They also forbade the political interference of other countries in the area, the creation of new governments without the stipulated elections, and foreign military presence. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. In 1964, South Vietnam began conducting a series of attacks and missions along the North Vietnamese coasts, backed by the United States. In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, individuals may request that the government provide auxiliary aids or services to ensure effective communication of the substance of the documents. Months before an alleged attack was being blamed on Iran, a US Army Colonel predicted this very scenario playing out to start a war. Charleston church shooting. As Hanyok put it, The overwhelming body of reports, if used, would have told the story that no attack occurred.. Obama's real legacy makes him one of the worst US presidents of all time. A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it. As at least two millennia have proven, false flag operations, with healthy doses of propaganda and ignorance, provided a great recipe for endless war. 384", "John White's Letter to the New Haven Register, 1967", "New Tapes Indicate Johnson Doubted Attack in Tonkin Gulf", "Engineering in the CIA: ELINT, Stealth and the Beginnings of Information Warfare", "Gulf of Tonkin: The Record Set Straight", The Gulf of Tonkin EventsFifty Years Later: A Footnote to the History of the Vietnam War [49], Robert J. Hanyok: His United States National Security Council study on Tonkin Gulf Deception, "Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945-1975", "Report reveals Vietnam War hoaxes, faked attacks", "August 4, 1964: Report on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident", The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 40 Years Later; Flawed Intelligence and the Decision for War in Vietnam, National Security Archive at George Washington University, The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, US Navy Historical Site showing charts and photos of the incident (archived), Tonkin Gulf Intelligence "Skewed" According to Official History and Intercepts, Ronnie E. Ford "New Light on Gulf of Tonkin", Original Document: Tonkin Gulf Resolution, "Aboard the Maddox" LIFE Magazine Aug. 14, 1964, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Reports (R) and Translations (T) MarOct 1964, Related Command and Technical Messages, 226 Aug 1964, Transcript of Telephone Conversations, Gulf of Tonkin Transcripts, Formerly Classified Documents from 2 August 1964, Formerly Classified Documents Subsequent to 4 August 1964, U.S. False. Domestically speaking, a large-scale false flag such as . Neither the United States nor State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. With regard to why this happened, Hanyok writes: As much as anything else, it was an awareness that Johnson would brook no uncertainty that could undermine his position. [63]:4849, On November 30, 2005, the NSA released a first installment of previously classified information regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident, including a moderately sanitized version of Hanyok's article. Hanyok attributed this to the deference that the NSA would have likely given to the analysts who were closer to the event. Not every lie made the war seem better, though. Afraid of attackers, Captain Herrick sent flash messages to U.S. officials while desperately trying to move the ships out of harms way. Six were wounded. One of the most important documents that was released to the public in 2005 is a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. [11] Hanyok's conclusions were initially published in the Winter 2000/Spring 2001 Edition of Cryptologic Quarterly[63] about five years before the Times article. 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. According to National Security Agency documents declassified in 2005 The overwhelming body of reports told the story that no attack had happened. contribution. President Johnson barely won the election in 1964. false. Wayne Morse. Opsec News This article will show that President Lyndon B. Johnson twisted the Gulf of Tonkin incident into a False Flag to start a war between America and North Vietnam. Recently released tapes and documents reveal the truth and lies of the Gulf of Tonkin incident and its resolution. This August 4 incident never happened. It's the perfect time for a false flag attack, where one country carries out a covert attack, disguising it to look like it was done by someone else. and sadly I believe the shooting in Uvalde Texas at the elementary school was a false flag mission to take . Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. While Johnson's final resolution was being drafted, U.S. In actuality the destroyers were on an espionage mission in waters claimed by North Vietnam and were the ones who opened fire on the North Vietnamese boats and sunk all three of them after a brief firefight. [43] These logs were not available before Johnson's resolution was presented to Congress. The letter was mine. No boats, he would later write, no boat wakes, no ricochets off boats, no boat impacts, no torpedo wakes nothing but black sea and American fire-power. 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.. Additionally, he concluded that many pieces of evidence were carefully picked to distort the truth. Johnson won the 1964 election by a landslide, winning a greater share of the popular vote than any presidential candidate had since 1820. 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. [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. Stockdale at one point recounts seeing Turner Joy pointing her guns at Maddox. 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. And the sonars were probably just catching the tops of big waves. [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. 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. In August 1964, the United States entered the Vietnam War after reports of an unprovoked attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. 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). casualties. 