gulf of tonkin false flag

[21], Although the boats were crewed by South Vietnamese naval personnel, approval for each mission conducted under the plan came directly from Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp Jr., CINCPAC in Honolulu, who received his orders from the White House. Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California were Spanish possessions that revolted for independence. 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. In the foreword, he notes "Among the many books written on the Vietnamese war, half a dozen note a 1967 letter to the editor of a Connecticut newspaper which was instrumental in pressuring the Johnson administration to tell the truth about how the war started. No actual visual sightings by Maddox. The purpose of this article is to break down false flag events into their parts, deconstruct them. 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. Top US officials also distorted the facts in the lead-up to the Vietnam War and the media dutifully reported the official narrative as absolute fact, . By mid-1965, his approval rating was 70 percent (though it fell precipitously once the war dragged on longer than expected). "[34] It is likely that McNamara did not inform either the president or Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr. about Herrick's misgivings or Herrick's recommendation for further investigation. 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.. More Proof Gulf of Tonkin Was False Flag. [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 sadly I believe the shooting in Uvalde Texas at the elementary school was a false flag mission to take . 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. As the battle continued, Captain Herrick too began to have doubts about these attacks. [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. [26] Another P-4 received a direct hit from a five-inch shell from Maddox; its torpedo malfunctioned at launch. As a result, planes from the aircraft carriers Ticonderoga and Constellation were sent to hit North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases and fuel facilities during Operation Pierce Arrow. 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]. 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. 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. 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. 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. After learning about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, check out these photos from the anti-Vietnam War movement. 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. 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. This August 4 incident never happened. subscribers . 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. [5] In the ensuing engagement, one U.S. aircraft (which had been launched from aircraft carrier USSTiconderoga) was damaged, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed, with six more wounded. 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 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 . Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. 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. People on Reddit say the Gulf of Tonkin incident is an example of a conspiracy that turned out to be true. [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. "[55] White continued his whistleblowing activities in the 1968 documentary In the Year of the Pig. President Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. What was happening at the time were aggressive South Vietnamese raids against the North in the same general area. Winter War. There were no U.S. contribution. Undersecretary of State George Ball told a British journalist after the war that "at that time many people were looking for any excuse to initiate bombing". He immediately appeared in front of the United States with a televised speech. . Domestically speaking, a large-scale false flag such as . This is the true story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. [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 LBJ Presidential tapes, declassified and released in 2001, prove that LBJ knew the Tonkin incident never happened, prior to the war. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. Fri, 07/16/2010 - 10:33 . Although August 4 was a stormy day, Captain Herrick ordered the two destroyers further out to sea in order to give them more space in the case of an attack. For such requests, please contact the Freedom of Information Act Office at foianet@nsa.gov or Public Affairs Office at 443-634-0721. Everyone knew how volatile LBJ was. But not every event is a false flag . 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. 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. Suggest thorough reconnaissance in daylight by aircraft. It was only invented to start a war the New World Order already wanted (pretext for war). 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. 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. BRITISH RIOT PHOTOS: The Brits Finally Begin to Take Back Their PowerBIG TIME! 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 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? [46], The use of the set of incidents as a pretext for escalation of U.S. involvement followed the issuance of public threats against North Vietnam, as well as calls from American politicians in favor of escalating the war. The conversation between President Lyndon B. Johnson andSecretary of State Robert McNamara in the video below starts at 1:14 minutes. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is the most notorious false flag in American history. Questions about the Gulf of Tonkin incident have persisted for more than 40 years. [5] The Hanyok article states that intelligence information was presented to the Johnson administration "in such a manner as to preclude responsible decision makers in the Johnson administration from having the complete and objective narrative of events." The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964, a definitive study of the events in the gulf, including the manipulation of signals intelligence. [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. Answer (1 of 6): No, that's not true. 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. Although there was no enemy ship, it was designed to frame the enemy (false flag operation). Afraid of attackers, Captain Herrick sent flash messages to U.S. officials while desperately trying to move the ships out of harms way. Port Arthur, AUS, .all very real illusions. 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. McNamara asks Giap: What happened in Tonkin Gulf? Theyd disappear, only to reappear seconds or minutes later in a completely different location. 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. In August 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. Nations have often done this by staging a real or simulated attack on their own side. 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. 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. Then read these 27 Vietnam War facts that will change the way you think about American history. The outcome of the incident was the passage by U.S. Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". It's the perfect time for a false flag attack, where one country carries out a covert attack, disguising it to look like it was done by someone else. [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. False Flags are Real - US Has a Long History of Lying to Start Wars Written by Danielle Ryan Tuesday April 17, 2018 Use of the term "false flag" is often met with raised eyebrows and accusations of conspiracism. 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. 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 August 1964, the USS Maddox destroyer was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. Stanislav Petrov, the man who stopped a USSR - US nuclear war by doing nothing. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. [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. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken. [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. Stockdale at one point recounts seeing Turner Joy pointing her guns at Maddox. Tapes included in this release of documents also reveal President Johnson saying, Hell, those damn, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish.. 