Within 24 hours, though, the Maddox resumed its normal patrolling routine. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed unanimously in the Senate. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. Herrick proposed a "complete evaluation before any further action taken. [47] On May 4, 1964, William Bundy had called for the U.S. to "drive the communists out of South Vietnam", even if that meant attacking both North Vietnam and communist China. The conversation between President Lyndon B. Johnson andSecretary of State Robert McNamara in the video below starts at 1:14 minutes. This August 4 incident never happened. [30][31] The North Vietnamese stance is that they always considered a 12 nautical mile limit, consistent with the positions regarding the law of the sea of both the Soviet Union and China, their main allies. A skirmish and confused reports of a second engagement two days later led President Lyndon B. Johnson to order airstrikes against North . The US elite is very partial to Modern False Flags (Spanish Maine, Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbour, Oklahoma Bombings etc), but on home soil they often resort to Hoaxes, the purpose of which is to justify retaliation against an idea (eg Islam, gun ownership, drugs) but in which nobody actually gets killed (Sandy Hook, Boston Bombings etc). Maddox, carrying electronic spying gear, was to collect signals intelligence from the North Vietnamese coast, and the coastal attacks were seen as a helpful way to get the North Vietnamese to turn on their coastal radars. [46], The use of the set of incidents as a pretext for escalation of U.S. involvement followed the issuance of public threats against North Vietnam, as well as calls from American politicians in favor of escalating the war. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. The NSA historian said agency staff "deliberately skewed" the evidence to make it appear that an attack had occurred. The original account from the Pentagon Papers has been revised in light of a 2005 internal NSA historical study,[5] which stated on page 17: At 1500G, Captain Herrick (commander of Maddox) ordered Ogier's gun crews to open fire if the boats approached within ten thousand yards. [56], Squadron Commander James Stockdale was one of the U.S. pilots flying overhead during the second alleged attack. Vietnam Gulf Of Tonkin False Flag Attack By US CIA In 1965 - Warmongering Military Industrial Complex Used Propaganda, Pro War Mass Media Coverage And Fake Outrage By US President In Order To Start Vietnamese War - All Wars Are Based On Fear, Hatred, Greed And War Profiteering - Hugh Thompson And My Lai Massacre As the battle continued, Captain Herrick too began to have doubts about these attacks. [22] After the coastal attacks began, Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, lodged a complaint with the International Control Commission (ICC), which had been established in 1954 to oversee the terms of the Geneva Accords, but the U.S. denied any involvement. Fri, 07/16/2010 - 10:33 . People on Reddit say the Gulf of Tonkin incident is an example of a conspiracy that turned out to be true. The term is from old-timey naval warfare, where one ship flew a different nation's colors before attacking as a means to get closer to their target. The U.S. built a fortification 150km inside the Mexican border. Cecil Stoughton/U.S. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further. Polmar, Norman "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 1)", OAH Magazine of History, fall 1992. Not every lie made the war seem better, though. Tucson (AZ) shooting. However, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara treated these original, purposefully distorted reports as crucial evidence during their arguments for retaliation, ignoring the majority of reports that concluded that no attack had occurred. In the foreword, he notes "Among the many books written on the Vietnamese war, half a dozen note a 1967 letter to the editor of a Connecticut newspaper which was instrumental in pressuring the Johnson administration to tell the truth about how the war started. While U.S. President John F. Kennedy had originally supported the policy of sending military advisers to Diem, he had begun to alter his thinking by September 1963,[17] because of what he perceived to be the ineptitude of the Saigon government and its inability and unwillingness to make needed reforms (which led to a U.S.-supported coup which resulted in the death of Diem). I think it is now clear [the second attack] did not occur" Defense Secretary Robert McNamara[7], One hour later, Herrick sent another cable, stating, "Entire action leaves many doubts except for apparent ambush at beginning. According to intelligence officials, the view of government historians that Hanyok's report should become public was rebuffed by policy makers concerned that comparisons might be made to intelligence used to justify the Iraq War (Operation Iraqi Freedom) which commenced in 2003. In 1963, three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam. [20] For the maritime portion of the covert operation, a set of fast patrol boats had been purchased quietly from Norway and sent to South Vietnam. He claimed that the North Vietnamese had tracked Maddox along the coast by radar and were thus aware that the destroyer had not actually attacked North Vietnam and that Hanoi (or the local commander) had ordered its craft to engage Maddox anyway. