| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:02 am Post subject: USS LIBERTY MASSACRE: ISRAEL'S DIRECT ATTACK ON AMERICA |
| [This email sent to survivors, families and friends of the
Liberty.]
[Not shown in this email is side-by-side cover photos of
two books, Ennes' and cristol's, and captioned:
'"Assault on the Liberty," by James Ennes, Jr., and "The
Liberty Incident," by A. Jay Cristol, have fanned the
flames of debate over the incident which marks its 35th
anniversary this year.' / JEG]
-----------------------------------------------------
From O'Dwyer's PR Services Report,
The Monthly Magazine for PR Professionals
Vol. 16, No. 12 www.odwyerpr.com December 2002
(Courtesy of John Concannon, Jack O'Dwyer)
ATTACK ON USS LIBERTY DEBATED
"The Liberty Incident," by A. Jay Cristol, federal judge
and former naval aviator, contends that the 1967 attack by
Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats on the USS Liberty off
the coast of the Sinai Peninsula was a "tragic mistake"
caused by numerous factors including miscommunication by
both sides.
A furious debate has ensued since the book was published
in June by Brassey's Military. C-Span devoted a half-hour
to the controversy Aug. 22 and the History Channel has also
covered it. WOR Radio in New York aired a program on Aug.
28.
Adding to the focus on the incident is the fact that this
year is its 35th anniversary.
The book (www.thelibertyincident.com) is a counterpart to
"Body of Secrets" (Anchor Books) authored last year by intel-
ligence specialist James Bamford, who said he had new evidence
that Israeli pilots knew they were attacking a U.S. ship.
He wrote that a U.S. intelligence aircraft, flying overhead,
electronically recorded the attack including comments by the
Israeli airmen.
Each side labels the other "absurd" in a debate that has
grown increasingly heated.
One reviewer said that Judge Cristol, who serves in the
southern district of Florida, examined "ten official U.S.
investigations" of the incident that indicate the attack was
the result of a series of blunders by both the U.S. and Israel.
He noted that seven presidents (Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter,
Reagan, Bush and Clinton) accepted that conclusion.
Another reviewer of the Cristol book said the attack took
place during a chaotic operational environment that included the
start of the 1967 war between Israel and several of its neigh-
bors.
Eric Margolis of the TORONTO SUN, in an article found via
www.thehistorychannel.com, theorized that the Liberty learned
Israel was planning a "Pearl Harbor-style attack" on the air
forces of three Arab neighbors that had yet to make any mili-
tary moves against it. This "contradicted" Israel's claim of
being attacked, he said. Israel had long wanted to annex the
West Bank, Jerusalem, Golan and Sinai, he wrote.
BOMBERS ATTACKED AT 2 p.m.
Israeli fighter-bombers attacked the ship at 2 p.m. on June
8 with rockets, napalm and cannon, according to www.liberty.com,
which has numerous materials on the incident.
Torpedo boats attacked 24 minutes later, shelling the Liberty
and sending five torpedoes into it.
The crew abandoned the ship at 3:15. The Israeli warships
then raked the life rafts with machine-gun fire, says the site.
Fighters from a U.S. Sixth Fleet carried nearby were ordered
to the scene but the order was cancelled by the White House, it
claims.
The attack, which lasted about two hours, killed 34 seamen
and wounded 137 others in the crew of 297.
President Johnson initially went on TV and said ten sailors
had been killed in a "six minute accidental" attack.
Disputing Israeli claims that the pilots mistook the Liberty
for an Egyptian horse carrier, "El Quseir," the website contends
the Quseir was one-fourth the size of the Liberty and in any
case had been out of service for years.
The site says Israeli planes checked out the Liberty for hours
during the morning and could easily see a large American flag.
Furthermore, it says, the ship was "festooned" with antennae,
satellite dishes and other electronic gear and had markings in
ten-foot high letters identifying it as a U.S. ship.
The torpedo boats came to within 50 feet of the Liberty, saw
the U.S. sailors, the markings and the flag, said survivors, and
still continued the attack.
