| Author | Message | | Lekh teda | | Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2003 2:19 pm Post subject: |
| | "Becoz"?.....is that what they teach in schools? Very bizzare!!! | |  | | dangerousdna | | Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 6:18 pm Post subject: |
| http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/opinion/news_mz1e22muzher.html
Best way to honor the Liberty is with an investigation
By Sherri Muzher
Muzher is an attorney and free-lance writer who focuses on Middle East
affairs.
May 22, 2003
When the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln pulled into its San Diego port recently, the military servicemen and servicewomen were greeted by hundreds of proud and enthusiastic well-wishers. Supporting our troops has never been more important.
And nobody can attest to this more than the survivors of the Liberty, an American intelligence ship that was attacked by the armed forces of Israel on June 8, 1967, during the Middle East Six Day War.
Thirty-four young American men gave their lives defending the Liberty against a sustained Israeli air and sea attack. The Liberty was attacked for 75 minutes in international waters by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats. Besides the 34 men who died, 171 others were wounded.
Surprisingly, there has never been a complete and comprehensive public congressional investigation, though it is considered the only naval incident of its kind in American history.
"What we are seeking is to have that recognition removed from us and to have us treated exactly the same as every other U.S. military unit which has been similarly attacked," said Joe Meadors, one of two signalmen aboard the Liberty.
"I do have hope that we will get our chance to testify before Congress," John Hrankowski, a fireman for the carrier, agreed. "There are too many people coming out from that era and now telling what really happened that June 8th day."
Israel still insists that it mistook the Liberty for the out-of-service Egyptian supply vessel El Quseir. After all, the Liberty and El Quseir both had a single smokestack in mid-ship. But that's where the similarity ends.
The Liberty was not only significantly larger than El Quseir, but Jim Ennes, who was officer-of-the-deck at the time, said both the deckhouse arrangement and profile were different. The court of inquiry even noted that "if Liberty could be mistaken for El Quseir, then any coastal freighter in the world was in danger," Ennes said.
The Liberty also displayed a bright, clean American flag. That flag is on display at the National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Md.
The argument of "friendly fire" has been given. But survivors say this reasoning doesn't wash because the attack occurred on a clear afternoon, after 13 reconnaissance overflights were made. Israeli intelligence even admitted, prior to the outbreak, of knowing "the exact location of all opposition forces and equipment military and civilian."
One should also consider Israeli air force intelligence Gen. Yeshuah Bareket's comments during a Thames Television documentary concerning the Liberty attack: "The ship is an obstacle or is disturbing our operations in the area."
In addition to the subsequent attack by planes, torpedo boats and helicopters, the Israelis also bombed the Liberty with napalm and shells. Reportedly, 821 rocket and machine-gun holes were later counted in the Liberty's hull.
Could it still have been a "tragic case of misidentification," as Israel insists? Or was the attack launched to prevent the U.S. from finding out about the killing of Egyptian POWs nearby? A congressional investigation might finally shed light on this.
Ennes, also author of the 1980 best-selling "Assault on the Liberty," clearly hopes for a congressional inquiry, though he is clearly disappointed with Congress. Israel persuaded "the U.S. Congress to accept their version of the attack without even considering the eyewitness accounts of survivors," Ennes said. "That is a first in U.S. history."
The other first came when Liberty Captain William McGonagle became the only living recipient to have received his Medal of Honor for valor by an official other than our president.
So why hasn't there been an honest and open congressional investigation?
Some Israelis insist that there have been five such investigations. Indeed, three senators and two House members each assigned a staff person to inquire into the circumstances. But a legislator assigning a staff person to look into the details is not the same as Congress conducting a full-fledged investigation.
"Our leaders have learned to take care of the troops since then and I give them a lot of credit for not sticking with the old adage that 'The troops are expendable,'" Hrankowski reflected after the Lincoln homecoming.
One way to prove that the lives of those who suffered during the harrowing attack on the Liberty are not expendable is to give them a hearing. At a time when support for U.S. troops is at its pinnacle, it's the least that Congress could do.
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. | | | | dangerousdna | | Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 6:24 pm Post subject: |
| Are you trying to get an argument out of me Lekh teda?