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. "[46] Time stated that there was "no doubt in Sharp's mind that the U.S. would now have to answer this attack", and that there was no debate or confusion within the administration regarding the incident. It was known quickly that no North Vietnamese ships had been in the vicinity, and no U.S. ships had been attacked. It's a good example of a 'false flag', so common in politics since the beginning. He did not like to deal with uncertainties. [25], In July 1964, "the situation along North Vietnam's territorial waters had reached a near boil", because of South Vietnamese commando raids and airborne operations that inserted intelligence teams into North Vietnam, as well as North Vietnam's military response to these operations. There were no U.S. casualties, and no further U.S. action was taken. Captain George Stephen Morrison was in command of local American forces from his flagship USSBon Homme Richard. How The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident Sparked The Vietnam War. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Cover-Up Worse Than Crime: Silence Around Hersh's Bombshell & Ominous Gulf of Tonkin Parallels 22 February, 18:50 GMT Sachs and McGovern: UN Probe is Global Priority Remarkably, two American experts who testified at the UNSC meeting openly said that they do not buy into the West's Nord Stream narrative. Maddox suffered only minor damage from a single 14.5mm bullet from a P-4's KPV heavy machine gun into her superstructure. As at least two millennia have proven, false flag operations, with healthy doses of propaganda and ignorance, provided a great recipe for endless war. White's book explains the difference between lies of commission and lies of omission. [5] A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga, was also stationed nearby. China is destroying our world, and no one seems to mind. Shortly thereafter, radar contact of "several high speed contacts closing in on them" was acquired by the USS Turner Joy, which locked on to one of the contacts, fired and struck the torpedo boat. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara in a cabinet room meeting. And because it was highly probableand because even if it hadn't occurred, there was strong feeling we should have responded to the first attack, which we were positive had occurredPresident Johnson decided to respond to the second [attack]. President Johnson barely won the election in 1964. false. [30], On August 4, another DESOTO patrol off the North Vietnamese coast was launched by Maddox and Turner Joy, in order to "show the flag" after the first incident. But once-classified documents and tapes released in the past several years, combined with previously uncovered facts, make clear that high government officials, including the then US President Lyndon Johnson, distorted facts, lied and deceived the American public about the events that led to full US involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson had fended off proposals from McNamara and other advisers for a policy of bombing North Vietnam on four occasions since becoming president. . Everyone knew how volatile LBJ was. All 18 of the witnesses testified at a hearing in Olongapo, Philippines, and their testimony is a matter of public record. [12]:11 By 1961, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem faced significant discontent among some quarters of the southern population, including some Buddhists who were opposed to the rule of Diem's Catholic supporters. No further details were forthcoming. But even at the time there was some recognition of a margin of error, so we thought it highly probable but not entirely certain. But the biggest lie was that on August 4 1964, the two destroyers came again under attack, that they were ambushed, with enemy N. Vietnam boats firing 22 torpedoes at them. But he did not immediately call Johnson to tell him that the whole premise of his decision at lunch to approve McNamara's recommendation for retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam was highly questionable. [47] U.S. A sea battle resulted, in which theMaddoxexpended over two hundred and eighty 3-inch and 5-inch shells, and in which four USNF-8 Crusaderjet fighter bombers strafed the torpedo boats. The resolution gave Johnson approval "to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. This plan, known as Operations Plan (OPLAN) 34A, was conceived and overseen by the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA, but was carried out using South Vietnamese forces. The Johnson administration asserted that the destroyers, the "Maddox" and "Turner Joy", had been on routine patrol in international waters on August 2 when they were fired on by North Vietnamese Torpedo boats. He contended in speeches to Congress that the actions taken by the United States were actions outside the constitution and were "acts of war rather than acts of defense. [47], By early afternoon of August 4, Washington time, Herrick had reported to the Commander in Chief Pacific in Honolulu that "freak weather effects" on the ship's radar had made such an attack questionable. Increase. In the case of the PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS RECOVERED) and PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS NOT RECOVERED) categories of the table, the record counts are based on the codes in both the CASUALTY CATEGORY and REMAINS RECOVERED fields. As the evening progressed, further signals intelligence (SIGINT) did not support any such ambush, but the NSA personnel were apparently so convinced of an attack that they ignored the 90% of SIGINT that did not support that conclusion, and that was also excluded from any reports they produced for the consumption by the president. Later analysis showed those communications to have concerned the recovery of torpedo boats damaged in the August 2 attack and North Vietnamese observations of (but not participation in) the August 4 U.S. [27], Others, such as Admiral Sharp, maintained that U.S. actions did not provoke the August 2 incident. And then, two days later, on August 4, the Johnson administration claimed that it had been attacked again. By the end of July, they were tracking the USS Maddox, which was stationed