President Johnson accepted an apology from Israel that labeled
the incident a "tragic error." Secretary of State Dean Rusk and
Joint Chiefs of Staff head Admiral Thomas Moorer called the
attack deliberate.
The Liberty website contends there has "never been a congress-
ional investigation" of the incident.
Numerous materials on the USS Liberty are also available via
www.google.com.
------------
PHILLIP TOURNEY'S ORIGINAL LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT FROM THE
WASHINGTON TIMES OF JUNE 6, 2002, A FULL-PAGE ADVERTISEMENT
ON PAGE 11:
U.S.S. LIBERTY VETERANS ASSOCIATION
June 1, 2002
President George W. Bush, Commander in Chief,
White House, Washington D.C.
Dear Mr. President,
Saturday, June 8, 2002 marks the 35th anniversary of probably
the most shameful day in American history. That day America's
banner and honor was treacherously trashed by our so-called
ally, Israel. Thirty-four Americans were brutally slaughtered,
172 wounded, including myself, and America's most sophisticated
intelligence ship was so badly damaged it had to be scrapped.
Israel deliberately attacked America's virtually unarmed USS
LIBERTY in international waters, knowing full well our identity,
in an assault that lasted as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Above is French-built Nord 2501 Noratlas, the type of plane
that circled the Liberty at low level about every half hour from
6 a.m. to noon on June 8, 1967. The Liberty was attacked at 2
p.m. Israeli documents show the ship was identified as the
Liberty at 7 a.m. at Israel naval h.q. at Haifi and a "wedge"
put on a large "plotting table" to show its location. Jane's
Fighting Ships was used to identify the ship, say the Israel
documents.
On that bright, sunny infamous day, the LIBERTY had a large
American flag flapping in the wind and 10' high I.D. markings
on her hull which were clearly visible during the full six
hours (6:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon) that low flying, slow moving,
propeller recons distinctly marked with Star of Davids
reconnoitered our ship. Overheard radio transmission of the
pilots confirmed that the Israel had positively identified the
LIBERTY as American.
Suddenly at 2:00 p.m., the government of Israel put a knife
in the back of America. In a diabolic attempt at deception, the
Israelis began the attack with unmarked jet fighters using
rockets, cannons, and napalm on our unprotected ship. Then three
motor torpedo boats arrived on the scene and fired 6 torpedoes
at us, one hitting its mark, midship's on the starboard side,
instantly blowing to bits 25 of America's finest young men.
The torpedo gunmen shot at our firefighters and stretcher bear-
ers, using us as target practice, maiming and murdering as many
of America's sons as they could.
The captain ordered us to prepare to abandon ship as the ship
was in grave danger of sinking from a torpedo hit that left a
40' x 40' hole in her. There were only 3 life rafts left that
they hadn't already destroyed. We put them over the side to
put as many wounded in as possible. The torpedo boats machine
gunned the life rafts and sank two of them and took one aboard
their boat -- no survivors were to be taken! Helicopters were
overhead to board our ship with Israeli commandos at the ready
to finish us off.
Responding to a S.O.S. from the LIBERTY, the USS SARATOGA
launched their jets approximately 15 minutes into the vicious
Israeli attack. Within minutes after the launch, incredibly
and inexplicably, Washington shamefully and unconscionably
recalled the jets, abandoning helpless American sailors under
fire, and subjecting them to an additional two hours of barbaric
Israeli bombardment and butchery.
Fortuitously when the Israelis picked up an invalid message
that U.S. help was on the way, Israeli reluctantly was forced
to terminate its ongoing assault. Without that break, I would
not be alive writing this letter.
Ironically help did not arrive until 18 hours after the
attack when it was only 15 minutes away. When an American
rescue ship finally arrived, what they found was shocking, the
LIBERTY was in shambles, death on the water. There were 821
rocket and cannon holes in her hull, thousands of 50 caliber
armor piercing bullets riddling her skin, a tunnel size
torpedo cavity in her broad side, and the residue of napalm
that had been dropped to burn us up. Blood and body parts
were strewn across the deck. A sad, outrageous story, but
unfortunately true.
