Post-Korea Activities: Tonkin Gulf

The Tokin Gulf incident was a moment in (well) the Gulf of Tonkin where the USS Maddox engaged three NVL torpedo boats during one of it's intelligence patrols. In result to the conflit, Lyndon Johnson signed into effect the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that allowed the United States of America to escalate the war effort and Tet Offensive against the North Vietnamese. That seemed to be the end of it until it was revealed that the Tonkin Gulf incident was intentionally orchestrated by the USA in order to make a legal justification for fighting the NVA. This lead scholars of different disciplines to debate fault over the Tonkin Gulf Incident, with some blaming the USA for trying to trick the NVL into attacking the USS Maddox as an excuse for war and some blaming the NVL for being so quick to fire at the Maddox. Despite which side you agreed with, the discussion came to a close when it was even later revealed that the Tonkin Gulf Incident never occured.

As it turns out the titular incident never happened, not even the drawing fire narrative. According to NSA historian Robert Hanyok, the reports were distorted, hidden, and edited by them to allow for the Vietnam war. He continues to compare the Tonkin Gulf incident to the intellgience that lead up to 9/11. One aspect of the incident was real however, the USS Maddox had fired almost 300 shells, nobody but the crew and possible targets will probably ever know what they were firing at.

Nguyen Thi Dieu - Pacific Affairs, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Autumn, 1997)

Jake Anderson - http://theantimedia.org/10-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/