| Author | Message | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:43 am Post subject: 40 Years Later...Still No Justice For The USS Liberty |
| 40 Years Later...Still No Justice For The USS Liberty
By Dave Gibson (06/09/07)
On June 8, 1967, the surveillance ship USS Liberty was on duty in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula, when it was attacked by Israeli forces. Though the ship was clearly marked Israel claimed the act of war to simply be a case of "mistaken identity." Despite the loss of 34 American sailors, there has never been a meaningful investigation into the attack.
On the morning of June 8, many Liberty sailors were enjoying some down time sunbathing on the deck, and began watching Israeli planes make over-flights of the ship. The crew counted a total of 13 such flights which were so low that they could see the faces of the Israeli pilots and even exchanged waves.
At 2:00 pm Israeli jets began hitting the Liberty with rocket and cannon fire, the decks were then napalmed, and the ship was then hit with a torpedo from an Israeli attack boat. By the time the attack had ended, the Liberty had sustained over 800 rocket and cannon hits, 34 sailors were dead and 172 injured, even the Liberty's life boats had been shredded by Israeli machine gun fire (a war crime).
Such a dastardly and obviously deliberate attack should have brought down the full wrath of the U.S. military upon the murderous attackers. However, not only were there no retaliatory strikes ordered but the Johnson administration would not even allow nearby U.S. Navy forces to come to Liberty's aid and stop the attack.
Once the Liberty could establish radio contact, they hailed the Sixth Fleet for assistance. Twice F-4 Phantoms were launched from the USS Saratoga and the USS America and both times Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the planes to return. After the second recall, Rear Adm. William Geis called the Pentagon. During that phone call, President Johnson himself came on the line and ordered the planes to return.
Years ago, Cdr. David Lewis (USS Liberty survivor) states that Adm. Geis told him in confidence that President Johnson said: "I do not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, we will not embarrass an ally."
The Israelis claimed it was a case of "mistaken identity."
Following the attack, a U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry into the incident convened. Though the amount of evidence was immense and there were several dozen interviews to conduct, the Court of Inquiry was given only a week to complete their work. The Court was not even allowed to consider sworn declarations from more than 60 still-hospitalized Liberty sailors.
Chief Legal Counsel to the Board of Inquiry Capt. Ward Boston and president of the Court Adm. Isaac C. Kidd felt it necessary to travel to Israel and interview those who had taken part in the attack. They were rebuffed in that effort by Adm. John S. McCain Jr., then serving as Commander-in-Chief, Naval Forces Europe. Adm. McCain would not allow the two any contact with the Israelis.
In a sworn affidavit, Capt. Ward Boston (ret.) made the following statements concurring the cover-up of the USS Liberty attack:
"I know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary."
Admiral Kidd told me, after returning from Washington D.C. that he had been ordered to sit down with two civilians from either the White House or the Defense Department, and rewrite portions of the court's findings."
Admiral Kidd also told me that he had been ordered to 'put the lid' on everything having to do with the attack on USS Liberty. We were never to speak of it and we were to caution everyone else involved that they could never speak of it again."
"I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement as I know that the Court of Inquiry transcript that has been released to the public is not the same one that I certified and sent off to Washington."
"Finally, the testimony of Lt. Painter concerning the deliberate machine gunning of the life rafts by the Israeli torpedo boat crews, which I distinctly recall being given at the Court of Inquiry and included in the original transcript is now missing and has been excised."
Capt. Boston dictated these statements in affidavit form in early 2004, and it has been widely distributed and can readily be viewed via the internet.
In 2003, an independent committee comprised of retired high-ranking military officers and a former U.S. Ambassador to the Middle-East formed to examine the attack on the Liberty and the subsequent cover-up. On October 22, 2003, the group came to Capitol Hill to release their findings and ask Congress for an official investigation.
Member of that independent committee and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Thomas Moorer made the following statement:
"Congress has never investigate the recall by the White House of U.S. Navy aircraft sent to rescue the Liberty while the ship was still under attack. The White House cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty is the most disgraceful thing I have witnessed in my entire military career."
"Why would our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? Does it continue to do so? This is an important issue that should be investigated by an independent Commission of Inquiry, the findings have grave implications for our national security and for the American people. In order to confront this problem, the American people and our elected officials will need to overcome their fear of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States."
Despite these bombshell revelations delivered by highly respected senior military officers, Congress continues to ignore the facts of the Liberty attack as well as the pleas for an investigation.
What is Congress afraid of?...Could it be the fact that AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lines the pockets of many of our Senators and Congressmen? The Center for Responsive Politics reports that between the years of 1990-2004, pro-Israel groups gave $56.8 million in campaign contributions to U.S. politicians.
On this the 40th anniversary of the criminal attack on the USS Liberty, please take a moment to remember those killed and injured in the attack and also take the time to contact your Congressman and Senators and demand an official investigation into this tragedy.
To the USS Liberty survivors and the families of those lost...You have not been forgotten by your fellow Americans and we will continue to fight and demand justice for the Liberty!
