Meet the accusation. This Resolution is about committing armed forces to Vietnam (without declaring war), so there needs to be a reason for combat. Notice the word choices by Congress: "regime" suggests some sort of malicious group; "deliberately" makes Vietnam seem evil in their actions; and "lawfully present" makes the U.S. look like an innocent victim. Clever resolution.

Congress is clearly painting North Vietnam as the bad guys and other nations in Southeast Asia as the good guys (or at least the victims). The word "systematic" suggests carefully planned, as though this is all part of North Vietnam's master plan of world domination. Congress wants everyone to be clear about who the enemy is here. "Campaign of aggression" could even bring back memories of Hitler or Stalin, and everyone knows how those stories went…

Translation: the U.S. isn't trying to colonize Vietnam. "We swear, guys." Why do they need to make that clear? Because history. Vietnam was colonized by France—and had just fought a pretty bloody war to get their independence. The U.S. didn't want to be seen as another France. They wanted to be Bruce Willis, not Alan Rickman.

We'll call this part the "blank check." No-limit spending to get the job done. Pretty nice offer from Congress, right? Notice that the wording is super vague here: the President can do whatever he wants to fight against any attack and prevent any further attacks…we mean, that could get pretty expensive.

Stating plain and clear that the U.S. will use military force in Vietnam. Check out the careful wording though: "assist" implies that America is not the bad guy doing all the attacking, but is instead simply helping those countries in the area that are threatened by North Vietnam. Clever move, Congress—now the world thinks this is all about protecting others, not stopping the spread of communism. So smooth.