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. Via: ibtimes.co.uk. "CNN Cold War Interviews: Robert McNamara", "Vietnam War Intelligence 'Deliberately Skewed,' Secret Study Says", "Transcript of Broadcast With Walter Cronkite Inaugurating a CBS Television Program", "National Security Action Memorandum 263 - Intro", "Vi som sttter Amerika Norges rolle i Vietnamkrigen", "The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Volume 3, Chapter 2, "Military Pressures Against North Vietnam, February 1964 January 1965," second section", "National Security Archive | 30+ Years of Freedom of Information Action", "Deceit and dishonesty: Ben Bradlee's 1987 James Cameron memorial lecture", "Robert McNamara deceived LBJ on Gulf of Tonkin, documents show", "United States Congress resolution, Pub.L. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. And while the Maddox remained in international waters, three North Vietnamese patrol boats began tracking the destroyer in early August. There was nothing there but black water and American fire power." The next day, the USS Maddox once again resumed its normal patrol, this time alongside another U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Turner Joy. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. Gulf of Tonkin incident. . How The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident Sparked The Vietnam War. This release includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda. But false flags are a very real and very present feature of geopolitics and denying that is simply denying reality. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. One soldier, Peter Lemon, even managed to earn a Medal of Honor while stoned out of his mind. 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. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage CommandThe North Vietnamese torpedo boats under fire, as photographed on board the USS Maddox. The Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnamese: S kin Vnh Bc B) was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War.It involved both a proven confrontation on August 2, 1964, carried out by North Vietnamese forces in response to covert operations in the coastal region of the gulf, and a second, claimed confrontation on August 4 . In 1963, three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam. [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. Increase. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. 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. Stanislav Petrov, the man who stopped a USSR - US nuclear war by doing nothing. Originally American claims blamed North Vietnam for both attacks. [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. While intelligence collected by DESOTO missions could be used by OPLAN-34A planners and commanders, they were separate programs not known to coordinate mission planning except to warn DESOTO patrols to stay clear of 34A operational areas. subscribers . In the 2003 documentary The Fog of War, the former United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara admitted that an attack on the USS Maddox happened on August 2, but the supposed August 4 attack, for which Washington authorized retaliation, never happened. But not every event is a false flag . [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. [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. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara in a cabinet room meeting. There were 18 witnesses, both enlisted and officers, who reported various aspects of the attack; smoke from the stricken torpedo boat, torpedo wakes (reported by four individuals on each destroyer), sightings of the torpedo boats moving through the water and searchlights. Fifty years ago, a controversial confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin between the United States and North Vietnam forces set the stage for what eventually became US involvement in the Vietnam War. He conducted an analysis of the records from the nights of the attacks and concluded that while there was indeed an attack on August 2, nothing malicious happened on August 4. China is destroying our world, and no one seems to mind. Shortly before Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, he had begun a limited withdrawal of 1,000 U.S. forces before the end of 1963. Gulf of Tonkin. Memorandum for Lt Gen Fitch from George C. Denney Jr. Morse supposedly received a call from an informant who has remained anonymous urging Morse to investigate official logbooks of Maddox. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." [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. For such requests, please contact the Freedom of Information Act Office at foianet@nsa.gov or Public Affairs Office at 443-634-0721. [5] The Hanyok article states that intelligence information was presented to the Johnson administration "in such a manner as to preclude responsible decision makers in the Johnson administration from having the complete and objective narrative of events." [51], Although Maddox had been involved in providing intelligence support for South Vietnamese attacks at Hn M and Hn Ng, Johnson denied, in his testimony before Congress, that the U.S. Navy had supported South Vietnamese military operations in the Gulf. After these first shots, the North Vietnamese forces made their attack. At the same time it gathered this intelligence, the South Vietnamese navy conducted strikes on multiple North Vietnamese islands. "[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. [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. North Vietnam did not adhere to an 8-kilometer (5mi) limit for its territorial waters; instead it adhered to a 20-kilometer (12mi) limit claimed by French Indochina in 1936. The NSA paper goes on to say, It would be years before any evidence that an attack had not happened finally emerged in the public domain, and even then, most reluctantly.. 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 the platform of Responsibility to Protect similar to the Gulf of Tonkin. [1] Intercepted communications indicated that the vessels intended to attack Maddox. For example, some of the signals intercepted during those August evenings were falsified, while others were altered to show different time receipts. In fact, Herrick stated in a message sent at 1:27 pm Washington time that no North Vietnamese patrol boats had actually been sighted. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 1964 naval confrontation between North Vietnam and the United States, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 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. On 30 November 2005, the National Security Agency (NSA) released the first installment of previously classified information regarding the Vietnam era, specifically the Gulf of Tonkin incident.