You want a criminal investigation. My point is that there would be no more information during a second investigation because anyone with information would use the 5th amendment.
But then you don't read your own constitution and are to busy calling me names.
Criminal matters are far different then a normal senate enquiry.
I already stated that there are numerous ongoing investigations being performed through out academia, but you ignored that post too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_IncidentVietnam's Navy Anniversary Day is August 5, the date of the second attack, Vietnamese time, where "one of our torpedo squadrons chased the U.S.S. Maddox from our coastal waters, our first victory over the U.S. Navy". [8]
The Incident
Daniel Ellsberg, who was on duty in the Pentagon that night receiving messages from the ship, reports that the ships were on a secret mission (codenamed DESOTO Patrols) near North Vietnamese territorial waters. Their purpose was to provoke the North Vietnamese into turning on their coastal defense radar so it could be plotted. [citation needed]
On July 31, 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox (DD-731) began a reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. Admiral George Stephen Morrison, father of The Doors' Jim Morrison, and the youngest Admiral in U.S. Naval History, was in command of the local fleet from his flagship USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31). The ship was under orders to not be closer than eight miles from the North's coast and four miles from Hon Nieu island. [1] When the South Vietnamese commando raid was being carried out against Hon Nieu, the ship was 120 miles away from the attacked area. [2]
On August 2 the Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese patrol boats 28 miles away from the North Vietnamese coast and inside international waters, while heading deeper inside those waters. [3] The Maddox evaded a torpedo attack and chased the ships away. The Maddox, suffering only very minor damage by a single machine gun bullet, retired to South Vietnamese waters where she was joined by the destroyer Turner Joy.
On August 4, another DESOTO patrol to North Vietnam coast was launched by Maddox and the Turner Joy. This time orders indicated that the ship was to be no more than 11 miles from the coast of North Vietnam. [4] The latter received radar and radio signals that they believed to signal another attack by the North Vietnamese. For some two hours the ships fired on radar targets and maneuvered vigorously amid electronic and visual reports of foes. It is highly unlikely that any North Vietnamese forces were actually in the area during this gunfight. Captain John J. Herrick even admitted that it was nothing more than an "overeager sonarman" who "was hearing his ship's own propeller beat."
Although information obtained well after the fact indicates that there was actually no North Vietnamese attack that night, U.S. authorities and all of the crew at the time said they were convinced at the time that an attack had taken place. As a result, planes from the carriers Ticonderoga and Constellation were sent to hit North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases and fuel facilities (Operation Pierce Arrow).
Differing views of the Incident
There are differing views about whether the August 2 incident was provoked by the U.S. One view is that the actions of the Maddox were provocative to the North Vietnamese because they coincided with the covert South Vietnamese raids. The destroyer's presence also may have been mistaken by the North Vietnamese as a sign that it was also involved in the raids.
Others, such as U.S. Admiral Grant Sharp, Commander in Chief of the Pacific at the time, maintained that U.S. actions did not provoke the confirmed August 2 attack. He claims that North Vietnamese radar tracked the Maddox along the coast, thus being aware that the destroyer had not actually attacked North Vietnam. Yet they ordered their PT boats to engage it anyway. He also notes that orders given to the Maddox to stay eight miles from the North Vietnamese coast put the ship inside international waters, as North Vietnam claimed only five nautical miles as their ocean territory. In addition, many nations had previously carried out similar missions all over the world, and the USS John R. Craig had earlier conducted an intelligence-gathering mission in similar circumstances without incident. [5]
