"Lie so we can go to war?". Wasn't that simple Pop. Johnson spoke to the American people and made his decision based on honest but false intelligence. The crime in all of this was the NSA covering up this error in intelligence.
"False intelligence" and "cover up"...gee where have I heard that before?
In October 2005 The New York Times reported that Robert J. Hanyok, a historian for the U.S. National Security Agency, concluded that the NSA deliberately distorted intelligence reports passed to policy makers regarding the August 4, 1964 incident. The NSA historian concluded that the motive was not political, but rather to cover up honest, but errant, intelligence.
Secondly, we were already in Vietnam.
Under Eisenhower we supported the French there.
In 1961 Kennedy sent 400 Green Beret to teach the South Vietnamese how to fight, and by 1963 we had more than 16,000 military advisors there. One hundred Americans had already been killed before the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Thirdly, we spend a lot on the military because whether you like it or not we are the worlds policeman. Our presence around the world is huge, therefore our military budget is huge.
These countries want us there so don't make it sound like these countries are being invaded.
As the self-appointed world police, having bases all over the place does a couple things. First, if the base location doesn't deter hostility, it reduces response time, which can often reduce the required response. Second, it reduces the need for the region's allies to build up as much of a military, which fosters more stability in the region. As the economic burden continues to rise, the US is reducing the size of many bases. This has sparked higher spending on defense from the countries in these areas. It hasn't led to violence, but diverting money to military spending reduces what a nation is going to spend on many other programs. This alone can be destabilizing in many countries.
This president Obama believes third world counties exist because of America. We are obnoxious, arrogant, and our wealth ill gotten. .. and he has tried to knock America down a few pegs so far as to go around the world on his apology tour bowing to foreign leaders apologizing for America.
So you better believe that if foreign countries didn't want our military presence, Obama would have seen to it by now.
So it not a simple case of one day we woke up and decided to invade a country as you so implied..
While I agree Vietnam was a horrible waste and it should of never happened, when you do research you need to do it with an open mind and not just from an anti-war perspective/mentality.
A cool video about the worlds policeman which should enlighten you...that wasn't a dig, it also enlightened me a bit.
Last edited:
