a prisoner’s memoir by Alberto Ulloa Bornemann it seemed clear why guerrilla movement failed in the mid 1970’s. Even while he describes the struggles of Mexico in this time period I had to ask myself when Mexico did not struggle. It seems to be an on going battle in this country, to try to change a government that continually is corrupt. The story points out that during this time period in Mexico History that there happens to be several issues and factors that lead to the failure of a revolution that was to be or try to be a carbon copy of Cuban revolution lead by Castro and his guerillas. It was a failure; do to the lack of organization, leadership, and the ability to transport arms and secret information to those in the same organization and to those of different organizations.
I try to argue against the intervention on the following aspect: both intervention tries to teach democracy with undemocratic means, in other words the interventions are based self-interests of nations, especially U.S.’s, not the interest of Haiti citizen. Teaching Democracy with Undemocratic Means An examination of United States procedures in Haiti reveals the use of physical pressure to forcibly mold policies to U.S. interests, evident in signing of the Haitian-American treaty in 1915, and American involvement in the election of the Haitian President in both 1915 and 1995. These two examples illustrate the bullying attitude of the Americans towards the Haitian government, which is no different than dictatorial authoritarian. Intervention in 1915 Based on Haiti’s history, it was the first “black” independent nation, and a successful slave revolt won
This party is known as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front(FMLN) that was supported my Communist states. The government of El Salvador was supported by the United States in hopes of preventing the spread of Communism in Central America. The U.S. sent supplies to El Salvador to support the government and later in 1990 the United States began to help the government. Two years later in 1992 Peace Accords were signed with the guerilla forces in Chapultepec,Mexico ended the civil war. In a similar fashion, before the civil war El Salvador went in four day conflict with Honduras in 1969.
Political ideology of America was to prevent communism from spreading and ultimately defeat USSR in a cold war. However this ideology impacted negatively on society , as they though it was not their war and a useless thing to do . The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small,among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses. But gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) , The Youth Campaign Against Conscription in 1962 and the “Save Our Sons” movement in 1965.