The crew of the most decorated naval ship in American
history was ordered to remain silent under threat of court
martial, imprisonment or worse, and we all knew what worst
meant. The U.S. government has never challenged the obviously
phony Israeli excuse of "mistaken identity" nor have they
attempted to expose the dishonorable cover up that continues
to date. Truth and America's honor were ignominiously sacri-
ficed to provide cover for Israel's transparent lies and
despicable act of perfidy.
Israel's premeditated, sneak attack on the USS LIBERTY was
a direct attack on America. The disgraceful refusal of
unpatriotic American governmental officials of dubious
allegiance to defend America and come to the aid of brave
Americans under attack can only be characterized as treasonous.
Mr. President, on behalf of the courageous crew of the USS
LIBERTY, dead and alive, I respectfully request that you
commission a presidential panel to finally investigate the
attack and cover-up of the USS LIBERTY, and report the truth
to American people.
Thank you, Mr. President. God bless you! God bless America!
Respectfully,
Phillip F. Tourney,
President USS LIBERTY
Veterans Association
--------
PHILLIP TOURNEY, A SURVIVING MEMBER OF THE USS LIBERTY CREW WROTE
PRESIDENT BUSH ASKING THAT HE SUPPORT HIS SHIPMATE'S 35-YEAR-OLD
CRY FROM CONGRESS TO INVESTIGATE "THE ISRAELI ASSAULT ON LIBERTY,"
(IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS) ON JUNE 8, 1967. THE PRESIDENT HANDED
MR. TOURNEY'S LETTER TO MR. CHRISTOPHER J. ROUIN, DIRECTOR, WHITE
HOUSE LIAISON OFFICE FOR DISPOSITION. MR. ROUIN'S RESPONSE FOLLOWS
HERE:
Dear Mr. Tourney;
Thank you for your letter to President George W. Bush concerning
USS LIBERTY. I am answering on behalf of the President.
I can certainly understand your motivation in writing. The
People of the United States will forever remain in debt to those
crewmen of USS LIBERTY who sacrificed their lives in the service of
their country. In reference to your letter, the main question posed
to the investagative team was whether the attack by the Israeli armed
forces on USS LIBERTY was deliberate. The Navy convened a court of
inquiry immediately after the event to review this question and
address other concerns. Much of the hearings and testimonies were
classified as they dealt with the nature of the Navy's electronics
and communications technology. Large postions of this report have
subsequently been declassified.
Israel accepted responsibility for the attack and made a public
apology for the incident. Additionally, as you already know, the
Government of Israel paid reparations for the death and injuries
suffered by your shipmates on LIBERTY and for the damage to the ship
caused by this tragic and unfortunate incident.
The results of the investigations, and the conciliatory actions
of the Government of Israel, were considered satisfactory to
Administration and Defense officials. At this time, there is no
precedent to reinvestigate this case and no plans have been made to do
so. Please be assured that we have taken measures to prevent an
incident of this tragic nature for occurring in the future.
Again, thank you for writing to the President.
Sincerely,
(sig)
CHRISTOPHER J. ROUIN
Director, White House Liaison Office
Office of the Secretary of the Navy
_______________________________________________________________
o__ I'll tell you the truth about the USS LIBERTY, visit
_.>/)_
(_) \(_) http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/ | |  | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:07 am Post subject: Liberty incident - Israel could've been nuked |
| This is an email received by me and forwarded to the
Liberty survivors, families and friends. / JEG]
----------------------------------------------------
USS LIBERTY FRIENDS
P.O.Box 373164, Satellite Beach,Fl 32937,
7 Janunary 2003
Dear John,
I have enclosed the Pravda news story regarding the 6 day war. I
believe you will find of particular interest the paragraphs
dealing with the Russian translation of the book "History of the
Mossad" (I cannot find that in the USA but do have a copy) by
Joseph Daichman and the subject of the Soviet Submarine K172 and
its Captain's orders to nuke Israel if the USA enter the
war. Strange, if the USA entered the war. Was that operation
Cyanide or Frontlet 615?
The BBC Documentary, "USS Liberty Dead in the Water" gives five
reasons for a new call for a congressional investigation into
the attack. Especially today as a result of pending current
events.