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. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." While U.S. President John F. Kennedy had originally supported the policy of sending military advisers to Diem, he had begun to alter his thinking by September 1963,[17] because of what he perceived to be the ineptitude of the Saigon government and its inability and unwillingness to make needed reforms (which led to a U.S.-supported coup which resulted in the death of Diem). The next day, the USS Maddox once again resumed its normal patrol, this time alongside another U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Turner Joy. Cecil Stoughton/U.S. [13] In March 1956, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. "[33], McNamara later testified that he had read the message after his return to the Pentagon that afternoon. [47] U.S. The torpedo boats sped up, and the warning shots were fired. 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). In 1963, three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam. But even at the time there was some recognition of a margin of error, so we thought it highly probable but not entirely certain. [47] George Ball stated that the mission of the destroyer warship involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident "was primarily for provocation. Please help support Dispropaganda by clicking on the "Donate" button and making a. According to National Security Archive research fellow John Prados, "the American people have long . [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 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! [9] In 1995, McNamara met with former People's Army of Vietnam General V Nguyn Gip to ask what happened on August 4, 1964. 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). [47], North Vietnam's General Gip suggested that the DESOTO patrol had been sent into the gulf to provoke North Vietnam into giving the U.S. an excuse for escalation of the war. On the night of Aug. 4, the Pentagon proclaimed that a second attack by North Vietnamese PT boats had occurred earlier that day in the Tonkin Gulf a report cited by President Johnson as he went on national TV that evening to announce a momentous escalation in the war: air strikes against North Vietnam. Shortly thereafter, radar contact of "several high speed contacts closing in on them" was acquired by the USS Turner Joy, which locked on to one of the contacts, fired and struck the torpedo boat. National Archives and Records Administration. 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.. Theme: Bushwick by James Dinsdale. 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. 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. Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Wayne Morse. How The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident Sparked The Vietnam War. [47] Various government officials and men aboard Maddox have suggested similar theories. Opsec News This article will show that President Lyndon B. Johnson twisted the Gulf of Tonkin incident into a False Flag to start a war between America and North Vietnam. Additionally, he concluded that many pieces of evidence were carefully picked to distort the truth. In fact, Herrick stated in a message sent at 1:27 pm Washington time that no North Vietnamese patrol boats had actually been sighted. Proudly powered by WordPress. The opinions expressed within the documents in both releases are those of the authors and individuals interviewed. This time their orders indicated that the ships were to close to no less than 11 miles (18km) from the coast of North Vietnam. According to National Security Agency documents declassified in 2005 The overwhelming body of reports told the story that no attack had happened. 26, No. Polmar, Norman "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 1)", OAH Magazine of History, fall 1992. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken.. [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. Lawrence, A. T. (2009). 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 North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959,[15]:119120 and on July 28, North Vietnamese forces invaded Laos to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh trail, in support of insurgents in the south. Some people suspected the deception all along. [30], On August 4, another DESOTO patrol off the North Vietnamese coast was launched by Maddox and Turner Joy, in order to "show the flag" after the first incident. [56], Squadron Commander James Stockdale was one of the U.S. pilots flying overhead during the second alleged attack. The destroyer was ordered to fire warning shots if the enemy vessels closed within 10,000 yards. But false flags are a very real and very present feature of geopolitics and denying that is simply denying reality. Maddox suffered only minor damage from a single 14.5mm bullet from a P-4's KPV heavy machine gun into her superstructure. This territorial limit was unrecognized by the United States. [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. [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. 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. 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. 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.". On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. [25], In July 1964, "the situation along North Vietnam's territorial waters had reached a near boil", because of South Vietnamese commando raids and airborne operations that inserted intelligence teams into North Vietnam, as well as North Vietnam's military response to these operations. The NSA historian said agency staff "deliberately skewed" the evidence to make it appear that an attack had occurred. 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 first incident took place on August 2, 1964, when the destroyerUSSMaddox, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats seen approaching the Maddox. 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. 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. "Dispropaganda" - An independent and politically unbiased website which strives to tell historical, political and contemporary, unfashionable, hidden truths through the use of satire and humor. U.S. officials had distorted the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident for their own gains and perhaps for Johnsons own political prospects. 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. Despite the captains efforts to correct the errors of his original messages during the Gulf of Tonkin incident, U.S. officials took the idea of unprovoked attacks and ran with it. 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. . Lots of the 'nuts' sure . This plan, known as Operations Plan (OPLAN) 34A, was conceived and overseen by the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA, but was carried out using South Vietnamese forces. 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. 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. After these first shots, the North Vietnamese forces made their attack. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage CommandThree North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching the USS Maddox. 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. [11] In 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese Navy on August 2, but that the incident of August 4 was based on bad naval intelligence and misrepresentations of North Vietnamese communications.[5]. For example, some of the signals intercepted during those August evenings were falsified, while others were altered to show different time receipts. Both the Maddox and the Turner reported multiple torpedos launched by the North Vietnamese. [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. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. Its stated purpose was to . There were no U.S. casualties, and no further U.S. action was taken. 1898, on a flag-showing mission . They reported an attack by North Vietnamese patrol boats on August 2, and a second attack on August 4. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. Obama's real legacy makes him one of the worst US presidents of all time. Stockdale recounts the incident at 0:37 seconds in the video below. 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.