in international waters just a few miles outside of Hn M Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. Still, U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted messages indicating that the North Vietnamese forces were planning offensive operations on the Tonkin Gulf. He thus characterized the attack as "unprovoked" since the ship had been in international waters. The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces to South Vietnam and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam. The first incident took place on August 2, 1964, when the destroyerUSSMaddox, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats seen approaching the Maddox. Afraid of attackers, Captain Herrick sent flash messages to U.S. officials while desperately trying to move the ships out of harms way. Some people suspected the deception all along. Martens Meyer, who was head of department at the military intelligence staff, operated on behalf of U.S. intelligence. [16]:26 The rebellion, headed by the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF, or Viet Cong) under the direction of North Vietnam, had intensified by 1961. The planes pilot, Dispropaganda is 100% independent non partisan and non profit, in order to keep the site up we rely on financial supprt from our readers. An F8 Crusader from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga flew overhead for ninety minutes and failed to locate any North Vietnamese ships attacking the "Maddox" and "Turner" on august 4. By 1964, the pressure on these waters had reached a boil, and North Vietnamese forces were not about to stand still against these operations. Despite the Navy's claim that two attacking torpedo boats had been sunk, there was no wreckage, bodies of dead North Vietnamese sailors, or other physical evidence present at the scene of the alleged engagement. According to National Security Archive research fellow John Prados, "the American people have long . [18] Johnson's views were likewise complex, but he had supported military escalation as a means of challenging what was perceived to be the Soviet Union's expansionist policies. The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959,[15]:119120 and on July 28, North Vietnamese forces invaded Laos to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh trail, in support of insurgents in the south. [28], Sharp also noted that orders given to Maddox to stay 8 nautical miles (15km; 9.2mi) off the North Vietnamese coast put the ship in international waters, as North Vietnam claimed only a 5 nautical miles (9.3km; 5.8mi) limit as its territory (or off of its off-shore islands). In 1962 McNamara presented President Kennedy withOperation Northwoods, a series of False Flag proposals designed to initiate violence against Americans and deceive the American people into a war with Cuba. [52] As a result of his testimony, on August 7, Congress passed a joint resolution (H.J. "[55] White continued his whistleblowing activities in the 1968 documentary In the Year of the Pig. False flags are real and have been used on many occasions to advance nations into war, change regimes or radically sway public opinion. The latest releases, which document skepticism over the pretext for entry into the Vietnam war, date from 1968. . While we cannot be sure whether this is a Gulf of Tonkin . [13] In March 1956, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. Later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened; the American claim is that it was based mostly on erroneously interpreted communications intercepts. Tapes included in this release of documents also reveal President Johnson saying, Hell, those damn, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish.. [14]:67 A communist-led uprising began against Diem's government in April 1957. One soldier, Peter Lemon, even managed to earn a Medal of Honor while stoned out of his mind. The pilots from the Ticonderoga aircraft responded, flying overhead the destroyers for an hour and a half. In the video below, McNamara admits the Gulf of Tonki attack of August 4, 1964 never happened. After the skirmish, Johnson ordered Maddox and Turner Joy to stage daylight runs into North Vietnamese waters, testing the 12 nautical miles (22km; 14mi) limit and North Vietnamese resolve. The U.S. government was still seeking evidence on the night of August 4 when Johnson gave his address to the American public on the incident; messages recorded that day indicate that neither Johnson nor McNamara was certain of an attack. In 1967, former naval officer John White, who had spoken to the men involved in the alleged attack on August 4, 1964, wrote a letter stating, I maintain that President Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave false information to Congress in their report about U.S. destroyers being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin.. 5 (May 1970), pp. "[34] It is likely that McNamara did not inform either the president or Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr. about Herrick's misgivings or Herrick's recommendation for further investigation. But every time he hightailed it out of one area, another blip on the sonar would appear. Top US officials also distorted the facts in the lead-up to the Vietnam War and the media dutifully reported the official narrative as absolute fact, . [1] Intercepted communications indicated that the vessels intended to attack Maddox. According to his New York Times obit, the elder Morrison "commanded American naval forces in the gulf [of Tonkin] when the destroyer Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese torpedo boats on Aug. 2, 1964. He soon realized that the vessels they were tracking on the Maddox may have actually been the result of poor equipment performance and inexperienced sonar operators.

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