Gulf of Tonkin

One of the most instructive things we can learn about history is how wars get started. As we all know, our country--like every other country in the world--only goes to war for the most noble of reasons. Yet despite all of their high-mindedness our illustrious leaders often have to result to subterfuge in order to get us to back their noble endeavors. "A historian sympathetic to Roosevelt, Thomas A. Bailey, has written:

Franklin Roosevelt repeatedly deceived the American people during the period before Pearl Harbor.... He was like the physician who must tell the patient lies for the patient's own good...because the masses are notoriously shortsighted and generally cannot see danger until it is at their throats..." (A People's History, Howard Zinn p. 402).

And that was our war! That was the war we all love to romanticize. If Roosevelt had to lie to get us into that war, how much lying do you think it took to get us into Vietnam? Lots! The Gulf of Tonkin is a perfect example, and I think we should all keep it in mind as the U.S. continues to threaten Iran. Consider the official story as recorded at Navy History:

On the afternoon of 2 August 1964, while steaming well offshore in international waters, Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats. The destroyer maneuvered to avoid torpedoes and used her guns against her fast-moving opponents, hitting them all. In turn, she was struck in the after gun director by a single 14.5-millimeter machine gun bullet. Maddox called for air support from the carrier Ticonderoga, whose planes strafed the three boats, leaving one dead in the water and burning. Both sides then separated.

Just take a look at the wording here. The Maddox was "well offshore in international waters." If Iranian naval vessals were just off the coast in international waters do you think that's how we would describe it? Do you even think that it would be tolerated for two seconds? The description gives you the impression they were just cruising around minding their own business.

And then, out of nowhere, the Maddox was viscously attacked by THREE North Vietnamese torpedo boats. In something reminiscent of an A-Team episode the Maddox managed to avoid this massive attack save one lone bullet from a machine gun. That's quite a feet for a ship nearly 350 feet long. The large picture above gives us a good example of what a savage attack it really was. That's Maddox's executive officer, Lt. Cmdr, Dempster M. Jackson, kneeling next to the only damage the destroyer sustained in the attack: a machine gun bullet.

Sadly there is nothing funny about this story. The story was wrapped up nicely and given to the press who then sold us all on a horrible war. Our great leader has still never told us why he really invaded Iraq; do you think he's going to be honest about Iran? Keep the Gulf of Tonkin in your mind as tensions grow between the U.S. and Iran. And try and remember that it's Iran who is surrounded by hostile forces, not the United States. It's Iran that has ships carrying nuclear weapons right off its shores. And it's the madman in the oval office who keeps threatening them. Don't let them fool you. Watch Robert McNamara admit it never happened:

| +Save/Share | |