What difference does it make now?  We were bound and determined to get involved big time in the 'Nam.  Nothing was going to stop us.  It is like debating if FDR knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor before or not.

If it was fake, then ALL the crewmembers of the destroyer that was attacked were in on it.  Hell, these days, everything is a conspiracy!

Don't take this the wrong way, I am not flaming, but that makes no sense.  You know what the article says, but that doesn't mean you know what happened.  A writer of an article can say anything he wants without any real proof or knowledge.  Everyone here knows that based on the BS articles we read all the time from anti-gunners.

Oops, my bad.

Don't tease me like that!

If it was just one torpedo, or if they fired on us any other way, that's good enough for me.

I've read accounts that vary, too.  Just because somebody with a book or article for sale has an axe to grind, doesn't mean they have checked their 'facts' thoroughly.  The only people that know for sure are the people that were there, and even they may have seen varying pieces of the picture, or --guess what -- their viewpoints may have been influenced by their politics over the war.

Remember, it was the cold war, and at the time there was the "domino theory" where it was believed that if we let one country fall under communism, the whole region would become Russian satellites.

If you can find a library with a collection of Vietnam magazine, you should find somme more information.  Especially the book reviews, which have in some instances been sympathetic to some pretty hostile and poorly written books, even though in general the tone of the magazine is supportive of the men who fought there.

Very old news.

IIRC, anti-war groups started claiming it was a fabricated event in the late 1960’s (maybe earlier).

The most likely explanation seems to be that the destroyers were genuinely under the impression they were being attacked based on radar and/or sonar reports and did take evasive action.  However, I don’t think any actual contact was made.