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Sighting: Need to be Over Fifty to Remember What Started Vietnam It became apparent yesterday that it's necessary to be well over fifty to remember how we got tricked and shoved into the Vietnam quagmire by the New York Times and Lyndon Johnson. It happened on Aug. 5, 1964 when the Times reported on page one, "President Johnson has ordered retaliatory action against gunboats and 'certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam' after renewed attacks against American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin." The only problem was that there had been no attacks on American destroyers. It was all a hoax. It was later explained as a mistake by a sailor reading the sonar. In 1965, Johnson commented: "For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there." The Times had previously written on March 12, 1963: "The cost [of saving Vietnam] is large, but the cost of South-East Asia coming under the domination of Russia and Communist China would be still larger." On May 21, 1964, it had written: "If we demonstrate that we will make whatever military and political effort [denying victory to communism] requires, the Communists sooner or later will also recognize reality." After this hoax in the Gulf of Tonkin, those in Congress gave Johnson the power to wage war in the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution." Only two of the entire Congress of 535 members dissented. Many watched in disbelief as teenage boys were drafted and sent to die and kill in Vietnam as a result. Since then, when those in Massachusetts have finally learned of the incompetence and perfidy of their idol, JFK, they often become cynical and disillusioned. Bobby Kennedy was also a hawk on Vietnam. He assured the public in 1962 after a trip to Vietnam, "We are going to win." He was a hawk until he decided to run for president in March 1968. Then he suddenly changed sides and began to attack the teenagers that he and his brother had sent to die in Vietnam. But there's no need to become cynical because one has chosen the wrong people to idolize. They should have looked more to Dwight Eisenhower, who was shocked at what he saw occurring. But the New York Times dominated the media. It was deeply involved in the mistakes and deceit. They continue to dominate our culture today, especially in Massachusetts with their Boston Globe subsidiary. The Times printed in an editorial in 1962 that Vietnam "is a struggle this country cannot shirk." It continued to support the war until public opinion went against it. Then it switched to the other side. The Kennedy people were looking for a way to save face after their disaster at the Bay of Pigs. JFK was advised by a member of the National Security Council: "It is very important that the government have a major anti-Communist victory to its credit ... the odds are still in our favor [in Vietnam]." A few months later, JFK told a reporter, "Now we have a problem in making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place." We must have an intelligent debate about these enormous issues, but that is much more difficult when some are marching and screaming in protest. That only polarizes the country and damages our troops as happened in Vietnam.' Let's support our troops while they are there and then see what we find in Iraq. It will always be difficult to tell the truth from the fiction but that is the duty of every citizen in every democracy or it will surely topple. More information can be found in MassNews archives and in a story about the 30th anniversary of the "Tonkin Gulf Incident" in 1994 by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon at http://www.fair.org/media-beat/940727.html. There are two excellent books: , by North Vietnam's former Minister of Justice, Truong Nhu Tang and , by Stanley Karnow, which is a PBS series book.
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