1) Incontrovertibility, the evidence of the crew and others
involved in the incident lay bare the fact that the attacking
Israeli forces knew their target was an American vessel.
Sadly, the US Administration went to great lengths concealing
evidence and improperly influencing the findings of the naval
court of inquiry.
2) Robert McNamara, the secretary of Defense at this time,
maintains he knows little and has taken no time to find out,
he maintains that an investigation took place. If so he would
have been called and would have known the answers to the
questions asked.
3) Minutes of the 303 Committee meeting which discussed a
project, code named, "Frontlet 615" will confirm that there was a
clandestine operation connected to the attack on the USS
Liberty. Richard Helms, CIA Director at the time, confirms that
the purpose of the 303 committee was to review clandestine
operations and to give cover to the president in case of
failure. The reasons for the 303 committees involvement in
Frontlet 615 will help explain what the administration was so
anxious to conceal.
4) A senior officer of the Israeli Mossad at the time of the six
day war confirms that there was also an operation "Cyanide",
which he can not answer questions about because of "signature"
and loyalty to my country. The film shows the level of convert
involvement of the Johnson administration in the six day
war. Something that hitherto has not been admitted. It illustrates
the fact the Liberty had on board orders for "Operation
Cyanide." What were those orders?
5 )The Mossad has one non-Israeli named in its hall of
honors: CIA operations chief, James Jesus Angleton. Americans need
to know why he was so highly regarded by the Israeli intelligence
community. Americans need to know. Americans need to consider
another Mossad mole, who?
A forthcoming book named "Operation Cyanide" by Peter Hounam,the
researcher on the film, will further elaborate on Frontlet
615, 303 committee and Operation Cyanide. The surviving crewmen
of the USS Liberty, along with the American citizen, deserve
answers to "Why." We need your help and that of your friends to
right this wrong and alert Americans to losing their land.
USS Liberty Friends
---------
(The following excerpts from an interview between a PRAVDA.RU
journalist and Captain Nikolay Cherkashin are taken from the web
page at:
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/09/14/36639_.html
Captain Charkashin has been investigating the circumstances
surrounding the 1967 USS Liberty tragedy during the past
several years. What is more, a book by Nikolay Cherkashin,
"Mysteries of Lost Warships," was recently published. This is
the result of his independent investigations of Russian
submarines from Empress Maria to the Kursk.)
----
Q. Well, let's go back to the attack on the Liberty. Could it
have been a tragic accident when the US ship was mistakenly
taken for an Egyptian cargo ship? Was it a deliberate attack?
Provocation? What do you think about it?
A. - Last year, a Russian translation of Joseph Daichman's
"History of the Mossad" was published in Moscow. The author
describes the tragedy in 1967 in detail. He admits that it was
perfectly clear that the Liberty was an American ship and that
the attack was committed to deprive the USA "of its eyes and
ears," of the opportunity to control the situation. Daichman
says the attackers had the right to act so. The Israelis feared
that the Liberty would report information about the course of
the war: they wanted to keep it a secret that troops had been
shifted to Syria and the Egyptian border wasn't protected at
all. The border was quite open for Egyptian soldiers to cross.
Israel knew that American radio signals were intercepted by the
Soviet Union, and the latter would certainly inform Egypt of the
fact. That is why the Liberty was to be sunk to avoid leakage of
important information. This is a very cynical version. I even
couldn't have thought that I would ever read it.
Q. Which version do you prefer?
A. - Both versions don't contradict each other. Both objects
could be pursued at once, and two birds could be killed with one
stone. Israel wanted to stop leakage of information and, at the
same time, established a precedent for US troops to fight
against Arabs. If the Americans landed, the Soviet troops would
also have done the same, and a great stir would have started
then.
