You still have to fight them, but at times you have to sink somewhat to where they are. You had to get rid of the forest they were hiding in, so you did.Armitage Shanks said:
Agent Orange (the chemical)
- Thread starter Mythos1092
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I wasn't necessarily questioning the use of Agent Orange in particular (thought to be honest, using a chemical to strip swathes of vegetation of foliage is not the most effective long term tactical response and no matter what the intent, using a chemical that can kill trees is probably not gonna be to friendly to people), my main was the "But they started it!" mentality, in any sense of use.Hail Fire 998 said:
So why do you still have to fight them? If they're dirty stinking [insert ideology here] being backed by foreigners so they can wage an illegitimate war not in the best interests of their people using inhumane methods; are we, as foreigners, to beat them by backing the waging of an illegitimate war not in the best interests of their people using inhumane methods for the sake of [insert ideology here]?
What's the difference between the two sides then?
America saw it as it's duty to defend the Southern Vietnamese people, so they entered into the war. They had to fight against quite brutal enemies, who were bad enough that America had to play dirty to fight them. However if America did not fight them, they would leave the South Vietnamese to be conquered and make it harder to further democracy. There was really no way out. America chose to help south South Vietnam and thus had to fight dirty.Armitage Shanks said:
Which brings me to my point:Hail Fire 998 said:
By rigging numerous elections, installing corrupt leaders, shooting up civilians (including women, children and old people), setting off larger regional conflicts, creating waves and waves of refugees and using the same inhumane tactics that the enemy used while at the very same time decrying the VC for using them... how exactly was this helping, well, anyone? There was no way that the even the unobtainable outcomes we hoped to achieve, let alone the ones we actually got were worth sinking to their level for.
In fairness Shanks, the VC also employed women, children and old people as combat troops, so you can forgive the Yanks for being trigger-happy. You saw the scene in Apocalypse Now - when the woman rushes up to the Medivac helicopter, and throws a grenade in. Now, if that had just happened to your friends - Tell me you wouldn't want vengeance. Tell me you wouldn't want to raise that goddamn village to the ground and kill everyone over the age of fourteen. Because that's a bastard, bastard thing to do - and the VC knew that by employing such tactics, the Americans would become increasingly savage. Indeed, that was the reason they employed them.Armitage Shanks said:
Personally, once they started doing that, I'd have kicked all the reporters out of the country and told my men 'Do whatever you fell neccesary, gentlemen, to ensure this country remains under our control'. But then again....well, I think my avatar says it all.