B-E-C-O-Z if u r then yer way-sting yer tiime. | | | | Lekh teda | | Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:17 pm Post subject: |
| Me....try to start an argument? Well, sometimes..but not this time  | | | | dangerousdna | | Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:49 am Post subject: |
| http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Frontlines/default.htm
Remembering
our fallen heroes:
Spotlight: June 8th, 1967
USS LIBERTY
by Laura Dawn Lewis
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance in the United States, the one day a year we set aside to honor all of the soldiers and others whom have given their lives in support of our country. The solemnity of the day is often lost on bar-b-ques and weekend chores; I recall in a poll done several years ago by one of the networks that only 53% of Americans realized why we celebrate Memorial Day, fifty-three percent? As a nation we never have been ardent students of history.Today Americans are high on a victory. We invaded Iraq and overthrew the government and we're feeling pretty good about ourselves. Our wars fit neatly into our limited attention spans, fulfilling an addiction for real, reality TV.
How commercialized our wars have become became painfully obvious to me while visiting my parents. I was shocked to hear them say, Come, let's go watch the war. Disgusted I commented that the invasion wasn't for entertainment purposes, but at times I wonder. The orchestration was a little too neat. TOP
On June 8th, 1967 the USS Liberty, an Intelligence ship in the Mediterranean was deliberately attacked to minimize information gathering of the illegal invasion by our closest ally of its neighbor. Thirty-four American sailors died and 172 were wounded. Fighter pilots of the attacking forces were instructed to "shoot out the lifeboats" and leave no survivors or witnesses. Against all odds, the crew hobbled out of danger and returned to a government that has henceforth tried to cover-up this event.This is the story of the brave sailors of the USS Liberty....and a memoriam of those whom died for their country that fateful day.
USS LIBERTY OFFICIAL WEB SITE
In Memory of our Servicemen Who Gave Their Lives on the USS Liberty
US Navy unless otherwise specifiedClick links for bio and photo when available
LCDR Philip McCutcheon Armstrong, Jr
LT James Cecil Pierce
LTStephen Spencer Toth
CT3
William Bernard Allenbaugh
SN Gary Ray Blanchard
CT2 Allen Merle Blue USNR-R
QM3 Francis Brown
CT2 Ronnie Jordon Campbell
CT2 Jerry Leroy Converse
CT2 Robert Burton Eisenberg
CT2 Jerry Lee Goss USNR
CT1 Curtis Alan Graves
CTSN Lawrence Paul Hayden
CT1 Warren Edward Hersey
CT3 Alan (NMN) Higgins
SN Carl Lewis Hoar
CT2 Richard Walter Keene, Jr
CTSN James Lee Lenau
CTC Raymond Eugene Linn
CT1 James Mahlon Lupton
Rather than focus on our current reality, this Memorial Day I'd like to take you back in time to the genesis of today's hostilities and a group of American sailors whom against the odds navigated their nearly destroyed ship out of International waters to the dismay of the attackers and to the embarrassment of our own Defense Department.
Why Robert McNamara chose to sacrifice these soldiers and why the cover-up continues is a mystery.
The Beginning
The story of the USS Liberty, an intelligence ship serving off the Sinai Peninsula in June of 1967 begins June 6th. This was the day the Israeli army defied international law and invaded the West Bank and Gaza strip, stripping the Palestinians of their land, water rights and ability to provide for their families. Off shore in international waters sat a listening post and intelligence gathering ship called the USS Liberty.
Records of this invasion needed to be quelled and stopped. Illegal operations with proof of atrocities cannot be dismissed or spun. For the Israeli military, the USS Liberty presented a problem. The US is an ally, yet the information this ship was gathering could be used against Israel.
It could prove their intent and would not allow them to use the security threat story for the invasion and occupation. The story would stand as long as proof to the contrary did not exist. The proof must be destroyed.
Orders were given to the Israeli Air Force and Navy to sink the USS Liberty. Of special note was the order to shoot out the lifeboats, a detail not known until the pilot transcripts were released in 1991.
Survivors would be witnesses and this was not acceptable. The Israeli military commenced deliberately attacking the ship of an ally, our ship in peacetime.