The Soviet submarine K-172 under the command of Nikolay
Shashkov armed with missiles and nuclear warheads was at the
very same moment in the Bay of Sidre. The submarine received
instructions to surface and deliver a blow against the Israeli
coast if the Americans landed troops on Syrian shores. The
submarine had eight nuclear missiles on board. However, as we
know the Israeli coast means the whole state of Israel stretched
along the sea. Israel would have been completely destroyed if
such blows were delivered by the Soviet submarine. I wrote about
Nikolay Shashkov; the publication was called "The Man Who Was to
Destroy Israel." The publication produced a strong response from
society. I received inquiries from the Israeli Embassy, and many
journalists wanted just to see the man who was to liquidate the
Israeli state. The K-172 crew had to operate under emergency
conditions; the submariners nearly died of high concentration of
mercury vapor in its compartments. Several people were poisoned
with the vapor, suffered from hallucinations and giddiness, and
no explanation could be found to it. Can you imagine what
submariners suffering from hallucinations could have done with
nuclear warheads? They were to have been immediately sent to
hospitals. However, as the situation in the region was still
tense, the Soviet Navy commander-in-chief asked the submariners
if they would be able to stay in the area for several more
weeks, and the submariners agreed. Even when doctors were sent
to the submarine, they failed to find the cause of
hallucinations and giddiness. Nobody even guessed that was
mercury, and people spent two months in the compartments
poisoned with mercury vapors.
Sergey Stefanov
PRAVDA.Ru
Translated by Maria Gousseva | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:12 am Post subject: |
| From the December 30, 2002 edition of American Free Press:
---------------------------------------------------------
NEW BOOK CONTINUES LIBERTY COVER UP
Despite convincing, overwhelming evidence that the 1967
Israeli attack on the intelligence gathering vessel USS
LIBERTY was deliberate, there is a new effort to sell the
"mistaken identity" nonsense.
-------------
Exclusive to American Free Press
by Fred Lingel
-------------
There is a new but futile attempt to sell the idea of
"mistaken identity" in the Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY
in 1967. Fortunately it's a flop. The mountain of evidence
that the attack, which killed 32 Americans and injured 172,
was a deliberate attempt to sink the ship and kill everybody
aboard has been covered up by the mainstream media for 35
years.
A. Jay Cristol, a former Navy aviator and federal judge
in Southern Florida, is trying to pedal his book THE LIBERTY
INCIDENT, which tries to argue "mistaken identity" but nobody's
buying. No major publication has reviewed his book since it
was published six weeks ago. His lectures are met with ques-
tions, especially among military personnel, who doubt the
"mistaken identity" argument.
Cristol spent 18 years as an aviator and 20 in the Navy's
Judge Advocate General Corps. He retired as a captain in the
U.S. Navy Reserve.
Cristol argues that Israel thought the LIBERTY was an
Egyption freighter about one-fifth its size, based on silhou-
ettes.
Tito Howard, who produced a documentary, THE LIBERTY
ALLIANCE, got an angry reaction from Cristol when he pointed
out that the attack came on a clear day and silhouettes are
used only at night for identifying ships. (Intercepted Israeli
communications also corroborate the fact that Israel knew who
they were attacking that day.)
"You may know a lot about television but you no know nothing
about ships," Cristol said in avoiding a response.
"The Israeli lobby is scared to death about the LIBERTY
affair," Howard said. He pointed out when Cristol lectured on
his book at the Navy Yard in Washington on Dec. 17, six
officials from the Israeli embassy were there to suppport him.
Yet at least half the questions were from those who doubt
the "mistaken identity" theory and he was forced to acknow-
ledge the views of Adm. Thomas Moorer and other ranking mili-
tary officers.
Cristol had a similar experience the following day when he
took his show to the Mideast Institute in Washington.
The Israeli lobby fears that if Americans become aware
that the attack was deliberate and officials covered it up
they would be so enraged that blank-check aid to Israel would
end.
Such aid amounts to at least $10 billion a year, although
the mainstream media sets the figure at $5.5 billion.
---------------
For the truth on the USS Liberty, please access the following:
http://www.ussliberty.org
REMEMBER THE USS LIBERTY
This is in rememberance to our valiant American naval men who lost their precious lives in a brutal attack on the USS Liberty June 8,1967. Also, to the brave men who were wounded and kept the Liberty from sinking. Israel didn't expect such a formidable effort as our naval men showed them that day.
