Answer (1 of 6): No, that's not true. 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. At the end of July 1964, the USS Maddox was sent to patrol the waters off the North Vietnamese coastline in the Gulf of Tonkin. [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. False flags are real and have been used on many occasions to advance nations into war, change regimes or radically sway public opinion. From this point on, the American policy and programs would dominate the course of the Indochina.. National Archives and Records Administration. "[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. 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 original account from the Pentagon Papers has been revised in light of a 2005 internal NSA historical study,[5] which stated on page 17: At 1500G, Captain Herrick (commander of Maddox) ordered Ogier's gun crews to open fire if the boats approached within ten thousand yards. [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. [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. 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. 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. Via: ibtimes.co.uk. [5] A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga, was also stationed nearby. [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. [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. [57] Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about this. Global Visibility, Disinformation and Cynicism 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. 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. Dispropaganda is 100% independent non partisan and non profit, in order to keep the site up we rely on financial supprt from our readers. Some people suspected the deception all along. Liberty Waco Oklahoma City 9/11 London 7/7 Sandy Hook Captain George Stephen Morrison was in command of local American forces from his flagship USSBon Homme Richard. Recently released tapes and documents reveal the truth and lies of the Gulf of Tonkin incident and its resolution. Gulf of Tonkin - FalseFlag.info FalseFlag.info True Patriotism is questioning your government because you Love your country Home 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. Sweden and Denmark said that they had detected underwater blasts in the area. Obama's real legacy makes him one of the worst US presidents of all time. White was featured in the August 2014 issue of Connecticut Magazine. 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. Tonkin definition, a former state in northern French Indochina, now part of Vietnam. 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). For some two hours the ships fired on ghost radar targets and maneuvered vigorously. 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. 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 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. 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]. Wikimedia CommonsA map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 1964. 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. Herrick sent a flash message to the U.S. saying he had received info indicating possible hostile action. He had spotted three North Vietnamese torpedo boats coming his way, and once again began to retreat. [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. Viet Minh political cadres, who were legally campaigning for the promised elections between 1955 and 1957, were suppressed by the government. TheMaddoxfired firstdue to a belief they were under attack. And while the Maddox remained in international waters, three North Vietnamese patrol boats began tracking the destroyer in early August. The conversation between President Lyndon B. Johnson andSecretary of State Robert McNamara in the video below starts at 1:14 minutes. At about 1505G, Maddox fired three rounds to warn off the communist [North Vietnamese] boats. 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 . This territorial limit was unrecognized by the United States. involvement in 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.. 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. They showed that there was no attack on August 4. President Johnson's Vietnam Address, August 4, 1964 about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. 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. Shortly after the attack was reported, President Johnson made his decision to retaliate. So much like with Iraq's WMD in 2003, the US launched its full scale war on Vietnam on nothing but lies and propaganda. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. 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. [47] On May 4, 1964, William Bundy had called for the U.S. to "drive the communists out of South Vietnam", even if that meant attacking both North Vietnam and communist China. 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. . 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. According to National Security Archive research fellow John Prados, "the American people have long . Stockdale recounts the incident at 0:37 seconds in the video below. The 9/11 conspiracy theories predate 9/11. In 1967, former naval officer John White wrote a letter to the editor of the New Haven (CT) Register. The purpose of this article is to break down false flag events into their parts, deconstruct them. As Hanyok put it, The overwhelming body of reports, if used, would have told the story that no attack occurred.. But even at the time there was some recognition of a margin of error, so we thought it highly probable but not entirely certain. Vietnam Gulf Of Tonkin False Flag Attack By US CIA In 1965 - Warmongering Military Industrial Complex Used Propaganda, Pro War Mass Media Coverage And Fake Outrage By US President In Order To Start Vietnamese War - All Wars Are Based On Fear, Hatred, Greed And War Profiteering - Hugh Thompson And My Lai Massacre 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. 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. Domestically speaking, a large-scale false flag such as . There was nothing there but black water and American fire power." This U.S. retaliation marked the nations first overt military action against the North Vietnamese. 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. Memorandum for Lt Gen Fitch from George C. Denney Jr. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is in many ways the epitome of government crime. How the media destroyed Gary Webb, the journalist who exposed the CIA drug running operations. 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. Gulf of Tonkin. 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 The U.S. vessels were now more than 100 miles away from the North Vietnamese coastline when their trackers started to light up. At the same time it gathered this intelligence, the South Vietnamese navy conducted strikes on multiple North Vietnamese islands. 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. 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. 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. Graeme Shimmin Amateur military historian. This table contains record counts based on the codes recorded in the CASUALTY CATEGORY field of theVietnam Conflict Extract Data File. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. [47] Various government officials and men aboard Maddox have suggested similar theories. It authorized Prezi Johnson by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to retaliate for the purported attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin and to start an official war against N-Vietnam. Brought to you by the CDC. The destroyer was ordered to fire warning shots if the enemy vessels closed within 10,000 yards. He asked for further details on time, weather and surface conditions. After a series of unsuccessful missions, OPLAN 34A shifted its focus from the land to the sea, attacking the Norths coastal infrastructure and defense from the water. actions. [9] In 1995, McNamara met with former People's Army of Vietnam General V Nguyn Gip to ask what happened on August 4, 1964. 