When politicians say: "Whereas naval units of the Communist regime in Vietnam, in violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law, have deliberately and repeatedly attacked United Stated naval vessels lawfully present in international waters, and have thereby created a serious threat to international peace; and Whereas these attackers are part of deliberate and systematic campaign of aggression that the Communist regime in North Vietnam has been waging against its neighbors and the nations joined with them in the collective defense of their freedom; and" Etc Etc Etc They mean: 'after lots of provocation we got one bullet stuck in some steel sheet in the USS Maddox and we want a war on the basis of that one bullet.'
I don't have permission to post pictures but the search: gulf of tonkin uss madox bullet should show the one bullet LBJ used as justification for getting the US into war in Vietnam and killing 3 million Vietnamese
Ask the public today and the response is usually 'the war in Vietnam was a mistake'. But two factors stand out even from the start: 1/ Escalation - one bullet allegedly fired by the communists justified carpet bombing 2/ Lying - that one bullet had months of provocation behind it.
And Washington is still the same, if not worse. Details on the Lying to start the war in Vietnam: The resolution becomes known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees and the House Foreign Affairs and Military Affairs Committees hold hearings the next day, August 6. Only three people answer questions before the committees: Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Earle G. Wheeler. They testify that there is no question that the attack of August 4 occurred and cite intercepted radio transmissions, radar and sonar data, and testimony from eyewitnesses as evidence. They also state that the attacks were unprovoked and that the Maddox had been on a routine patrol unconnected to and unaware of any South Vietnamese actions in North Vietnamese waters. Yet they secretly knew that the Maddox had in fact been supporting South Vietnamese covert OPLAN 34A operations. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution passes in the House of Representatives by a vote of 414-0 and in the Senate by a vote of 88-2 on August 7. This illustrates the point that democracy is pointless when the decisions are based on lies.
Politicians like Trump excluded, most don't outright lie as common practice. They'll exaggerate or tell half-truths but most are smart enough not to say things are outright untrue and easily substantiated as such.
was gonna say the same, with the exception of Trump, many may spin the truth, but still stick to the truth
Honestly, most of what we hear from BOTH main political parties in this country is imprecise, ambiguous nonsense which is constructed to give the impression of thoughtful expression, but actually is little more than inarticulate babble. The utterances of our wonderous Vice-president Kamala-la-la Harris come immediately to mind....
