Keep in mind the war was enacted by a democratically elected government. There's no diminished responsibility.

Very few folks decided to return their passports and emigrate. People liked to blame the Army but everything that happened was in the name of the American people and by their leave.

"I didn't know" and "I thought it was a bakery" are poor excuses.

> the war was enacted by a democratically elected government

If Burns' documentary is correct, the government and military lied about pretty much all aspects of the war. If that wasn't the case, I would agree that the American people are to blame.

> Very few folks decided to return their passports and emigrate.

Thank goodness for that. The people that fought the most against the war may very well be the best Americans.

In the first Gulf War when we (the US) were bombing Iraq to take out the supposed weapons of mass destruction, I supported the action. I remember arguing with my sister that even though it might be wrong for the US to invade another country, removing Hussein's offensive capabilities was too important. The ends will justify the means! Boy, was I wrong. Again though, it was lying by the government, failures of the press, and failures of officials I trusted (esp. Colin Powell) that was the basis of my support.

> Individually, I'm sure there's plenty to be proud of. But as a group, they did a lot of terrible and evil things extremely well.

You could say the same for many of the"anti-war" movement. Individually there was a lot of concern and desire to do the right thing, but the context of the Vietnam war was it was also a civil war, and many people in Vietnam wanted to fight back against communists who had been doing some pretty awful things. So collectively, there was some undermining of resistance to them, and which also resulted in millions? of refugees and hundreds of thousands in life loss after the war.