Months before an alleged attack was being blamed on Iran, a US Army Colonel predicted this very scenario playing out to start a war. Indeed, false flags are themselves capable of taking on a wide variety of forms - domestic or foreign, small or large, economic or political, and many other designations that can often blur into one another. He asked for further details on time, weather and surface conditions. The two destroyers stayed miles away from the coastlines in the Gulf of Tonkin. 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. [32][5], At 01:27 local time (13:27 Washington time), Herrick sent a cable in which he acknowledged that the second attack may not have happened and that there may actually have been no Vietnamese craft in the area: "Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful. On the 18th of September, a Japanese officer detonated a small explosive next to a railway line owned by a Japanese company. Captain John Herrick intercepted communications from these North Vietnamese forces that suggested they were preparing for an attack, so he retreated from the area. [14]:67 A communist-led uprising began against Diem's government in April 1957. Two well-known incidents in American history the explosion of the U.S.S. In 1963, three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam. He thus characterized the attack as "unprovoked" since the ship had been in international waters. Hannah McKennett is a Dublin-based freelance writer that is dedicated to traveling the world while writing about it. [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. In fact, the Turner Joy had not detected any torpedoes during the entire event. All subsequent Maddox torpedo reports are doubtful in that it is suspected that sonarman was hearing the ship's own propeller beat" [sic]. Vietnam War: "The Tonkin incident", where American destroyer Maddox was supposedly attacked twice by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats in 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin never happened. Questions about the Gulf of Tonkin incident have persisted for more than 40 years. 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. Sweden and Denmark said that they had detected underwater blasts in the area. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. It was tantamount to a declaration of war, but it was based on a lie. On July 25, 2001, in a two-and-a-half-hour broadcast of his Infowars TV program on a local public-access channel, Alex Jones laid out what he saw as the . 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? President Johnson barely won the election in 1964. false. A map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 1964. [60], In 2014, as the incident's 50th anniversary approached, John White wrote The Gulf of Tonkin EventsFifty Years Later: A Footnote to the History of the Vietnam War. [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. [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. He immediately appeared in front of the United States with a televised speech. [5] According to Hanyok, "it would be attacks on these islands, especially Hn M, by South Vietnamese commandos, along with the proximity of the Maddox, that would set off the confrontation", although the Maddox did not participate in the commando attacks. [57] Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about this. Johnson won the 1964 election by a landslide, winning a greater share of the popular vote than any presidential candidate had since 1820. [41] That same day he used the "hot line" to Moscow, and assured the Soviets he had no intent in opening a broader war in Vietnam. Theyd disappear, only to reappear seconds or minutes later in a completely different location. 1898, on a flag-showing mission . The accords, which were signed by other participants including the Viet Minh, mandated a temporary ceasefire line, which separated southern and northern Vietnam to be governed by the State of Vietnam and the Viet Minh respectively. 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. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is considered a false flag operation because the military was used by the CIA to heighten the involvement of the US in Vietnam. Johnson was guilty of willful lies of omission. Yes 9/11 was a false flag there were so many "successful" false flag missions like Operation Northwoods, The Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbor, The USS Maine, The Libyan War, The Great Fire of Rome,The Manchurian Incident, The Luisitania, The Reichstag Fire, The Gleiwitz Invasion, etc. No actual visual sightings by Maddox. 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. Johnson's statements were short to "minimize the U.S. role in the conflict; a clear inconsistency existed between Johnson's actions and his public discourse. No further details were forthcoming. Some of the most horrible Vietnam War facts . Gulf of Tonkin incident, complex naval event in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of Vietnam, that was presented to the U.S. Congress on August 5, 1964, as two unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy of the U.S. Despite this, he led a strike of 18 aircraft against an oil storage facility located just inland of where the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident had occurred. Answer (1 of 6): No, that's not true. White was featured in the August 2014 issue of Connecticut Magazine. The most sensational part of the history (which was excerpted and disclosed by the NSA two years ago) is the recounting of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident, in which a second reported North Vietnamese attack on U.S. forces, following another attack two days before, triggered a major escalation of the war. 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. The Council on Foreign Relations Read Watch Free Gun Permit 1984 Brave New World STORE Links About Contact Ft. Sumter For this purpose, it was authorized to approach the coast as close as 13 kilometers (8mi) and the offshore islands as close as four; the latter had already been subjected to shelling from the sea. Schaperjahn confirmed White's assertions that Maddox's sonar reports were faulty and the Johnson administration knew it prior to going to Congress to request support for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Winter War. 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. During the hours of darkness, in rough weather and heavy seas, the Maddox and the Turner Joy reported receiving radar, and sonar signals believed caused by the North Vietnamese ships. [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. President Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Cecil Stoughton/U.S. [25] During an evening of rough weather and heavy seas, the destroyers received radar, sonar, and radio signals that they believed signaled another attack by the North Vietnamese navy. Declassified documents reve. 