e death, money, and time that you can offer up in a 12 year time period. In my own personal opinion a change of policy is required in times like these. Secretary of Defense McNamara said it best when he admitted, “The picture of the world’s greatest superpower killing or injuring 1,000 non-combatants a week, while trying to pound a tiny backward country into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one.”I believe defense secretary McNamaras’ thought is not only seconded by the American majority but also the people who were fighting the war on their homeland. In an intriguing essay written by Le Ly Hayslip, a native of Vietnam and former Vietcong fighter, entitled, “When heaven and earth traded places”, Hayslip offers up her own views about why the war began from the opposite side of the spectrum. Hayslip entered the war as a teenager in a war stricken country. The Vietnamese had already fought a war against the French which lasted nearly eight years. To say the least they were ready for another attack and being on their home front gave them a huge advantage over the Americans. Hayslip goes on to talk about her upbringings in the Vietcong, particularly interesting is the connection made between her lifestyle and American lifestyle: “Since we farmers subsisted by our own hands and felt we owed nothing but to god and our ancestors for the right to live as we saw fit.” We as Americans for the most part feel the same way and this idea is part of the reason that we entered the war in the first place. Hayslip and her people were under communist rulers from the beginning, communism fit there lifestyle as farmers, it was what they knew. When America decided that communism was to be ended worldwide they intruded on these peoples way of life. American policies and a strong sense of moral authority led the charge into Vietnam. Hopefully the American people wil...
