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Warning: One False Report Can Lead to Deception

On August 5th 1964, America intensified an undeclared war. The Washington Post announced, “American Planes Hit North Vietnam After Second Attack on Our Destroyers; Move Taken to Halt New Aggression." Now, more than forty years later, it is apparent that any “attack” on the USS Maddox was not unprovoked, but a legitimate response to coordinated war efforts between the Laotian, South Vietnamese, and America. It is not improbable that the United States would attack its own vessel to bring support to a cause. However, in the case of the Gulf of Tonkin event, the evidence suggests a massive cover-up and a political spin in order to gain the American public's support for American troops in the Vietnam Conflict.

“A false flag operation is simply an action in which the perpetrator intends for the blame (or credit) to be placed on a different party False flag terrorism, then, is terrorism perpetrated by the state with the express purpose of blaming the incident on another country." For example, Operation Northwoods proposed in 1962 suggested in “Annex to Appendix to Enclosure A,” that the American government should conduct acts of terrorism in order to blame the resulting crisis on the Cuban government. Operation Northwoods documents were released in 1997 by the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board. Similarly in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, there were many situation specific events that could have been avoided or did not happen.

The facts of the attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin are as follows. The USS Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats on August 2nd 1964. The destroyer was hit by one heavy machine gun shell. This is the “First Attack.” The “Second Attack” occurred on August 4th 1964 after the USS Maddox returned to the Gulf of Tonkin, and joined another destroyer, the USS Turner Joy. Supposedly high-speed vessels were bearing down on the two destroyers, and the destroyers attacked these ships. No information has ever confirmed the presence of North Vietnamese vessels near the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on the afternoon of August 4th 1964. After the “Second Attack” an air strike was launched in retaliation. And on August 5th, the American people were told of the incident, followed closely by the passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7th 1964.

Many consider the Gulf of Tonkin incident as an instance of false flag terrorism, however, a White House political spin was placed on the situation to gain the support of America. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara were aware of the possibility of a provoked attack, and the even stronger possibility that the attack never happened. Despite knowing this information, they presented a deceiving picture of the conflict in Vietnam and therefore pulled America into an unwanted conflict. They did this to actively engage in a preemptive defense of America, to enhance the powers of the Commander in Chief, and to rally American support for the unpopular South Vietnamese government.

To form a preemptive defense of America, Johnson continued the containment doctrine foreign policy that had begun immediately after the Cold War. The Containment Doctrine stated the United States would avoid an all-out war against the USSR, but the America would commit to preventing the expansion of existing communist governments and to stopping new communist governments from forming. The Korean War can be used as an example of this policy. The United States armed forces did not defeat Communist North Korea, but merely defended South Korea against invasion and then created the “demilitarized zone,” effectively ending the war in a stalemate. A corollary of the containment doctrine was the “Domino Theory,” which stated that if one government fell to communism, the surrounding governments would fall to communist regimes. This idea was carried into the Vietnam War, where an unpopular government in South Vietnam was able to gain the assistance of a phobic United States, which was afraid of Communism.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a favorable outcome of the Vietnam conflict for the Johnson administration. It states, “That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." Because the Vietnam War was never officially declared by Congress, Johnson and Nixon would have complete control over the Armed Forces in Vietnam. This blatant disregard to the separation of powers as stated in the Constitution culminated in war atrocities, over extended troops, and a majority of the American people protesting the Vietnam conflict.

The Johnson administration also desired to connect the Vietnam conflict to the containment policy so as to gain support for the war. The containment policy states that all communist governments are supported by the Soviet Union, and does not allow for diverse ideas within the worldview of Communism. In 1964, the Soviet Union is still a threat to the United States. Therefore, connecting Vietnam and the Soviet Union promotes good thoughts among the American populace. If the conflict would have been ended quickly, the Vietnam war would only be a paragraph in the history books, rather than a chapter or two. It was only because of the escalating casualties, and the apparent lack of progress that diffused the support of the American people.

Many would then ask: Why would America be actively deceived by their elected government officials? Could there have simply been an instance of poor communication between the White House and the US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin? Of course, but White House tapes recorded of conversations between President Johnson and staff members makes it unlikely. The Johnson administration was already enhancing the military of South Vietnam by arming their navy with Norwegian-built patrol boats, and training commando units to infiltrate and destroy North Vietnamese targets. This build up of the South Vietnamese armed forces, named OPLAN 34-A, had conducted armed assaults on North Vietnamese targets on August 2nd, the night of the “First Attack.” Secretary of State, Robert McNamara, told President Johnson about the assaults on August 2nd, and then revealed how the North Vietnamese would have thought about the USS Maddox being in the area: “And following 24 hours after that i.e. the armed assaults with this destroyer i.e. USS Maddox in the same area undoubtedly led them to connect the two events. (WH6408.03).”

Also, the amount of faulty information that was received by the media and pubic has caused many people to question the reliability of government sponsored information, especially during the Vietnam War. “By reporting official claims as absolute truths, American journalism opened the floodgates for the bloody Vietnam War." Tom Wells in America's Battle Over Vietnam says the reason for media inaccuracy was the media's “almost exclusive reliance on U.S. government officials as sources of information...and reluctance to question official pronouncements on 'national security issues.'" To contradict the official story would relate to how much of a patriot a reporter is. Americans want to believe that their government is looking out for them, and telling the truth about incidents involving American personnel.

Couldn't the Johnson administration just as easily staged the entire “second attack” in the form of false-flag terrorism? The USS Liberty event also happened during President Johnson's time in office. During the Arab Israeli War in 1967, the USS Liberty was conducting intelligence gathering off of the Egyptian and Israeli coasts. It was clearly labeled as a Unites States vessel, and it was a perfect weather day. Nevertheless, Israeli fighter-bombers and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty. A rescue attempt by another United States vessel was also aborted by direct White House orders. This was an act of false-flag terrorism committed either by a joint operation by the Israelis and the White House, or an Israeli led attack that was covered up by the White House. Either war, the White House was willing to sacrifice American lives for the sake of something else.

The question is, Why would the Johnson administration employ two different methods of false-flag terrorism when the Gulf of Tonkin incident had worked fine, and no American lives had been lost? Employing two different tactics, with one being extremely deadly and the other not, does not follow a modus operandi for the Johnson administration.

Since the Vietnam War, the press has become more of a watchdog in the context of US Government and media relations. Dramatic incidents are covered more fully, and the press is not afraid of being considered un-American. They pounce on everything that smells fishy. And while the American public is not so easily blindsided by a release of abhorrent information, mostly because of the many media outlets, the populace is still trusting of the media and government. Sydney Schanberg blamed “the apparent amnesia of the wider American public He followed up with: “We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth." The United States Government has been involved in shady dealings, and while they do not always tell us the truth, I believe the government is trying to achieve the best possible outcome for America.

The American public needs to think critically about all the information they receive, from the government, from news networks, and from the associated press. We cannot afford to simply accept what is given to us; we have to search out the truth. I would encourage every American to have an alternate news source that is international, or independent, and to verify government stated facts with these sorts of news agencies. We also need to remember that there are at least two sides to every story, and in world events, there are usually more, a lot more. Each individual story may not be completely right, but together they give people a picture of the actual event. All I am asking is for Americans to be more aware. We should not be the brain dead, follow-the-leader kind of people that other nations assume we are. After all, we forged a nation on patriot blood and created a unique government the world had never seen. We, the People, consented to our government, and the People need to take charge of the American nation again.