Special Reports & Tweets - 20120314_SpecialReport_Alex
Aired: 2012-03-14
Duration: 01:44


=== Staged Attacks and War Escalation (01:44) ===

[00:00:00]  In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence staged terror attacks to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh.
[00:00:10]  Mossadegh had nationalized Iran's oil fields and denied British petroleum a monopoly.
[00:00:17]  U.S.
[00:00:17]  British intelligence operatives launched a successful coup d'etat and overthrew the Iranian
[00:00:22]  government replacing the regime with a ruthless dictatorship while seizing control of Iran's
[00:00:29]  oil supply.
[00:00:33]  U.S.
[00:00:34]  warships were apparently attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats, an incident that kicked off the U.S.
[00:00:40]  involvement in the Vietnam War.
[00:00:42]  The attack was a staged event that never actually took place.
[00:00:47]  What followed was an excuse by President Lyndon Johnson to dramatically expand the scale of the Vietnam War, ultimately at the cost of 3 or 4 million dead Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans.
[00:01:02]  June 8, 1967.
[00:01:03]  The USS Liberty, an American naval vessel sailing off the coast of Gaza, was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of Israel.
[00:01:15]  The well-coordinated attack, which lasted for hours, resulted in the deaths of 34 crewmen, 170 injured, and catastrophic damage to the ship.
[00:01:25]  One of the most highly decorated vessels in U.S.
[00:01:28]  history.
[00:01:29]  Egypt was to be blamed for the attack, to serve as a pretext to drag the U.S.
[00:01:34]  and her allies into war in the Middle East.
[00:01:37]  If not for the heroic efforts of the ship's captain and his brave crew, the Liberty would have faced almost certain destruction.