Israel Attack On USS Liberty
'No Accident' Says Helms
By Bryant Jordan Staff Writer
Marine Corps Times
From Navy Times
7-7-2
Thirty-five years after Israeli air and naval forces attacked a lightly armed U.S. Navy spy ship during the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, the CIA director at the time and the legal counsel to the Navy's court of inquiry say the attack was deliberate. "It was no accident," former CIA director Richard Helms said May 29, bucking that agency's June 13, 1967, report that indicated the incident could have been a mistake. Retired Navy legal counsel Capt. Ward Boston says he and the court's president, the late Rear Adm. Isaac "Ike" Kidd, always believed Israeli forces knowingly attacked the Liberty. "I feel the Israelis knew what they were doing. They knew they were shooting at a U.S. Navy ship," said Boston, who lives in Coronado, Calif. "That's the bottom line. I don't care how they tried to get out of it." The attack killed 34 men and wounded 172 others, and sparked a long-running controversy: Did Israel knowingly try to sink the American ship or did it believe the ship was an Egyptian vessel? Officially, the Navy exonerated Israel on June 18, 1967 - 10 days after the attack - when the Navy court of inquiry found that available evidence indicated the attack was a case of mistaken identity. THE COURT OF INQUIRY Boston said Kidd told him he believed the attack was deliberate and that the Israelis knew the ship was American. That flies in the face of the findings of Kidd's court, and also what the author of a new book on the Liberty says Kidd told him in interviews in the early 1990s. A. Jay Cristol, a federal judge in Florida and retired Navy aviator who also served in the service's Judge Advocate General's Corps, is the author of the upcoming "The Liberty Incident." "Kidd told me an entirely different story," said Cristol, whose new book is dedicated to Kidd, who died in 1999. Cristol said that during one interview with Kidd in December 1990, Kidd related that when he brought the court's report to then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. David Lamar McDonald, the CNO asked him, "Ike, was it intentional?" "Ike said, 'No, Admiral,'" Cristol recalled. But Boston remembers that when Kidd returned from Washington, he said officials were not interested in hearing the truth. "In military life, you accept the fact that if you're told to shut up, you shut up. We did what we were told," Boston said. He explained that he is willing to talk now because "everyone else is shooting their mouth off." Boston said he does not know whether his beliefs were shared by the other members of the court, Capts. Bert M. Atkinson Jr. and Bernard J. Lauff. Lauff could not be located for comment. Atkinson died in 1999. But Boston's statements do put him now in the camp of retired Adm. Merlin Staring, who as a captain and staff legal officer in London was initially told to review the court's report. Staring said June 3 that the report was taken from him before he finished his review, but based on what he had seen, the evidence did not support the contention that the attack was an accident. Staring concedes he still has not read the entire report. Staring, who went on to become the Navy's top JAG officer, is now part of a newly formed Liberty Alliance, which includes former CNO and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Thomas Moorer and two Marine Medal of Honor recipients, Gen. Ray Davis and Col. Mitchell Paige. The group wants a full congressional investigation into the attack and is lobbying military organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, hoping to garner support among their members, said Tito Howard, the group's executive director. SURVIVORS ALLEGE CONSPIRACY Many Liberty survivors and their supporters long have maintained that the attack was deliberate and that the Kidd report excluded testimony from crew members that would have shown that. Boston recalled that testimony was taken from crew members who said the Israelis fired on life rafts when they were put into the water. The court's report includes testimony indicating the shooting of the life rafts was incidental, occurring when the ship was strafed by Israeli jets. Some allege Israel wanted the spy ship sunk to ensure it did not pick up communications showing Israel was planning to seize the Golan Heights from Syria. Others say it was to prevent Liberty from intercepting communications dealing with an alleged Israeli massacre of Egyptian POWs in the Sinai. Some Liberty survivors and supporters claim the U.S. government covered up the incident to avoid a conflict with Israel that could have cost the Johnson administration support among Jewish voters and supporters. Subsequent administrations and Congresses have avoided a thorough airing of the incident for the same reasons, they say. But Cristol says there have been 10 U.S. investigations, ranging from the court of inquiry and the CIA's report to several conducted by House and Senate committees. Five drew no conclusions regarding Israel, according to a list compiled by Cristol, while others accepted that it was an accident. The most recent official look at the incident was in 1991, when the House Armed Services subcommittee on investigations found no evidence to support the Liberty survivors' claim that Israel attacked the ship deliberately. REPORTS AND RECOLLECTIONS The CIA's report, the earliest of those assembled, held open the possibility that the attack was a case of mistaken identity - the finding that the Kidd court went on to make five days later - though it did not present that as a conclusion. In the June 13, 1967, report, the CIA stated that "an overzealous pilot" could have mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, the El Quesir. Helms, the former CIA director, declined to discuss the incident at length. "I've done all I can. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in court" testifying about the incident, he said. Mike Weeks, a naval aviation writer and amateur historian who studied the official Navy communications that occurred during and after the attack and believes it was an accident, said there is more information on the Liberty still classified and believes the government should release all of it. "Just put it out there and see how it flows," he said. "The bottom line, all this stuff ought to be let loose, for heaven's sake." ___ Bryant Jordan is a staff writer for Marine Corps Times. Should Congress reopen the investigation into the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty? The Israelis claim the attack was a mistake; some veterans contend it was deliberate. As of 8:40 PDT Sunday, 67% say YES.
