This opinion piece is fine as a call to the intelligence community to avoid spin and telling their political masters what they want to hear, a proclivity that has been widely reported over the past couple of years. However, the piece is weak on reliable sourcing concerning both past and present conspiracies.

Given the target audience of the opinion writer, it's a well written piece providing an historical reference in urging the target audience to 'step up to the plate'. And given the further elaboration in the reporting regarding what actually happened and the existence of the 'Filipino Monkey', such exhortation is to be encouraged.

This story is a comical conspiracy theory. Yes, I'm sure Bush is dying to attack Iran. The evil war mongers are busy distorting intelligence so that they can attack. This is fantasy land. This guy needs a tinfoil hat. My theory is that the CIA is sending messages to a radio buried in his brain. The object is to discredit the left. This theory is more plausible than anything in his story.

The history of the Gulf of Tonkin and its applicability to the hula balu in the Strait of Hormuz are informative and instructive.

Very well resourced from someone who was in a place to know what was going on back then. A President wanted to get the country into war then and didn't mind lying, and we already know that Bush/Cheney want to broaden this aggression for many, many years and certainly didn't mind twisting and hiding the truth to get the gullible public to go along. Just ask McCain, he thinks it would be a good idea to keep it going for a hundred years!

It's amazing how this is being called "Gulf of Tonkin II" ... when the US Commanders on the scene did absolutely nothing but continue on their way. All actions were taken by the Iranians. No Iranian naval bases have been bombed in reprisal.