The beginning of the Vietnam War.

If you mention the Vietnam war, you will find everyone has an opinion. At the same time, you will discover that those who have an opinion are often ignorant of important facts about the war. Consider:
41 years ago, a murky military encounter at sea plunged the United States deeper into the war in Vietnam. On Aug. 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the U.S. Navy reported to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara that another American destroyer was under attack by the North Vietnamese.
Those critical events would ultimately lead the United States to send more than a half a million American troops into Southeast Asia.
But as Paul Harvey would say, "Now for the rest of the story."

The following links will provide a lot of details about the events that eventually lead the United States into the war.

An audio report from NPR news:

http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ME&showDate=06-Aug-2004&segNum=10&mediaPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3822657


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3810724



Here is another audio news report from NPR:


http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=02-Aug-2004&segNum=6&mediaPref=WM&getUnderwriting=1



What is amazing about many of these reports can be summarized in the following headline:

"Faulty Intelligence Played Role in Decision to Engage Viet Cong"

Now does that not sound familiar?

Faulty intelligence led us to invade Iraq!

Maybe Americans and the leaders of America should spend a little time learning history!