http://members.aol.com/w4lmk/sdari/
http://www.ussliberty.org
Body of Secrets
provides new Liberty revelations
http://www.ussliberty.org/margolis.txt
A report based on eyewitness accounts from the Israeli press
http://www.ussliberty.org/washrp96.txt
Liberty web sites by other USS Liberty crewmen
http://www.ussliberty.org/crewsite.htm
Memorials to our lost shipmates
http://www.ussliberty.org/memorial.txt
Awards and Medals
http://www.ussliberty.org/awards.htm
Annual Ceremony by No Greater Love
http://www.ussliberty.org/greater.htm
Did Israel commit one war crime to after another?
http://www.ussliberty.org/washrp96.txt
Statement by JCS Chairman Admiral Thomas H. Moorer
http://www.ussliberty.org/moorer3.txt
Charley Reese reviews new book about USS Liberty
http://www.ussliberty.org/reese.htm
New evidence on USS Liberty:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/10/31/new-evidence-on-uss-liberty.php
sc&start=20
US/UN Double Standard When It Comes to Israel
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/15/us-un-double-standard-when-it-comes-to-israel.php
War Without End :: View topic - VFW RESOLUTION DEMANDING ISRAELI USS LIBERTY INVESTIGATION:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/20/vfw-resolution-demanding-israeli-uss-liberty-investigation.php
AGTR-5
Sham Naval Court of Inquiry (into the USS Liberty Attack)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+_+_+
The Naval Court of Inquiry was a major event in 1967. And
Ward Boston was a major player in the Court. And now we find
out that the survivors were right, the court was a fraud and
a sham, with the outcome directed by the U.S. government.
I am puzzled why the media does not treat Ward Boston's words
for what they are worth! This is a huge story and should be
in every paper in the country. The USS Liberty attack was
covered up by the U.S. Government!
This is exactly how I feel as well.. Believe me as there definitely is some kind of conspiracy going on in the US media/press regarding the Liberty attack and ongoing cover-up because I contacted all the major press/media establishments (Washington Post, Fox News Channel, Associated Press, CNN, etc.) about that above referenced Navy Times article (with Captain Boston's comments conveying the cover-up), and not one has covered it to my info. We are talking about a 35 year cover-up and documents still clasified at the NSA which could potentially further reveal prrof of such... Look at what James Bamford (with his "Body of Secrets" book has already revealed by getting access to those NSA documents that he was able to get access to as there are others that are still classified (some 35 years later, but why as what are the Israeli and American governments stilling wanting to keep from getting out so many years later?).
AP Review of Cristol's Bogus Book ("The Liberty Incident"):
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A scorching review of A. Jay Cristol's "The Liberty Incident" was on the
Associated Press news wire August 2, 2002.
The review is reproduced below, but we do not know what newspapers actually printed it.
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Friday, August 2, 2002
`Liberty' attack still a mystery
By DAVID SMYTH
Associated Press
On June 8, 1967, Israeli warplanes and gunboats almost destroyed but did
not sink the USS Liberty.
