LETTER: All Wrong

Despite his background in political science, George Allen's portrayal of the Vietnam conflict (DP 2/26/92) could not be further from the truth. Allen writes: "The Vietnam War was moral because it was a war of good against evil." The war was not a war against communism. Rather, it was a war against French imperialism by the native people. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's revolutionary leader, was labeled Vietnam's "George Washington." Americans became involved based upon a perceived threat of the monolith of communism. Communism has never been a monolith conspiracy. Secondly, Southeast Asian communism has not ever been a threat to American national security. The Americans were directly responsible for the deaths of two million Vietnamese, civilian and military -- almost ten percent of their population. Some may even call it genocide. The American army performed heinous acts of cruelty upon the native people. I can personally attest to this fact as I was orphaned as a result of American military action. More bombs fell in Vietnam than in all of World War I and II combined. Vietnam will continue to suffer for this "moral" war for generations to come. No, I do not think this war was moral in any sense of the word. Furthermore, Allen writes that the war was fought incorrectly. This is second guessing all of our military commanders during that conflict. It is true that the draft allowed the rich to avoid it, but I fail to understand the reasoning that, based on this inequality, the draft is wrong. The draft is a necessity in large scale wars. If Americans all rushed to sign up for war service, like Allen would nobly do, it would be unnecessary. Allen briefly mentions that the academics that avoided the draft have somehow corrupted our public school system. Our public school system is plagued by problems far worse than misplaced ideology. Allen accuses draft dodgers of supporting communist expansion by their refusal to fight. Perhaps some were afraid, but I believe many refused based upon their belief that the war was wrong and not worth their death. Incidentally, I would be interested to know where Allen came up with the data for his accusation that university faculty are for the most part draft dodgers. I recall that the United States was involved in a war for the "cause of freedom" about this time last year. Where is the uniform, Allen? ANDREW COYLE College '95

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