3) The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
For those who know their history, the Gulf of Tonkin incident served as a major escalator of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. However, it never actually happened. Often referred to as the USS Maddox Incidents(s), it involved the destroyer USS Maddox reportedly engaging three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats as part of an intelligent patrol. The Maddox fired almost 300 shells. President Lyndon B. Johnson is responsible for drafting the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which became his administration’s legal justification for military involvement in Vietnam.
Only in 2005 was it revealed that the incident never took place. A declassified internal National Security Agency study found that NO North Vietnamese navel vessels were present during the incident. So, what was the Maddox firing at? In 1965, President Johnson commented: “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.”
According to a report by the NSA’s historian, Robert J. Hanyok, the agency had deliberately distorted intelligence reports in 1964. He wrote:
“The parallels between the faulty intelligence on Tonkin Gulf and the manipulated intelligence used to justify the Iraq War make it all the more worthwhile to re-examine the events of August 1964.”
