>>17819186
this is a strawman, because every conflict should be viewed on its own terms and for its own merits. I think the US bombing nazi germany and japan was justified because 1. they declared war on us, and 2. they were actively engaging in massive wars of aggression against their neighbors that had a truly horrifying civilian death toll, and 3. they were so aggressive that it's reasonable to think they would become a credible threat to the US in time

Meanwhile Vietnam was a civil war that America didn't understand and didn't want to understand, and had no real strategy to win, so was just floundering about in an unsustainable way. I wouldn't say "fucking evil imperialists" but the US really didn't have any business getting involved. Domino theory was a ridiculous concept, and us being there frankly was imperialism. It should have been up to the Vietnamese to decide if they wanted to be communist or not, it wasn't our decision to make. Just like how the Afghans a few years ago decided they wanted to live under theocratic warlords, and I have no problem accepting that.