Even after 35 years, it seems nothing can douse the smoldering dispute
about that attack on the nearly defenseless U.S. intelligence-gathering
vessel. In fact, The Liberty Incident, by A. Jay Cristol, will probably fan
the flames of controversy.
Thirty-four Americans were killed and 172 wounded in the attack. At 69
percent of the crew, it was one of the highest casualty rates ever suffered
by a U.S. Navy vessel.
The focus of the dispute is: Was the attack accidental or intentional?
Israel claimed its forces had mistaken the Liberty for an Egyptian
horse-transport a few miles off the Egyptian coast during the 1967
Arab-Israeli war, and apologized. The Johnson administration accepted the
apology and did not formally challenge the explanation.
However, knowledgeable contemporaries have long claimed the attack was
deliberate. They include, among others, former Secretary of State Dean
Rusk; former CIA Director Richard Helms; former National Security
Administration Director Marshall Carter; one-time presidential advisers
George Ball and Lucius Battle; the Liberty's captain, Cmdr. William
McGonagle; and surviving crew members.
More recently, Capt. Ward Boston, legal counsel to the 1967 naval court of
inquiry presided over by Rear Adm. Isaac Kidd, has spoken up. On June 26,
Boston told a Navy Times reporter he and Kidd believed the Israelis knew
they were attacking an American ship. The court itself, an internal naval
review, did not address the matter of Israeli responsibility.
Curiously, Cristol, whose book is devoted wholeheartedly to the "clear
conclusion" the attack was accidental, there being "no competent evidence
to the contrary," has dedicated his work to Kidd. And he says Kidd told him
he always believed the Israeli attack was accidental. Kidd died in 1999, so
the discrepancy with Boston's statement remains unresolved.
Lt. Cmdr. James Ennes, the Liberty's deck officer during the attack and
author of the book Assault on the Liberty, says Kidd repeatedly encouraged
him to challenge claims of an accident. Cristol apparently interviewed very
few Liberty crew members. He cites no interviews with a dozen who say the
Liberty's life rafts were machine-gunned by the Israeli gunboats, nor with
others who say the Liberty was overflown by an Israeli helicopter filled
with armed men.
Cristol says he was given liberal access to Israeli officials and records,
thanks to Israeli navy friends. He reports an Israeli reconnaissance plane
identified the Liberty as an American ship eight hours before the attack
and Lt. Cmdr. Uri Meretz then specifically identified it as the Liberty. A
marker representing the ship was placed on the plotting table in the war room.
Five hours later - three hours before the attack - the marker was removed,
and this, it is alleged, led to the mistaken assault.
Cristol dismisses various possible motives for an intentional Israeli
attack. One was Israel's need to prevent American foreknowledge of its
impending invasion of Syria's Golan Heights, a move opposed by U.S. policy.
Another was the desire to cover up a massacre of Egyptian prisoners at El
Arish, a few miles from the Liberty.
Members of the Liberty Veterans Association have long complained none of the U.S. investigations was ever convened to discover whether the attack was deliberate. They note that even the initial Navy Court of Inquiry took no testimony from the crew about possible Israeli culpability, leaving that issue to Congress and the State Department, which ignored the question.
John Borne, in an academic study of the Liberty incident, points out that
this is the only peacetime attack on a U.S. Navy vessel that did not have a formal congressional investigation.
According to the Navy Times, a number of U.S. naval officers are requesting a congressional inquiry. Until this demand is met, and until all secret U.S. government files are released, the Liberty question will probably remain unanswered.
John Borne's Excellent Web Site (about USS Liberty)
http://www.logogo.net/00liberty.htm
VFW RESOLUTION DEMANDING ISRAELI USS LIBERTY
INVESTIGATION:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/20/vfw-resolution-demanding-israeli-uss-liberty-investigation.php
US/UN Double Standard When It Comes to Israel:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/15/us-un-double-standard-when-it-comes-to-israel.php
Price of Support for Israel
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/12/17/the-price-of-israel.php
Passionate Attachment for Israel
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http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/12/24/passionate-attachment-to-israel.php
Coming War has Been Planned Years in Advance
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