Further, it shows he lied about the incident, using it as a catalyst to go to war. 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. [10] Gip confirmed that the attack had been imaginary. The latest releases, which document skepticism over the pretext for entry into the Vietnam war, date from 1968. . 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. [43] These logs were not available before Johnson's resolution was presented to Congress. "[43] Morse's efforts were not immediately met with support, largely because he revealed no sources and was working with very limited information. Yoichi Okamoto/U.S. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. [1] Intercepted communications indicated that the vessels intended to attack Maddox. [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. The first missions in the Tonkin Gulf began in February 1964. However, the truth of what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 4 1964, was very different. The US's National Security Agency then fabricated a second false flag attack two days later and the US subsequently passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress which led to the deployment of ground troops in what would become the calamitous debacle that was the Vietnam War. 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. 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. A map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 1964. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. Global Visibility, Disinformation and Cynicism The accords allowed free movement of the population between the north and south for three hundred days. Instead, "only information that supported the claim that the communists had attacked the two destroyers was given to Johnson administration officials."[65]. The incident served as the justification for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed by Congress Aug. 10, which authorized the subsequent U.S. build-up of forces. [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. 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. 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. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed unanimously in the Senate. He asked for further details on time, weather and surface conditions. [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. Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2. 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. 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. 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. "[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. No actual visual sightings by Maddox. [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. Nations have often done this by staging a real or simulated attack on their own side. [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. They were recruited for the job by the Norwegian intelligence officer Alf Martens Meyer. Johnson dispatched U.S. planes against the attackers and asked Congress to pass a resolution to . Suggest thorough reconnaissance in daylight by aircraft. I think it is now clear [the second attack] did not occur" Defense Secretary Robert McNamara[7], One hour later, Herrick sent another cable, stating, "Entire action leaves many doubts except for apparent ambush at beginning. The whole thing was entirely fabricated (lying, deceit). 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. In fact, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, as it became known, turned out to be a fictitious creation courtesy of the government to escalate war in Vietnam leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of U.S. troops and millions of Vietnamese, fomenting the largest anti-war movement in American history, and tarnishing the reputation of a nation once actions. [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. voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. fact that several Senators knew that the White House and the Pentagon had deceived the American people over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. Civil Liberties,Privacy,& Transparency Office, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility, An official website of the United States government, National Security Agency/Central Security Service, Declassification & Transparency Initiatives, Commercial Solutions for Classified Program (CSfC), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility, Col Ralph Steakley, USAF; Chronology of Events Relating to DESOTO Patrol Incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin on 2 and 4 August 1964, Lawrence Levinson, Chronology of Events - Tuesday, 4 August and Wednesday, 5 August 1964 Tonkin Gulf Strike, Lt Col Delmar C. Lang, USAF; Chronology of Events of 18-20 September 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin, Marshall Wright & Sven Kraemer, Vietnam Information Group; Presidential Decisions- The Gulf of Tonkin Attacks of August 1964, Memorandum by Lt Col Delmar Lang USAF regarding United States Intelligence Board: Special Annex USIB-M-345, Memorandum by NSA General Counsel Banner regarding 16 August 1964 Washington Post article, Memorandum for Commander Naval Security Group from N. Klar. 2. 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. As President and Commander in Chief, he said, it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply., The initial attack on the destroyer Maddox, on August 2, was repeated today by a number of hostile vessels attacking two U.S. destroyers with torpedoes.. Two of the torpedo boats had come as close as 5 nautical miles (9.3km; 5.8mi) and released one torpedo each, but neither one was effective, coming no closer than about 100 yards (91m) after Maddox evaded them. Lawrence, A. T. (2009). 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. "[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. After Kennedy's assassination, Johnson ordered in more U.S. forces to support the Saigon government, beginning a protracted United States presence in Southeast Asia. It was known quickly that no North Vietnamese ships had been in the vicinity, and no U.S. ships had been attacked. involvement in Vietnam. 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? Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken.. His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. 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. [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. "[36] Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place "on the high seas", suggesting that they had occurred in international waters. The Gulf of Tonkin incident: the false flag operation that started 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. And while the Maddox remained in international waters, three North Vietnamese patrol boats began tracking the destroyer in early August. A moderately sanitized version of the overall history[67] was released in January 2008 by the National Security Agency and published by the Federation of American Scientists.[68]. 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. 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. According to Edwin Mose, the Hanoi government (which, unlike the U.S. government, had to give permission at the highest levels for the conduct of such missions) probably assumed that they were all a coordinated effort to escalate military actions against North 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). 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. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. 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.". 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.. But even at the time there was some recognition of a margin of error, so we thought it highly probable but not entirely certain. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. [12]:11 By 1961, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem faced significant discontent among some quarters of the southern population, including some Buddhists who were opposed to the rule of Diem's Catholic supporters. 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. 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 . By mid-1965, his approval rating was 70 percent (though it fell precipitously once the war dragged on longer than expected). But the reports were false and the president knew it. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the most notorious false flag in American history. Liberty Waco Oklahoma City 9/11 London 7/7 Sandy Hook On August 5, at 10:40, these planes bombed four torpedo boat bases and an oil-storage facility in Vinh.[42]. Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California were Spanish possessions that revolted for independence. 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. Indeed, this concept is so well-accepted that rules of engagement for naval, air and land warfare all prohibit false flag attacks. 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. Everyone knew how volatile LBJ was. 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. [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. Theyd disappear, only to reappear seconds or minutes later in a completely different location. [13] In March 1956, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. The pilots from the Ticonderoga aircraft responded, flying overhead the destroyers for an hour and a half. [47] Even so, the Johnson administration in the second half of 1964 focused on convincing the American public that there was no chance of war between the United States and North Vietnam. As Commander James Stockdale, one of the pilots at the Gulf of Tonkin incident, later said, I had the best seat in the house to watch that event, and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets there were no PT boats therenothing there but black water and American firepower.. But the government itself wouldnt confirm Whites suspicions for decades. [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. One soldier, Peter Lemon, even managed to earn a Medal of Honor while stoned out of his mind. National Archives and Records Administration. 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). [5], By August 1, North Vietnamese patrol boats were tracking Maddox, and several intercepted communications indicated that they were preparing to attack.