I would have gone with the Gulf of Tonkin incident [1], in which it was later revealed that MACV-SOG had inserted a covert operations team (which was captured)

I would have gone with the Gulf of Tonkin incident [1], in which it was later revealed that MACV-SOG had inserted a covert operations team (which was captured) and paid for an airstrike the night before North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked. Congress was naturally not told of any of this before they passed the resolution that arguably led to the escalation of the war under Johnson. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident#Background https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident#Back...