The As early as 1961, Commander Harry Felt, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Command, suggested that the CIA commence sea operations against North Vietnam. He felt that Hanoi was vulnerable to covert coastline operations and that small craft could be used to destroy power plants, bridges, and railroad lines along North Vietnam's coast. The CIA put Tucker Gougelmann in charge of setting up a small fleet in Danang harbor. The Pentagon provided him with PT-810 and PT-811 boats that were armed with 40mm and 20mm guns. The craft were renamed "Patrol Type Fast (PTF)-1" and "PTF-2." Two years later, two PTF-3 and PTF-4 boats were procured.

Two years before SOG was authorized to conduct covert activities in North Vietnam, the United States Navy was conducting covert intelligence operations off the coast China, the Soviet Union, and North Korea. The objective was to intercept communications from the mainland. In 1964 American destroyers were sent into the Tonkin Gulf and to conduct similar operations off the coast of North Vietnam.

In March 1962, Kennedy authorized the Navy to conduct espionage operations in the Tonkin Gulf. Code-named Operation DeSoto Its initial purpose was to collect information on China and North Vietnam. Two months after Johnson became president, he approved "34-A" operations in conducting raids off the North Vietnamese coast. Desoto's role was expanded to provide intelligence for 34-A operations which consisted of sabotaging bridges, roads, and railroads. In addition, some facilities on the North Vietnamese islands of Hon Me and Hon Ngu were shelled by Navy ships.

Johnson was getting deeper and deeper into Vietnam. On March 14, a Johnson adviser stressed the need "to take whatever measures are necessary in Southeast Asia to protect those who oppose the communists and to maintain our power and influence in the area, including whatever military steps may be necessary to halt communist aggression in the area."

Since 34-A operations were ineffective, the Pentagon planned an increase in Navy surveillance in the Tonkin Gulf for August. The purpose was to determine the amount of North Vietnamese coastal patrol activity along its coast. On July 30, four patrol boats headed northward from Danang to bomb enemy targets. When they reached a point just southeast of Hon Me in North Vietnam, they split into pairs and attacked artillery emplacements and military buildings. Two boats attacked Hon Me and the other two shelled Hon Nieu. They headed back southward, pursued by North Vietnamese gun boats.

On another occasion, the destroyer USS Maddox was operating in international waters in the Tonkin Gulf and passed by four North Vietnamese patrol boats. The following day, they attacked the Maddox which returned gunfire, sinking one boat and damaging the others. Johnson then ordered the USS Turner Joy to accompany the Maddox.

Several days later -- on August 4 -- the Maddox and Turner Joy reported that they were fired upon. Captain Herrick of the Maddox reported that enemy torpedoes were picked up on radar and sonar. Throughout the stormy night, the Maddox fired back. However, within two days Herrick realized that there was no enemy fire. He concluded that his ship's radar had picked up blips from electricity in the air and that the ship's sonar heard noises from their own propellers. The attack on the Maddox had never occurred. However, Johnson still went ahead and informed Congress and the American people that they had been attacked. This was an overt act of war. Days later Congress approved the Tonkin Resolution, giving Johnson unlimited power to carry out his own war. Within two years 550,000 American were assigned to Vietnam.

According to National Security Agency (NSA) secret documents declassified in October 2005, the agency falsified records so that they made it look as if North Vietnam had attacked American destroyers on August 4, 1964. That was two days after a previous clash. (Washington Post, November 2, 2005)

The ground invasion of Vietnam intensified immediately after the Tonkin resolution. In February 1965, the United States extended its strikes into North Vietnam, tripling its bombings. Between 1964 and 1965, 160,000 to 170,000 civilians were killed in South Vietnam. The United States secretly extended the war into Laos and Cambodia. By 1966, 161,000 tons had dropped on Vietnam and there were 30,000 civilian casualties, with 1,000 being killed or wounded per week.

Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind." - General William Westmoreland

Surprisingly, much of the reporting of the Vietnam War was uncensored. The media were allowed to travel to many areas and to report and photograph many incidents which since have been carefully monitored. Even a South Vietnamese colonel was caught on camera executing a South Vietnamese suspect in the streets of Saigon.