Phantoms in the Gulf of Tonkin
by Joe Crubaugh
http://www.conspiracy-times.com/,
March 7, 2007
On August 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese
torpedo boats attacked a US destroyer, the USS Maddox. The boats
reportedly fired torpedoes at the US ship in international waters
in the Gulf of Tonkin, about thirty miles off the Vietnam coast.
On August 4, the US Navy reported another unprovoked attack on
the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy._Within hours, President
Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a retaliatory strike. As the bases for
North Vietnamese torpedo boats were bombed, Johnson went on TV
and told America: "Repeated acts of violence against the
armed forces of the United States must be met not only with alert
defense, but with a positive reply. That reply is being given
as I speak tonight." The next day, Secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara assured Capital Hill that the Maddox had only been "carrying
out a routine mission of the type we carry out all over the world
at all times." McNamara said the two boats were in no way
involved with recent South Vietnamese boat raids against North
Vietnamese targets._At Johnson's request, Congress passed the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The resolution pre-approved any military
actions Johnson would take. It gave Johnson a free ticket to wage
war in Vietnam as large as the President wanted. And, true to
his large Texas roots, Johnson got a big war: by 1969, over half
a million US troops were fighting in Indochina. Despite McNamara's
testimony to the contrary, the USS Maddox had been providing intelligence
support to South Vietnamese boats carrying out raids against North
Vietnam. McNamara had also testified that there was "unequivocable
proof" of an "unprovoked" second attack against
the USS Maddox. In fact, the second attack never occurred at all._At
the time of the second incident, the two US destroyers misinterpreted
radar and radio signals as attacks by the North Vietnamese navy.
It's now known that no North Vietnamese boats were in the area.
So, for two hours, the two US destroyers blasted away at nonexistent
radar targets and vigorously manoeuvred to avoid phantom North
Vietnamese ships. Even though the second "attack" only
involved two US ships defending themselves against a nonexistent
enemy, the President and Secretary of Defense used it to coerce
Congress and the American people to start a war they neither wanted
nor needed._After the Vietnam War turned into a quagmire, Congress
decided to put limits on the President's authority to unilaterally
wage war. Thus, on November 7, 1973, Congress overturned President
Nixon's veto and passed the War Powers Resolution. The resolution
requires the President to consult with Congress before making
any decisions that engage the US military in hostilities. It is
still in effect to this day.
Conspiracy
Theories vs. 'Real' World Order
Global
Secrets and Lies
Home Page