For such requests, please contact the Freedom of Information Act Office at foianet@nsa.gov or Public Affairs Office at 443-634-0721. Updated: Aug 4, 2022 Did you know that the Gulf of Tonkin Bay incident that led the US to wage all out war on Vietnam was based on a false flag, or in other words, a lie? On the night of Aug. 4, the Pentagon proclaimed that a second attack by North Vietnamese PT boats had occurred earlier that day in the Tonkin Gulf a report cited by President Johnson as he went on national TV that evening to announce a momentous escalation in the war: air strikes against North Vietnam. These runs into North Vietnamese territorial waters coincided with South Vietnamese coastal raids and were interpreted as coordinated operations by the North, which officially acknowledged the engagements of August 2, 1964. [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. U.S. NavyCommander James Bond Stockdale exiting his aircraft. 1. The Gulf of TonkiMonday, May 31, 2010 n Incident, in 1964, was a major turning point in US military involvement in Vietnam. List of Mass Shootings in the United States in 2021, CLICK FOR RECENT POSTS, SEARCH & ARCHIVES , Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964, PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS NOT RECOVERED). "[36] Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place "on the high seas", suggesting that they had occurred in international waters. Although August 4 was a stormy day, Captain Herrick ordered the two destroyers further out to sea in order to give them more space in the case of an attack. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. While Johnson's final resolution was being drafted, U.S. [43] It was not until after the United States became more involved in the war that his claim began to gain support throughout the United States government. There were no U.S. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. [52] As a result of his testimony, on August 7, Congress passed a joint resolution (H.J. [26] Maddox stated she had evaded a torpedo attack and opened fire with its five-inch (127mm) guns, forcing the torpedo boats away. Lawrence, A. T. (2009). [5], Maddox, when confronted, was approaching Hn M Island, three to four nautical miles (nmi) (6 to 7km) inside the 12 nautical miles (22km; 14mi) limit claimed by North Vietnam. [25] When a MACV-SOG commando raid was being carried out against Hon Nieu, the ship was 120 miles (190km) away from the attacked area. False. [24] On July 31, 1964, Maddox had begun her mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two soldiers next to a fallen man during the Vietnam War. [26] Four USN F-8 Crusader jets launched from Ticonderoga and 15 minutes after Maddox had fired her initial warning shots, attacked the retiring P-4s,[5] claiming one was sunk and one heavily damaged. [14]:67 A communist-led uprising began against Diem's government in April 1957. 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. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed unanimously in the Senate. Although the Johnson administration knew that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was, in fact, no incident at all, they still made the executive decision to distort the events in their favor. [8] Maddox was "unscathed except for a single bullet hole from a Vietnamese machine gun round". In contrast to the clear conditions two days earlier, thunderstorms and rain squalls reduced visibility and increased wave heights to six feet. Prior to the two incidents the U.S. had provided substantial aid to South Vietnam and also had a number of military advisers in South Vietnam. The first missions in the Tonkin Gulf began in February 1964. It resulted in the death of millions of people. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the most notorious false flag in American history. Suggest thorough reconnaissance in daylight by aircraft. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda. . Undersecretary of State George Ball told a British journalist after the war that "at that time many people were looking for any excuse to initiate bombing". The most commonly known false flag operations consist of a government agency staging a terror attack, whereby an uninvolved entity gets blamed for the carnage. On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. Google searches for "Gulf of Tonkin," June 10-17, 2019. On the evening of August 4, the ships opened fire on radar returns that had been preceded by communications intercepts which US forces claimed meant an attack was imminent. Johnson was guilty of willful lies of omission. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. 209217, Adam Roberts, Fredrik Logevall, "Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 200, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, "Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 24 August 1964". Months before an alleged attack was being blamed on Iran, a US Army Colonel predicted this very scenario playing out to start a war. During the early hours of the morning of August 5, Herrick sent a message to Honolulu that said, Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." The rest is history: nearly 10 years of American involvement in the Vietnam War, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians killed, 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers killed, up to 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers killed, and more than 58,000 American soldiers killed. