Does anyone remember the ‘Gulf of Tonkin incident’ ?
Well I don’t suppose that many people in this country do, as it happened in 1964 and took place on the other side of the world off the shores of a little known country called Vietnam.
Yes, it was the ‘incident’ that gave the US government the excuse to bomb Vietnam and set in motion events that would eventually lead to the loss of 58,000 American lives.
The so called ‘Battle of Tonkin Gulf’ was the sole basis for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which was the entire justification for the United States’ war against North Vietnam.
The ‘incident’ involved an attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on US warships. Except that the ‘attack’ almost certainly never happened !
Sound familiar ? Well it should, because a similar ‘incident’ has recently happened in the Persian Gulf between some small Iranian craft and US warships.
I’ve just watched conflicting videos on the BBC news and quite frankly it is hard to say which side is telling the truth on this one, but the difference this time is that the world can see, at least to some degree, what actually happened.
Anyway, let’s hope that old George, who is keen on starting wars for non existant reasons, remembers that he is on a peace mission to the Middle East at present and resists the urge …
… to “accomplish” another kind of “mission” !
bigjohn 
