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Peace Efforts in Vietnam PEACE WITH HONOR, OR DECENT INTERVAL? Peace E

More than a quarter-century after the end of American military involvement in Vietnam, the Vietnam War remains a great unsettled question in American public life. The cultural division in American politics, as displayed in the close 2000 election, probably correlates strongly to opinions about the American experience in Vietnam, which likewise hangs over American foreign policy, particularly when any commitment of forces is involved. Vietnam still matters.

The discussion below is focused on the problem of getting the United States out of Vietnam in an acceptable way, once American combat forces were involved there on a large scale, not with the wisdom or otherwise of the United States having gotten "into" Vietnam in the first place. The prehistory, so to speak, of the Vietnam War is a very large and important subject in its own right -- too much so to justify addressing it in some cursory way within the scope of the following discussion, beyond noting its existence as a subject area.

In order to have a fruitful peace negotiation, it is necessary first of all to have a war (or recognized threat of war, which negotiations are intended to stave off, as in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations of recent years). The second necessity is that there be some mutually agreeable terms of settlement. Each of these preconditions are considered in turn below, though due to the circumstances of American participation in the Vietnam War the second condition -- the existence of mutually agreeable terms -- must be considered at much greater length.

Peace negotiations can take place in the absence of war if the parties, though not at war at the time the negotiations are entered into, are aware that war is imminent or probable, and if each party believes that a negotiated settlement is a preferable alternative. That is, each party must believe that the second of the above preconditions can be met, and therefore negotiation is worthwhile....

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Peace Efforts in Vietnam PEACE WITH HONOR, OR DECENT INTERVAL? Peace E. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:29, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700656.html