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. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." [38], He emphasized commitment to both the American people, and the South Vietnamese government. In fact, Herrick stated in a message sent at 1:27 pm Washington time that no North Vietnamese patrol boats had actually been sighted. 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 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. 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 . 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. See more. America's history of using false flags to start wars. The Gulf of Tonkin incident (or the USS Maddox incident) is the name given to two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and . Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken.. In 1964, South Vietnam began conducting a series of attacks and missions along the North Vietnamese coasts, backed by the United States. Hanyok attributed this to the deference that the NSA would have likely given to the analysts who were closer to the event. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the most notorious false flag in American history. Tapes included in this release of documents also reveal President Johnson saying, Hell, those damn, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish.. For such requests, please contact the Freedom of Information Act Office at foianet@nsa.gov or Public Affairs Office at 443-634-0721. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. 5 (May 1970), pp. Even the US Navy had came out later and declared that it's clear that North Vietnamese naval forces did not attack Maddox and Turner Joy that night, on August 4, 1964.. The two destroyers stayed miles away from the coastlines in the Gulf of Tonkin. "[36] Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place "on the high seas", suggesting that they had occurred in international waters. . His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. The Cold War policy of containment was to be applied to prevent the fall of Southeast Asia to communism under the precepts of the domino theory. 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. Fri, 07/16/2010 - 10:33 . [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. In the end he concluded that there were no torpedo boats on the night in question, and that the White House was interested only in confirmation of an attack, not that there was no such attack. 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 . Suggest thorough reconnaissance in daylight by aircraft. [27], Others, such as Admiral Sharp, maintained that U.S. actions did not provoke the August 2 incident. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara in a cabinet room meeting. Theme: Bushwick by James Dinsdale. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Everyone knew how volatile LBJ was. He revealed that 90 percent of the relevant intercepts, including those from the North Vietnamese, had been kept out the NSA's final . Nazi war criminals became high ranking commanders in NATO after WW2. 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. This, along with other false flag operations in Operation Himmler, would be used to mobilize support from the German population for the start of World War II in Europe. As the battle continued, Captain Herrick too began to have doubts about these attacks. Catastrophic Covid Vax Mandates Shutting Down Hospitals, Medical Centers and Healthcare Systems Like This?! [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. One hour and forty minutes after his speech, aircraft launched from U.S. carriers reached North Vietnamese targets. Some of the most horrible Vietnam War facts . Declassified documents reve. [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. What was happening at the time were aggressive South Vietnamese raids against the North in the same general area. and sadly I believe the shooting in Uvalde Texas at the elementary school was a false flag mission to take . How The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident Sparked The Vietnam War. Is it possible Lyndon Johnson was attempting another one with Israel to finish off Egypt once and for all? 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. It was tantamount to a declaration of war, but it was based on a lie. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage CommandThe North Vietnamese torpedo boats under fire, as photographed on board the USS Maddox. USS Liberty. Seventh Fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2 and August 4, respectively. It was only invented to start a war the New World Order already wanted (pretext for war). The USS Maddox evaded the torpedo attack, suffering only slight damage, and sailed off to safer waters. By 1964, the pressure on these waters had reached a boil, and North Vietnamese forces were not about to stand still against these operations. Stanislav Petrov, the man who stopped a USSR - US nuclear war by doing nothing. All subsequent Maddox torpedo reports are doubtful in that it is suspected that sonarman was hearing the ship's own propeller beat" [sic]. As the evening progressed, further signals intelligence (SIGINT) did not support any such ambush, but the NSA personnel were apparently so convinced of an attack that they ignored the 90% of SIGINT that did not support that conclusion, and that was also excluded from any reports they produced for the consumption by the president. 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. assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. He later said he was concerned that his captors would eventually force him to reveal what he knew about the second incident. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. McNamara asks Giap: What happened in Tonkin Gulf? 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. Martens Meyer, who was head of department at the military intelligence staff, operated on behalf of U.S. intelligence. [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. [10] Gip confirmed that the attack had been imaginary. "[39][40], Within thirty minutes of the August 4 incident, Johnson had decided on retaliatory attacks (dubbed "Operation Pierce Arrow"). 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. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. [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. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. Nations have often done this by staging a real or simulated attack on their own side. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Yoichi Okamoto/U.S. 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. The LBJ Presidential tapes, declassified and released in 2001, prove that LBJ knew the Tonkin incident never happened, prior to the war. 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. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken." Johnson won the 1964 election by a landslide, winning a greater share of the popular vote than any presidential candidate had since 1820. 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 reports were false and the president knew it. 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. Questions about the Gulf of Tonkin incident have persisted for more than 40 years. In so doing then create a template on how to study an event and determine if it is a false flag. [5] The North Vietnamese boats then attacked,[5] and Maddox radioed she was under attack from the three boats, closing to within 10 nautical miles (19km; 12mi), while located 28 nautical miles (52km; 32mi) away from the North Vietnamese coast in international waters. Johnson had fended off proposals from McNamara and other advisers for a policy of bombing North Vietnam on four occasions since becoming president. How Putin and Donald Tusk covered up what caused the Polish presidential plane crash in 2010.