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. Some people suspected the deception all along. 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. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. [34], In the face of growing uncertainties over the course of the day regarding whether the attack had occurred, the Johnson administration ended up basing its conclusion that it had mostly on communications intercepts erroneously assessed to be North Vietnamese preparations to carry out an attack and a North Vietnamese after action report. 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. A skirmish and confused reports of a second engagement two days later led President Lyndon B. Johnson to order airstrikes against North . Lots of the 'nuts' sure . Get Ready For The First Pluto Return in American History, OPERATION JAB INDIA: A Slow Motion Genocide, JOHN POULOS: LIAR-IN-CHIEF FOR DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS, MEDICIDE: How American Hospitals and Doctors Methodically Murdered Covid Patients. The Gulf of Tonkin by Erich Martel, The World Today, Vol. [5] Maddox retreated, but the next day, August 2, Maddox, which had a top speed of 28 knots, resumed her routine patrol, and three North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boats with a top speed of 50 knots began to follow Maddox. The National Security Agency released a paper entitledSkunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964. [57], In 1995, retired Vietnamese Defense Minister, V Nguyn Gip, meeting with former Secretary McNamara, denied that Vietnamese gunboats had attacked American destroyers on August 4, while admitting to the attack on August 2. Graeme Shimmin Amateur military historian. All 18 of the witnesses testified at a hearing in Olongapo, Philippines, and their testimony is a matter of public record. President Johnson's Vietnam Address, August 4, 1964 about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. "[34] In response to requests for confirmation, at around 16:00 Washington time, Herrick cabled, "Details of action present a confusing picture although certain that the original ambush was bona fide. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. One soldier, Peter Lemon, even managed to earn a Medal of Honor while stoned out of his mind. Mere hours after the speech, Commander Stockdale was ordered to launch an airstrike against the North Vietnamese forces as retaliation for their supposed attacks the evening before. "[48], According to Ray McGovern, CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, the CIA, "not to mention President Lyndon Johnson, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy all knew full well that the evidence of any armed attack on the evening of Aug. 4, 1964, the so-called 'second' Tonkin Gulf incident, was highly dubious. Did you know that the Gulf of Tonkin Bay incident that led the US to wage all out war on Vietnam was based on a false flag, or in other words, a lie? [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. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. In the video below, McNamara admits the Gulf of Tonki attack of August 4, 1964 never happened. assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. [5] The boats were from Squadron 135, commanded by Le Duy Khoai, with the boats commanded by brothers Van Bot, Van Tu, and Van Gian. Leaders Throughout History Have Acknowledged False Flags The Gulf of Tonkin incident: the false flag operation that started the Vietnam war. Soon thereafter theGulf of Tonkin Resolutionwas approved by the U.S. Congress, which gave LBJ the go to initiate a war against North Vietnam. This territorial limit was unrecognized by the United States. Because the enemy's flag, instead of the flag of the real country of the attacking ship, was hung, it was called a "false flag" attack. Polmar, Norman "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 1)", OAH Magazine of History, fall 1992. [45] Time reported: "Through the darkness, from the West and south intruders boldly sped at least six of them they opened fire on the destroyers with automatic weapons, this time from as close as 2,000 yards. 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 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. 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. Hanyok attributed this to the deference that the NSA would have likely given to the analysts who were closer to the event. [5] In the ensuing engagement, one U.S. aircraft (which had been launched from aircraft carrier USSTiconderoga) was damaged, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed, with six more wounded. Proudly powered by WordPress. 