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. His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. [5], Shortly before midnight, on August 4, Johnson interrupted national television to make an announcement in which he described an attack by North Vietnamese vessels on two U.S. Navy warships, Maddox and Turner Joy, and requested authority to undertake a military response. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! The torpedo boats sped up, and the warning shots were fired. Increase. 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. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed unanimously in the Senate. Many historians now agree that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which many believed North Vietnamese ships had attacked American naval forces, may not have occurred in the way it was described at the time. They do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Security Agency. [59], In October 2012, retired Rear Admiral Lloyd "Joe" Vasey was interviewed by David Day on Asia Review and gave a detailed account of the August 4 incident. But every time he hightailed it out of one area, another blip on the sonar would appear. Originally American claims blamed North Vietnam for both attacks. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Passes House and Senate "Aggression by terror against the peaceful villagers of South Vietnam has now been joined by open aggression on the high seas against the. Reaction To Events in the Gulf of Tonkin, August 110, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident&oldid=1138963597, Naval battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1964, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 17:06. [50], John McNaughton suggested in September 1964 that the U.S. prepare to take actions to provoke a North Vietnamese military reaction, including plans to use DESOTO patrols North. The Geneva Conference in 1954 was intended to settle outstanding issues following the end of hostilities between France and the Viet Minh at the end of the First Indochina War. The U.S. Navy stationed two destroyers, the Maddox and the Turner Joy, in the Gulf of Tonkin to bolster these actions. Following this incident, President Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnamese military targets and bases and authorized sending US troops into Vietnam and by late 1965 some 180,000 American troops were on the ground, with more on the way. 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? 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. 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. Still, U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted messages indicating that the North Vietnamese forces were planning offensive operations on the Tonkin Gulf. The second Tonkin Gulf incident was claimed to have taken place on August 4, 1964. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. [26] Another P-4 received a direct hit from a five-inch shell from Maddox; its torpedo malfunctioned at launch. Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2. For such requests, please contact the Freedom of Information Act Office at foianet@nsa.gov or Public Affairs Office at 443-634-0721. After the fraudulent second attack, LBJ capitalized on initial reports and ordered the bombing of four torpedo boat bases, and an oil-storage facility in Vinh. On 30 May 2006, NSA released the second and final installment of Gulf of Tonkin materials. The Gulf of Tonkin false flag operation actually happened. As Hanyok put it, The overwhelming body of reports, if used, would have told the story that no attack occurred.. The Washington Standard / July 28, 2015. 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. It had been ordered to locate and identify all coastal radar transmitters, note all navigation aids along the DVRs [Democratic Republic of Vietnams] coastline, and monitor the Vietnamese junk fleet for a possible connection to DRV/Viet Cong maritime supply and infiltration routes.. 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. [23], Daniel Ellsberg, who was on duty in the Pentagon the night of August 4, receiving messages from USSMaddox, reported that she was on a DESOTO mission near Northern Vietnamese territorial waters. [36][37] Johnson's speech repeated the theme that "dramatized Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh as the aggressor and which put the United States into a more acceptable defensive posture. The letter was mine. [44] Various news sources, including Time, Life and Newsweek, published articles throughout August on the Tonkin Gulf incident. Global Visibility, Disinformation and Cynicism After the second attack, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution almost unanimously, allowing the federal government to take all necessary measures to protect U.S. forces in Vietnam. U.S. NavyCommander James Bond Stockdale exiting his aircraft. The destroyer was ordered to fire warning shots if the enemy vessels closed within 10,000 yards. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. 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. [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. "[66], Hanyok included his study of Tonkin Gulf as one chapter in an overall history of NSA involvement and American SIGINT, in the Indochina Wars. But false flags are a very real and very present feature of geopolitics and denying that is simply denying reality. [1] Intercepted communications indicated that the vessels intended to attack Maddox. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the south from 1961 to 1963. As the battle continued, Captain Herrick too began to have doubts about these attacks. [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. 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. After these first shots, the North Vietnamese forces made their attack. The U.S. Navy destroyer didnt attack the North Vietnamese directly, but it did gather intelligence in sync with South Vietnamese attacks on the North. . In addition, many nations had previously carried out similar missions all over the world, and the destroyer USSJohn R. Craig had earlier conducted an intelligence-gathering mission in similar circumstances without incident. The first incident took place on August 2, 1964, when the destroyerUSSMaddox, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats seen approaching the Maddox. White's book explains the difference between lies of commission and lies of omission. One of the most important documents that was released to the public in 2005 is a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. [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. Though LBJ knew there was no second battle, he kept this information secret and beat the drums of war. Stanislav Petrov, the man who stopped a USSR - US nuclear war by doing nothing. [12]:76, The Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred during the first year of the Johnson administration. Reply . [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. "[55] White continued his whistleblowing activities in the 1968 documentary In the Year of the Pig. [5] As the ships approached from the southwest, Maddox changed course from northeasterly to southeasterly and increased speed to 25 knots.