There seems to be an accepted roll-out schedule of truth-telling, timed so the facts that are finally revealed have lost their power to enrage us by the time they come to light.
The author of the report “demonstrates that not only is it not true, as (then US) secretary of defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of [the Gulf of Tonkin attack] was ‘unimpeachable,’ but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that ‘no attack happened that night.'”
The truth is still out there long before it’s confirmed, of course, in the form of rumors, isolated testimony and “conspiracy theory,” but these sources are systematically discredited (or eliminated) right up until the moment the confirming records are released.
At one time, the implications of this story would have sent hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens into the streets in protest. Today it will likely pass by as only a curious sidebar to all the other news of the day.
But there’s still value in what these old unsealed secrets can indicate about current events, and the stories constructed to promote military actions, create enemies and allies, manage elections, and define our future.
