War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing, but making profits for morally challenged people who provoke them.
When discussing the origins of the Vietnam war, Lt. Commander Pat Peterson, U.S. Navy, said
“Unlike Captain Herrick, Stockdale had no doubt about what had happened: We were about to launch a war under false pretenses, in the face of the on-scene military commander's advice to the contrary...
…On 7 August, Congress, with near unanimity, approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which President Johnson signed into law three days later.
Requested by Johnson, the resolution authorized the chief executive to ‘take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.’ No approval or oversight of military force was required by Congress, essentially eliminating the system of checks and balances so fundamental to the U.S. Constitution.”
All true. And the Gulf of Tonkin story gets filed in the same drawer as the burning of the German Reichstag Building, which was also blamed on overt communist aggression. (Not that communism isn't overt aggression, but they didn't happen to actually do either of those historically monumental incidents.)
Thanks for a great post!
War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing, but making profits for morally challenged people who provoke them.
When discussing the origins of the Vietnam war, Lt. Commander Pat Peterson, U.S. Navy, said
“Unlike Captain Herrick, Stockdale had no doubt about what had happened: We were about to launch a war under false pretenses, in the face of the on-scene military commander's advice to the contrary...
…On 7 August, Congress, with near unanimity, approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which President Johnson signed into law three days later.
Requested by Johnson, the resolution authorized the chief executive to ‘take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.’ No approval or oversight of military force was required by Congress, essentially eliminating the system of checks and balances so fundamental to the U.S. Constitution.”
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/february/truth-about-tonkin
All true. And the Gulf of Tonkin story gets filed in the same drawer as the burning of the German Reichstag Building, which was also blamed on overt communist aggression. (Not that communism isn't overt aggression, but they didn't happen to actually do either of those historically monumental incidents.)