[5]. 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. Further, it shows he lied about the incident, using it as a catalyst to go to war. Johnson dispatched U.S. planes against the attackers and asked Congress to pass a resolution to . [5] A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga, was also stationed nearby. The Gulf of Tonkin by Erich Martel, The World Today, Vol. The USS Maddox evaded the torpedo attack, suffering only slight damage, and sailed off to safer waters. The latest releases, which document skepticism over the pretext for entry into the Vietnam war, date from 1968. . Gulf of Tonkin. 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.. Cecil Stoughton/U.S. [35] At 18:00 Washington time (05:00 in the Gulf of Tonkin), Herrick cabled yet again, this time stating, "the first boat to close the Maddox probably launched a torpedo at the Maddox which was heard but not seen. "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. 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. President Lyndon Johnson had deliberately lied and misled the American public into the Vietnam War when he used the justification of the non existent 4th of August attack on the "Maddox" and "Turner". Silence Around Hersh's Bombshell & Ominous Gulf of Tonkin Parallels On September 26, the Nord Stream AG operator registered a rapid gas pressure drop on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and Nord Stream 1 followed soon after. Some people suspected the deception all along. Viet Minh political cadres, who were legally campaigning for the promised elections between 1955 and 1957, were suppressed by the government. This August 4 incident never happened. America had entered in the Vietnam War. 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. [19], A highly classified program of covert actions against North Vietnam, known as Operation Plan 34-Alpha, in conjunction with the DESOTO operations, had begun under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1961. Charleston church shooting. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. 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. The floodgates had opened. . [30] Moreover it officially claimed a 12nmi limit, which is practically identical to the old 20km French claim, after the incidents of August, in September 1964. Hanyok attributed this to the deference that the NSA would have likely given to the analysts who were closer to the event. [5][6][7], On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USSMaddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, was approached by three Vietnam People's Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. [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. Four years later, Secretary McNamara admitted to Congress that the U.S. ships had in fact been cooperating in the South Vietnamese attacks against North Vietnam. Neither the United States nor State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. Lyndon Johnson on August 5, 1964, assertedly in reaction to two allegedly unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy of the U.S. The planes pilot, Commander James B. Stockdale, later wrote: I had the best seat in the house to watch and I saw no boats, no boat wakes, no boat gunfire, no torpedo wakesnothing but black sea and American firepower. In the 2003 documentary The Fog of War, the former United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara admitted that the August 4 Gulf of Tonkin attack never happened. Stockdale at one point recounts seeing Turner Joy pointing her guns at Maddox. Included in the release is a controversial article by Agency historian Robert J. Hanyok on SIGINT and the Tonkin Gulf which confirms what historians have long argued: that there was no second attack on U.S. ships in Tonkin on August 4, 1964. 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. Gulf of Tonkin. 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. In contrast to the clear conditions two days earlier, thunderstorms and rain squalls reduced visibility and increased wave heights to six feet. 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. Wikimedia CommonsA map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 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. So much like with Iraq's WMD in 2003, the US launched its full scale war on Vietnam on nothing but lies and propaganda. 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]. For example, some of the signals intercepted during those August evenings were falsified, while others were altered to show different time receipts. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. How the media destroyed Gary Webb, the journalist who exposed the CIA drug running operations. Dispropaganda is 100% independent non partisan and non profit, in order to keep the site up we rely on financial supprt from our readers. 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. "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." [34] Although information obtained well after the fact supported Captain Herrick's statements about the inaccuracy of the later torpedo reports as well as the 1981 Herrick and Scheer conclusion about the inaccuracy of the first, indicating that there was no North Vietnamese attack that night, at the time U.S. authorities and all of the Maddox's crew stated that they were convinced that an attack had taken place. On August 2, 1964 the USS Maddox was on DEOSTO Patrol in international waters off North Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the name given to two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. This article will demonstrate three principal factual conclusions: (1) that Mr. Gamble is absolutely wrong, as a matter of historical fact, to claim that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a "false flag" operation; (2) that belief in "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy theories is not growing, but in fact shrinking; and (3) the conclusion . What was happening at the time were aggressive South Vietnamese raids against the North in the same general area. They showed that there was no attack on August 4. The Gulf of Tonkin incident (or the USS Maddox incident) is the name given to two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and . This is the true story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Google searches for "Gulf of Tonkin," June 10-17, 2019. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara slowly increased military pressureon the coast of North Vietnam, aiding the South in offensive strikes and intelligence-gathering. The Maddox' mission was made even more provocative by being timed to coincide with commando raids, creating the impression that the Maddox was directing those missions " Thus, the North Vietnamese had every reason to believe that Maddox was involved in these actions.

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