Had it been any other country, the US would have considered this attack a declaration of war. For years following the attack on the USS Liberty, the Israeli Military attempted to spin the story as an accident of mistaken identity, claiming they had mistaken the ship for a freighter.
In 1991, the transcripts from the pilots were released clearly showing the aviators first questioning and then incredulous to the fact they were attacking an ally before reconfirming and carrying out the orders. They saw the American flag on the USS Liberty. This was communicated several times before the pilots began firing on the ship and the orders stood. Sink the Liberty. TOP
The Cover-up
The US Military under McNamara's guidance, rather than rush aid to one of our own ships in distress and under attack, held back. The sailors were abandoned and on their own. Yet through shear luck and perseverance, the ship managed to hobble to a safe port with 172 wounded and 34 dead sailors, resembling Swiss cheese from the torpedo, napalm, missile and mortar hits.
Even when General Matityahu Peled of the Israeli army stated to Ha'aretz daily in 1972 that, "The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which was born and developed after the war." The charade continued.This public statement proved the attack of 1967 known as the Six Day War and the subsequent occupation, were of conquest not protection.
Still the US government continued to squash the USS Liberty incident and hush the members of its crew. For our government it was and is more important to protect the reputation of a foreign invading army in direct violation of International law and every safeguard of human rights, than to uphold the reputation and dignity of our own soldiers and sailors. Personally, I have a problem with that. TOP
The crew of the USS Liberty had the misfortune of being attacked by the only country to which US public opinion grants full immunity and to which US foreign policy and media turn a blind eye.
Had the unprovoked attack been made by Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia or even Russia at the time, the USS Liberty would have become a rallying cry and every American would know the story.
Had it been any other aggressor, the heroic and extraordinary efforts of Captain William Loren McGonagle, and his crew would have graced a dozen movies and countless books. Instead, for 36 years nearly every attempt has been made to squash it.
Conclusion
Since that fateful day in 1967, the survivors and the families of the slain sailors have wanted nothing more than recognition for the experience and an end to the imposed gag orders. Captain William Loren McGonagle received the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty during the attack.
The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest award our country can bestow. To avoid embarrassing our attackers, Captain McGonagle's Medal of Honor was presented in a quiet ceremony in the Washington Navy Yard instead of in the White House by the President as is customary.
The legacy of the USS Liberty is one of heroism that is long over due. This Memorial Day, honor the men and their families. Take a moment to remember the crew of the USS Liberty. They've waited a long time for the people of the United States to remember and thank them. The best gift we can give the families from this point forward is to never forget them or the truth of their situation.
Now hear their story. Jim Ennes was an officer on the bridge when the attack started has graciously allowed Couples Company to republish an excerpt from his book, Assault on the Liberty: The True Story of Israel's attack on an American Intelligence Ship. On the following pages you'll find Chapter Six covering the attack. | | | | dangerousdna | | Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 9:09 pm Post subject: |
| http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_852.shtml
A matter of Liberty - The Day Israel Attacked America
By Eric Ture Muhammad
Staff Writer
Updated Jun 27, 2003, 7:00 am
After 36 years, survivors of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty still seek a fair hearing
(FinalCall.com)--An anniversary of a terrible American tragedy passes every year, mostly without notice. That won't continue much longer, however, if some of the survivors have their way.
USS Liberty Photo: Jime Ennes/USS Liberty Memorial
Now in their 50s, 60s and 70s, survivors of the June 8, 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, a United States Navy intelligence ship, want more attention and closure brought to the incident. The ship was attacked off the coast of Gaza by the Israeli military. It was the fourth day of the Six Day War, also known as the Arab-Israeli War, fought to secure the state of Israel in Palestine.
The day ended with the murder of 34 American sailors and the wounding of 172 others. To date, the not-so-friendly fire reflects the largest peace-time casualty toll for any noncombatant U.S. naval vessel.
The United States was an ally of Israel then and is now. Yet, Israeli jets and gunboats, on a sunny afternoon, fired cannons, launched torpedoes and shot bullets for 75 minutes, according to published reports, leaving observers astonished that the assault on a practically unarmed vessel did not sink her to the bottom of the sea.
