Opinions supporting the use of power by the United States in the Vietnam War
In the poem, Denise Levertov pays minimal attention to why the United State’s Military used force in Vietnam. It is important to note that if the United States was not involved, communism would have spread to almost every part of the world. Through this war, United States attained the goal of minimizing the communism spread rate. The use of power by the U.S weakened the influence of China in the region and in the end allowed the region to give more freedom to religion a thing that did not exist before the U.S involvement.
Therefore, regardless of the fact that the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War affected the lives of the Vietnamese people, the Vietnam citizens should be appreciative of the fact that the North became cautious in matters relating to acquiring a lot of power that would have killed freedom and democracy in the region. At the moment, due to the war, the citizens can thus raise their concerns on repression as well as efforts to censor and propaganda regarding domestic and foreign policies. Note that with communism in place, their letters especially oversea letters were being examined.
Justification of the poem based on critical/theoretical approaches to power
The poem depicts that the Vietnamese people were peaceful, gentle and led a simple lifestyle that was close to nature. In addition, there is a sense of delighted and joyful growth and creation. The poem demonstrates how the bombing destroyed all this. The U.S used its power in this region just like it has done in other regions of the world such as Afghanistan. Despite the fact that the U.S would be blamed for the end of the peaceful life, it is essential to identify that the North and the South had been war for long time.
It means therefore that, if the U.S did not use the power it had, the North Vietnam would have established a very strong leadership that would minimize democracy and freedom for the citizens. Their peaceful life would have been demolished by the leadership that would be put up. Due to communism, the North would have the power to grab any land and kill the citizens whenever they deemed right. However, the U.S military intervened and their attempts and wars against the North put Vietnam on the global spotlight resulting to an improved conduct of how the North behaved towards its citizens. The U.S had to use power to control this; there was no possibility that the North would have regulated their behavior if at all no superior country intervened in their endeavors.
The involvement of the U.S may have resulted to more bloodshed but in the end, it moved further to indicate that the U.S was committed to stabilizing countries through use of power and opposing any acts that would lead to suffering of citizens of any given region in the world. In the end, from the experience of the Vietnam War, the United States citizens influenced the conduct of the military because when they made an outcry that the U.S involvement should be stopped; the military were finally removed from the region.
Works Cited
Art, Robert J., and Kenneth Neal Waltz. The use of force: military power and international politics. 6th ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. Print.
Barr, Roger. The Vietnam War. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1991. Print.
Hixson, Walter L. Military aspects of the Vietnam conflict. New York: Garland Pub., 2000. Print.
Kimball, Jeffrey P., and David W. Levy. "To Reason Why: The Debate About The Causes Of U.S. Involvement In The Vietnam War." History: Reviews of New Books 19.3 (1991): 104-104. Print.
