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. Please help support Dispropaganda by clicking on the "Donate" button and making a It was known quickly that no North Vietnamese ships had been in the vicinity, and no U.S. ships had been attacked. . Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken." The official story was that North Vietnamese torpedo boats launched an unprovoked attack against the US destroyer "Maddox", which was on routine patrol in the Tonkin Gulf on August 2and that North Vietnamese PT boats followed up with a deliberate attack two days later on August 4, firing 22 torpedoes on the "Maddox" and another destroyer, the "Turner Joy". [12]:76, The Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred during the first year of the Johnson administration. Though LBJ knew there was no second battle, he kept this information secret and beat the drums of war. The deeper lesson of the Tonkin Gulf episode is how a group of senior national security officials seeks determinedly through hardball - and even illicit tactics to advance its own war agenda,. 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. In 1964, the program was transferred to the Defense Department and conducted by the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG). Later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened; the American claim is that it was based mostly on erroneously interpreted communications intercepts. This release includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda. 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. Instead, through these public releases, we intend to make as much information as possible available for the many scholars, historians, academia, and members of the general public who find interest in analyzing the information and forming their own conclusions. 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. [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. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California were Spanish possessions that revolted for independence. [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. assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. 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. 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, 1964, between North Vietnamese and United States ships in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Memorandum for Mr. J. Fred Buzhardt, General Counsel OSD from Vice Admiral Noel Gayler, Subj: Request from Senator Fulbright, Memorandum for the Record, Subj: Church Committee Interest in Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Memorandum for the Record; Subj: Interview with Mr. Arthur McCafferty, White House Staff, Commercial Solutions for Classified Material (CSFC), Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. 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. More answers below Did the Gulf of Tonkin incident actually occur or was it faked to justify going to war with Vietnam? In 1963, three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam. 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. The commander of the Maddox task force, Captain John Herrick, reported that the ships were being attacked by North Vietnamese boats when in fact, there were no North Vietnamese boats in the area. After decades of public skepticism and government secrecy, the truth finally came out: In the early 2000s, nearly 200 documents were declassified and released by the National Security Agency (NSA). 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. [10] Gip confirmed that the attack had been imaginary. Retiring to South Vietnamese waters, Maddox was joined by the destroyer USSTurner Joy. All subsequent Maddox torpedo reports are doubtful in that it is suspected that sonarman was hearing the ship's own propeller beat" [sic]. What was a low scale American involvment with Vietnam up until the Gulf of Tonkin incident, erupted into a full blown war which would end up causing the deaths of millions of Vietnamese. Brought to you by the CDC. 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. 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. An incredible 15 percent of American soldiers were addicted to heroin, while others were so desperate for escape that they ate C-4 explosives just to get high. After learning about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, check out these photos from the anti-Vietnam War movement. Charleston church shooting. 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. People on Reddit say the Gulf of Tonkin incident is an example of a conspiracy that turned out to be true. False Flags Nero Ft. Sumter USS Maine RMS Lusitania Reichstag Fire Pearl Harbor Operation Gladio Operation Paperclip Operation Northwoods Gulf of Tonkin U.S.S. Faced with this attitude, Ray Cline was quoted as saying "we knew it was bum dope that we were getting from Seventh Fleet, but we were told only to give facts with no elaboration on the nature of the evidence. 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. 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. They showed that there was no attack on August 4. [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. BRITISH RIOT PHOTOS: The Brits Finally Begin to Take Back Their PowerBIG TIME! [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. America had entered in the Vietnam War. Morse supposedly received a call from an informant who has remained anonymous urging Morse to investigate official logbooks of Maddox. The three skippers did not know who Meyer really was when they agreed to a job that involved them in sabotage missions against North Vietnam. casualties. 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. For some two hours the ships fired on ghost radar targets and maneuvered vigorously. 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. In fact, Herrick stated in a message sent at 1:27 pm Washington time that no North Vietnamese patrol boats had actually been sighted. [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. [47] U.S. One soldier, Peter Lemon, even managed to earn a Medal of Honor while stoned out of his mind. [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. At the same time it gathered this intelligence, the South Vietnamese navy conducted strikes on multiple North Vietnamese islands. So much like with Iraq's WMD in 2003, the US launched its full scale war on Vietnam on nothing but lies and propaganda. Johnson had fended off proposals from McNamara and other advisers for a policy of bombing North Vietnam on four occasions since becoming president. 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 Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964, a definitive study of the events in the gulf, including the manipulation of signals intelligence. In fact the Maddoxs captain, John J. Herrick sent an urgent message to Pacific Command in Honolulu saying that the Maddox and C. Turner Joy had never been attacked: "No actual visual sightings by MADDOX. 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. 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. For example, some of the signals intercepted during those August evenings were falsified, while others were altered to show different time receipts. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command/Wikimedia CommonsCaptain John Herrick aboard the Maddox, on the left, alongside Commander Herbert Ogier, right. [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. The whole thing was entirely fabricated (lying, deceit). 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. One of the most important documents that was released to the public in 2005 is a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. 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.. Leaders Throughout History Have Acknowledged False Flags 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.. 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). [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. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the most notorious false flag in American history. While Herrick soon reported doubts regarding the task forces initial perceptions of the attack, the Johnson administration relied on the wrongly interpreted National Security Agency communications intercepts to conclude that the attack was real. Within 24 hours, though, the Maddox resumed its normal patrolling routine. But every time he hightailed it out of one area, another blip on the sonar would appear. Some of the most horrible Vietnam War facts . Gulf of Tonkin confirmed as False Flag Reprehensor Wed, 01/09/2008 - 11:51am Daniel Ellsberg Gulf of Tonkin Strait of Hormuz (For anyone still harboring doubts about the status of the Gulf of Tonkin incident as an example of a False Flag event, a report made public by the NSA clears it up. