Just a humble high school history student here so forgive me if I'm asking an obvious question, but why is the American involvement in Vietnam considered so terrible? I can see that America might have committed a number of war crimes, but North Vietnam seemed pretty brutal so if America had just been more disciplined would the war still be seen as so awful?
If you're interested in this question out of a historiography (the way the history of the Vietnam War has been written) perspective, I've written up a post on this topic here. I am very open to any follow-up questions! :)