Thirty-six years later, survivors are still calling for congressional hearings regarding this tragedy, although Israel has apologized, the U.S. government has accepted, and some financial compensation has been paid.
Investigators search the remains of the USS Liberty. Israel claims they mistook the ship for the out-of-service Egyptian horse carrier El-Quseir. The USS Liberty was more than forty feet longer, laced with satellite dishes, antennas and seven-foot tall stencils of the Ship's name on its sides. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed the attack was a case of mistaken identity. Photo: Jime Ennes/USS Liberty Memorial
The Liberty's Seaman Signalman Joe Meadors is one who doesn't believe Israel's excuse, that the U.S. vessel was mistaken for an Egyptian ship.
"Are you trying to tell me that Israeli intelligence is so inept that they couldn't tell the difference?" asked Mr. Meadors. The then-20-year-old, now 56, was on his second tour of duty with the Liberty at the time and recalled for The Final Call from his Corpus Christi, Texas home what happened on that fateful afternoon.
"We had just secured our gear from a General Quarters drill, when one of the officers watching the surface-search radar noticed some high speed blips coming within our radar range very low. We knew by the height they were aircrafts, so we ran up to the signal bridge to watch what we thought would be just another routine circling of the ship. We saw these aircrafts circle us all the time," Mr. Meadors explained.
"We saw some jets come up on our starboard side just a mile or two out, then they got just ahead of us, then suddenly peeled off to the left and started firing on us," he said.
Mr. Meadors suffered shrapnel injury and said the psychological impact will stay with him for life. He received $200 in compensation for his injuries.
He told The Final Call that what might be needed to move the issue forward is the impaneling of a federal grand jury, because of the strong Jewish lobby and the complicity of congressional members and U.S. senior officials, past and present, in its cover-up.
"A war crime has been committed and there is no statute of limitation on murder. If we can get a federal prosecutor who is willing to convene a grand jury to investigate, that might be the way to go," he said.
"Nearly as bizarre as the attack itself, was the reaction of the American government to the incident," said author and intelligence expert James Bamford.
He penned "Body of Secrets," a history on the National Security Agency (NSA), and offers an analysis of the early afternoon attack in his book. He concluded that the assault on the Liberty was not an accident, but deliberate.
"A virtually unarmed American naval ship in international waters was shot at, strafed with rockets, torpedoed, set on fire, then left to sink as crazed gunners shot up the life rafts. The foreign nation then says, sorry about that and offers an explanation so outrageous that it is insulting, and the American government accepts it, sweeps the whole affair under a rug, then classifies as top secret nearly all details concerning it," he said. A total of 821 shell holes were counted in the ship's superstructure and hull.
Mr. Bamford, until recently, served as Washington, D.C., investigative producer for ABC's "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" and in the past has written investigative cover stories for New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, and Los Angeles Times Magazine. He speculated with The Final Call in an earlier interview, that the ship attack was because of its ability to intercept messages and the possibility of the vessel's discovery of the butchering and slaughter of civilians and prisoners bound by the hundreds by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), just 12 or so miles away.
"A fact that the entire Israeli army leadership knew about and condoned, according to the army's own historian," he said.
The Egyptian ship El-Quseir
Israel claimed that it was the inability to identify the vessel as belonging to the U.S. and confusing it with an Egyptian war ship that led to the deadly assault.
The six-day battle ended June 10, 1967. It was the third war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. A ceasefire was reached on June 9 by the UN Security Council and Israel was provided with the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez canal.
With the establishment of a Jewish state came the defeat of the combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, but today the war for existence in the region still persists.
For more than three decades, crewmen of the Liberty have waged a campaign for an investigation. According to critics, both governments have performed extensive damage control to keep the tragedy out of the public's eye. Each side of the debate has as many supporters as the other and thousands of letters over the years have been written to congressional leaders.
Jim Ennes was a young 34-year-old lieutenant on the bridge of the vessel when the attack began. He was the first struck in the onslaught and remained hospitalized for more than a year with a fracture and shrapnel throughout his body. Now 70 and residing in Woodinville, Washington, Mr. Ennes's recollection of events, as well as his sentiment over the attack and America's response to its servicemen have not been tempered.