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. "[43] Morse's efforts were not immediately met with support, largely because he revealed no sources and was working with very limited information. Gulf of Tonkin incident. In the video below, McNamara admits the Gulf of Tonki attack of August 4, 1964 never happened. Global Visibility, Disinformation and Cynicism Captain Herrick radioed that the USS Maddox was under attack, and U.S. officials ordered nearby aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga to fly in as backup. [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. This would have been communicated back to the NSA along with evidence supporting such a conclusion, but in fact the evidence did not do that. The first missions in the Tonkin Gulf began in February 1964. Questions about the Gulf of Tonkin incident have persisted for more than 40 years. Lots of the 'nuts' sure . 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. What was happening at the time were aggressive South Vietnamese raids against the North in the same general area. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. Polmar, Norman "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 1)", OAH Magazine of History, fall 1992. 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. A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it. . What the Maddox operators were probably hearing was the ships propellers reflecting off its rudder during sharp turns. Captain John Herrick intercepted communications from these North Vietnamese forces that suggested they were preparing for an attack, so he retreated from the area. [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. His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. 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 TonkiMonday, May 31, 2010 n Incident, in 1964, was a major turning point in US military involvement in Vietnam. Due to the age and poor quality of some of the PDF images, a screen reader may not be able to process the images into word documents. For some two hours (from about 21:40 to about 23:35, local time) the ships fired on radar targets and maneuvered vigorously amid electronic and visual reports of enemies. False flags are real and have been used on many occasions to advance nations into war, change regimes or radically sway public opinion. Via: ibtimes.co.uk. Please Note: These historical documents are PDF images of formerly classified carbon paper and reports that have been declassified. The Council on Foreign Relations Read Watch Free Gun Permit 1984 Brave New World STORE Links About Contact Ft. Sumter But the reports were false and the president knew it. 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. 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. 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. Maddox was under orders not to approach closer than eight miles (13km) from North Vietnam's coast and four miles (6km) from Hon Nieu island. Gulf of Tonkin: False Flag confirmed USS Liberty: False Flag confirmed Swine Flu : False Flag confirmed OK city: False Flag confirmed WTC 1st bombing: False Flag confirmed WTC 2nd bombing (thermite beam cutters): False Flag confirmed COVID: False Flag confirmed TRUTH YOU CANNOT HIDE. The decisions made by President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top advisors, and the Congressional debate that ensued, resulted in a resolution . 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. This article will show that President Lyndon B. Johnson twisted the Gulf of Tonkin incident into aFalse Flagto start a war between America and North Vietnam. While we cannot be sure whether this is a Gulf of Tonkin . 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 . In 1995, McNamara met with former Vietnam People's Army General V Nguyn Gip to ask what happened on August 4, 1964 in the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident. But false flags are a very real and very present feature of geopolitics and denying that is simply denying reality. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage CommandThree North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching the USS Maddox. 1. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. 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. [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. Hannah McKennett is a Dublin-based freelance writer that is dedicated to traveling the world while writing about it. It was tantamount to a declaration of war, but it was based on a lie. In August 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. 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. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command, Three North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching the USS, The North Vietnamese torpedo boats under fire, as photographed on board the USS, U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command/Wikimedia Commons. He asked for further details on time, weather and surface conditions. The Manchurian Incident was a classic false flag attack designed by Japanese military personnel to provide a pretext for the invasion in 1931 of Manchuria, in Northeastern China. At about 1505G, Maddox fired three rounds to warn off the communist [North Vietnamese] boats. 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. [44] Various news sources, including Time, Life and Newsweek, published articles throughout August on the Tonkin Gulf incident. Secretary of State Robert McNamara was familiar with the effectiveness of False Flags to initiate war. Two days later, on August 7, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the president authority to increase U.S. involvement in the war between North and South Vietnam. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. 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. 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. [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. 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. "[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. 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. Johnson dispatched U.S. planes against the attackers and asked Congress to pass a resolution to . 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. President Johnson's Vietnam Address, August 4, 1964 about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. On the evening of August 4, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation in a televised speech in which he announced that two days earlier, U.S. ships had been attacked twice in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin near North Vietnam. But the government itself wouldnt confirm Whites suspicions for decades. [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. [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. 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.". Additionally, he concluded that many pieces of evidence were carefully picked to distort the truth. [64], Reviewing the NSA's archives, Hanyok concluded that the August 4 incident began at Phu Bai Combat Base, where intelligence analysts mistakenly believed the destroyers would soon be attacked. [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. 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. [5] A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga, was also stationed nearby. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. How Putin and Donald Tusk covered up what caused the Polish presidential plane crash in 2010. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. [13] In March 1956, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. Please help support Dispropaganda by clicking on the "Donate" button and making a. White's book explains the difference between lies of commission and lies of omission. 88408, 78 Stat. The pilots from the Ticonderoga aircraft responded, flying overhead the destroyers for an hour and a half. The letter was mine. [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. Graeme Shimmin Amateur military historian. 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.. Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. U.S. officials had distorted the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident for their own gains and perhaps for Johnsons own political prospects. Then read these 27 Vietnam War facts that will change the way you think about American history.