A Brief History of False-Flag Attacks

A false flag is an attack designed to pin blame on a party while disguising the real actor responsible for the operation. For decades, the U.S has employed false flag operations in foreign countries to galvanize public support for military adventurism. Whether it be in Cuba, Vietnam, Palestine, or in America itself, the U.S. imperial playbook has remained largely the same regardless of who is in charge.

Operation Northwoods, Cuba

Fidel Castro's control of Cuba spelled disaster for the U.S in the midst of the Cold War. The U.S. sought to overthrow Cuba's government for a couple of key reasons. First, Castro nationalized all U.S companies operating in Cuba, transferring ownership of sugar mills and oil refineries from the private sector to the public sector. Second, the adoption of socialist practices and rhetoric from a country ninety miles away from the U.S would send the wrong message during the Cold War. Altogether, the U.S needed to get rid of Castro's power in Cuba. In order to garner support, Operation Northwoods came across President Kennedy's desk. Declassified CIA documents reveal plans to "create an incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civil airliner." The U.S. operation to murder Cuban and U.S. citizens alike was fortunately rejected by President Kennedy. However, the plan was approved by Kennedy's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior-most military officials in the U.S. Additionally, a failed U.S. invasion of Cuba still occurred. To this day, the U.S. remains hostile to Cuba through economic sanctions.

Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam

No one knows who shot first. The U.S. entered the Vietnam War after the USS Maddox, stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin, was attacked by North Vietnamese boats. First, on August 2nd, then on August 4th. As declassified files from the NSA in the early 2000s prove, the U.S. greatly exaggerated the first attack while entirely fabricating the second one. The "attack" on August 4th was actually the result of poor equipment performance with faulty detection. Moreover, time logs were altered to make it appear as if attacks had occurred on the fourth. President Lyndon B. Johnson ran with the false narrative and utilized the Gulf of Tonkin incident to gain congressional approval for unilateral military action against Vietnam. As a result of the U.S. war, more than 3 million Vietnamese died with American casualties reaching 58,000.

Lavon Affair, Palestine

Israel has carried out many false flag operations to justify its occupation of Palestine. However, the Lavon affair is unique as its targets were U.S. institutions. The IDF had planted bombs in U.S civic buildings in Cairo, blaming attacks on the Egyptians. Fortunately, the Egyptian military prevented Israeli attacks. However, the attack's failure still led to a massive chain of events as Egypt sentenced two of the Egyptian Jewish agents who carried out the attacks to death. Consequently, Israel launched a military incursion into Gaza that killed 39 Egyptians. Even further, these tensions escalated directly into the Suez crisis as Egypt wrestled with Western powers.

As the U.S. continues to expand its military intervention across the globe, it is imperative to remember the false narratives the U.S. perpetuates to justify its illegal actions. Today, Venezuela appears to be the next victim of imperialist policy. As Venezuela holds the world's largest oil reserves, the U.S. motivation to cause conflict under the guise of "counter-narcotics" appears to be a lie. Just one month ago, Venezuelan authorities themselves claimed to have uncovered planned false flag operations by covert U.S. forces. As the USS Gravely occupies the coast of Venezuela, we must watch out for a possible false flag attack. Moreover, we must remain skeptical of the information the U.S. feeds us about Venezuela, just as the public remained skeptical of Cuba and Vietnam in the 20th century. False flag fabrications are too common in history. We have not uncovered all of them, but being aware of the strategy itself is important in order to spot the same patterns in modern-day conflicts.

— Samyak Duggirala