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. More Proof Gulf of Tonkin Was False Flag. Captain George Stephen Morrison was in command of local American forces from his flagship USSBon Homme Richard. The article states, The incidents, principally the second one of 4 August, led to the approval of theGulf of Tonkin Resolutionby the U.S. Congress, which handed President Johnson the carte blanche charter he had wanted for future intervention in Southeast Asia. Inside The Most Disturbing Dungeons And Torture Chambers That Serial Killers Used To Torment Their Victims, Joe Bonanno Spent 35 Years As The Boss Of One Of New York's Biggest Crime Families Then Wrote A Tell-All Book About It, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Yoichi Okamoto/U.S. They do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Security Agency. "A close scrutiny of Johnson's public statements reveals no mention of preparations for overt warfare and no indication of the nature and extent of covert land and air measures that already were operational." White's book explains the difference between lies of commission and lies of omission. Mexican wars of 1819 and 1846-48. "[39][40], Within thirty minutes of the August 4 incident, Johnson had decided on retaliatory attacks (dubbed "Operation Pierce Arrow"). [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 sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 - each of which was a critical part of a casus belli - have been claimed as possible false flag attacks, though. Even at the time, there was widespread skepticism about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which the North Vietnamese were said to have attacked American destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, two days after an . The NSA states, James Stockdale, then a navy pilot at the scene, who had the best seat in the house from which to detect boats, saw nothing. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Further, it shows he lied about the incident, using it as a catalyst to go to war. . Softcover, 195 pages, $22 plus $4 S&H inside the U.S. False Flags are real, though the Deep State prefers you believe they are the product of "unhinged conspiracy nuts.". [5] On the night of July 30, 1964, South Vietnamese commandos attacked a North Vietnamese radar station on Hn M island. Herrick proposed a "complete evaluation before any further action taken. Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. It was no surprise that when two Persian Gulf oil tankers were attacked last Thursday, "Gulf of Tonkin" immediately spiked on Google, while right-wing sites played up claims of a false flag attack. [47] U.S. 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). He thus characterized the attack as "unprovoked" since the ship had been in international waters. Kennedy rejected the plan. Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2. Additionally, he concluded that many pieces of evidence were carefully picked to distort the truth. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. [5] As the ships approached from the southwest, Maddox changed course from northeasterly to southeasterly and increased speed to 25 knots.[5]. Domestically speaking, a large-scale false flag such as . In 1981, Captain Herrick and journalist Robert Scheer re-examined Herrick's ship's log and determined that the first torpedo report from August 4, which Herrick had maintained had occurredthe "apparent ambush"was in fact unfounded. National Archives and Records Administration. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. 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. In August 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. [27], Others, such as Admiral Sharp, maintained that U.S. actions did not provoke the August 2 incident. actions. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. [49], In his book, Body of Secrets, James Bamford, who spent three years in the United States Navy as an intelligence analyst, writes that the primary purpose of the Maddox "was to act as a seagoing provocateurto poke its sharp gray bow and the American flag as close to the belly of North Vietnam as possible, in effect shoving its five-inch cannons up the nose of the communist navy. 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. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. [citation needed], In 1962, the U.S. Navy began an electronic warfare support measures (intelligence gathering) program, conducted by destroyer patrols in the western Pacific, with the cover name DESOTO. The three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed. Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California were Spanish possessions that revolted for independence. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is in many ways the epitome of government crime. No further details were forthcoming. Neither the United States nor State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. [47] George Ball stated that the mission of the destroyer warship involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident "was primarily for provocation. This table contains record counts based on the codes recorded in the CASUALTY CATEGORY field of theVietnam Conflict Extract Data File. [56], Squadron Commander James Stockdale was one of the U.S. pilots flying overhead during the second alleged attack. [5], On July 29, 1964, the night before it launched actions against North Vietnamese facilities on Hn M and Hn Ng islands, the MACV-SOG had launched a covert long-term agent team into North Vietnam, which was promptly captured. [6][7] A taped conversation of a meeting several weeks after passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was released in 2001, revealing that McNamara expressed doubts to Johnson that the attack had even occurred. At the same time it gathered this intelligence, the South Vietnamese navy conducted strikes on multiple North Vietnamese islands. Reply . As we approach the 51st anniversary of the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, an act that essentially kicked off the "hot" portion of the Vietnam War, we had an opportunity on The Liberty Brothers Radio Show to interview a man who was in the Gulf of Tonkin 51 years ago this week.
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