“Our reprisal raids on North Vietnam hardly conformed to these standards. By our own account, in self-defense, we had already sunk three or four attacking torpedo boats in two incidents. In neither were our ships damaged nor any of our men hurt; indeed, one bullet imbedded in one destroyer hull is the only proof we have been able to muster that the second of the attacks even took place. To fly sixty-four bombing sorties in reprisal over four North Vietnamese bases and an oil depot, destroying or damaging twenty-five North Vietnamese PT boats, a major part of that tiny navy, was hardly punishment to fit the crime….”

NPR: Excerpt: The Best of I.F. Stone (5 September 2006)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

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I. F. Stone15

American investigative journalist and author 1907–1989

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I. F. Stone15

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