"If they (Israel) had compensated for the deaths and injuries and then said, Yes, we did this on purpose and this was a terrible thing to do, that's one thing. But, to pay us off and continue to lie about it and get half the (U.S.) government to lie with them, there is no excuse for that," Mr. Ennes said.
The U.S. government received $6 million in compensation for the $40 million vessel. The servicemen or their families received anywhere from $50 to $300,000 for death or injury, with some receiving full disability benefits. Some believe that should be the end of inquiries into what happened.
"The survivors of the USS Liberty are still struggling with the fact that their story has never been heard," former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia A. McKinney said last year on the House floor of the U.S. Congress. As one of her last acts, upon the anniversary of the attack in June 2002, Ms. McKinney pleaded the case for survivors demanding an investigation.
"This unprovoked attack took place in international waters, and by a trusted ally. The only explanation given to the survivors and their families as to why this attack took place was that it was an accident and that their ship was not identified as being American, regardless of the fact that our flag was proudly flown throughout the attack.
"Unfortunately, that explanation is not good enough for those whose lives have been impacted by this attack, and it should not be good enough for the American people. É We owe them more than a debt of gratitude for their sacrifice; we owe them the truth," she appealed. [Ms. McKinney faced fierce opposition from Jewish lobbies who financed her successful opposition in last November's election.]
In a call to the State Department, The Final Call was referred to the department's web site. One of the postings quote the Secretary of Defense responding to a question of whether there would be a congressional inquiry into the incident.
"I guess the short answer is, I doubt it," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "My recollection of it is that there's no question, but that a weapon that came from an Israeli platform did, in fact, do the damage on that American vessel. How it happened, I simply do not know."
As of late, an impressive number of former American officials have gone on record insisting that the Israeli action was, in fact, deliberate. These include Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) at the time of the Liberty incident. He has labeled the episode a "cover-up," adding that he "cannot accept the claim by the Israelis that this was a case of mistaken identity."
Paul C. Warnke, then under-secretary of the Navy, has expressed his discontent, as well as former Secretary of State Dean Rusk and David G. Nes, who at the time served as deputy head of the American mission in Cairo, Egypt.
George C. Ball, then under-secretary of State, called the U.S. response to the assault an "elaborate charade. É American leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of its citizens," he said.
"They're getting older and they are either retired or retiring and don't want to go to their Maker with this lie on their conscience. I'm waiting on Robert MacNamara (former U.S. defense secretary) to be on his deathbed and give a confession," Mr. Meadors said regarding why these people were now coming forward.
"We thought it was pretty conclusive before, but now we have almost every senior official of the National Security Agency saying, You're right, and that really helps our case," Mr. Ennes said.
An honest investigation?
Many inquiries have occurred over the years, including a full Israeli court of inquiry. However, none found any proof that Israel knowingly attacked an American ship. They found that evidence produced by these investigations only cement Israel's claim of innocence and regret.
"After 10 official U.S. investigations (including five congressional investigations), there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a U.S. ship. There is substantial evidence the attack was a tragic mistake caused by blunders of both the U.S. and Israel. Eight U.S. presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush (Jr.)have each accepted the conclusion that the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity," commented Federal Judge and retired U.S. Naval Reserve Captain A. Jay Cristol, author of, "The Liberty Incident: The 1967 Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship."
Based on his doctoral thesis, the book relies on declassified documents and more than 500 interviews with U.S. and Israeli political and military leaders involved in the incident. They include former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, Admiral Isaac Kidd and former Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was the IDF chief of staff at the time.
The book has been roundly condemned by Liberty crewman survivors as a largely Israeli-sourced treatise, in which the author concludes that the majority of the survivors have a political axe to grind in Washington.
When asked by The Final Call whether he thought the case would ever receive a congressional forum, Mr. Ennes conceded that the possibility of that was grim.
"I don't think it will go anywhere, because the Congress is too connected to the Israeli lobby to let anything happen. The only place where we will ever be heard and gain support is in the public," he said.
(For information on the survivors of the USS Liberty, visit http://www.ussliberty.com/.)
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