Article URL: http://americandaily.com/article/19156
Copyright ©2007 AmericanDaily.Com | |  | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:46 am Post subject: GOOD: Remembering the USS Liberty: Four Decades Later |
| Remembering the USS Liberty: Four Decades Later
William Hughes
“Anybody who couldn’t identify the [USS] Liberty could not tell the difference between the White House and the Washington Monument!” - The late Admiral Thomas Moorer
Arlington, VA - On a beautiful, but very humid morning, Friday, June 8, 2007, I joined about two hundred others at the National Cemetery, located here, on the south side of the Potomac River, opposite Washington, D.C. My invitation card read: “No Greater Love: The 40th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony: Honoring the 34 Americans killed on the USS Liberty.” (1) The proceedings began at 12 noon sharp, with a prayer given by U.S. Navy chaplain, Rev. Ray Houk. There was a presentation of colors, tributes, a roll call of remembrance, a wreath-laying ceremony, musical selections and the playing of taps. One of the keynote speakers was Stan White, the former Senior Chief Petty Officer on the Liberty (AGTR-5) on the fateful day in question. By the time he got done making his very touching remarks, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd.
Background: On a clear afternoon, June 8, 1967, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombarded the Liberty, in international waters, 13 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, and tried to sink it and kill all 294 American on board the spy ship. They did so after several hours of close reconnaissance of the vessel. The Israelis have falsely claimed it was all just a “accident,” since they thought they were attacking an Egyptian vessel. This is the same phony “accident” line that they used after they ran over Peace and Justice activist Rachel Corrie, in Rafah, Occupied Gaza, with a 9-ton bulldozer. Few, if anyone buys their utter nonsense.
After the one hour ceremony, I rode with Lt. James Marquis Ennes, Jr. over to the luncheon sponsored by the USS Liberty Veterans Association, at the Officers Club, at Fort Myer, VA. It was only a short car ride away. Mrs. Pat-Blue Roushakes, whose husband, Allen M. Blue, was killed on the Liberty, was the driver. Mr. Blue was a civilian technician. He died, along with 24 crew members, when the first, ultra-deadly, Israeli torpedo struck the vessel. Lt. Ennes was also serving on the Liberty the day of the Israelis’ malicious strike. He was on the bridge of the vessel. His book, “Assault on the Liberty,” is a compelling eyewitness account of what really happened on June 8, 1967. It is in its 12th printing. I asked him after lunch, how he had felt during the ceremony earlier that morning: He answered: “The thoughts that always come back to me time and time again is that this ‘thing’ is still being covered-up after forty years. We know without doubt from the circumstances that it was a ‘deliberate’ attack. Anyone who looks carefully at the details knows that it was ‘deliberate’ and that includes such people as Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State, and all of the heads of all of the Intelligence organizations. But, the word that gets out is that we that we are still told...falsely...that there were 15 investigations...That claim is...absolutely totally false.”
Thanks to Peter Hounam’s expose, “Operation Cyanide,” more light has recently been shed on the Liberty controversy. The author, a veteran investigative reporter, believes the murderous Israeli attack was a set up to blame the Egyptians and to bring the U.S. into the 1967 Six Day War on their side. The Liberty was an easy target for the Israeli jet planes, which were loaded with rockets, napalm and machine guns, too. Couple that with the repeated attacks on the vessel by their death-dealing motor torpedo boats. The bloodbath, a War Crime, by any fair standard, lasted for over 75 lethal minutes, killing 34 brave Americans and seriously wounding 174 others. (2)
Question: Why didn’t the U.S. retaliate against the Israelis? According to Hounam, the White House knew within minutes of the Liberty attack, that the perpetrator was really Israel (p. 94). On two separate occasions, the White House recalled aircraft rescue missions for the Liberty. On the last attempt, President Lyndon B. Johnson told Rear-Admiral Lawrence Geis of the Sixth Fleet, “I WILL NOT EMBARRASS OUR ALLY.” The Liberty was then left “dead in the water,” without any assistance for over 16 hours. (3) At pp. 267-268, Hounam said: “Sinking the Liberty and blaming Egypt and the Soviets would have freed Johnson’s hand to do almost anything--even to drop an atomic bomb on Cairo. Trouble only arose when the Israel operation failed and the...ship stayed afloat.” From the beginning, a cover-up of what really happened to the Liberty was put in place at the highest level of government. One of the men who is alleged to have played a role in that cover-up was none other than the father of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)--the late Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. (4) Sen. McCain, like others in the mostly cowardly U.S. Congress, has refused to champion a full and public Congressional inquiry into the Liberty affair.
Hounam also disclosed some inside stuff on the “303 Committee.” It was working on a project called, “Frontlet 615.” It was later described as: “A secret political agreement in 1966, by which Israel and the U.S. had vowed to destroy [Egypt’s Gamal Abdel] Nasser.” The military name for the operation was, “Operation Cyanide.” At the time all of this was going down, LBJ’s popularity was hitting rock bottom because of the quagmire that was the Vietnam War. One of his closet advisors was a Zionist zealot, Walter W. Rostow, his then-Special Assistant for National Security Affairs. Here is how Hounam described the Neocon-like Rostow: “A sinister, Svengali-like figure, or simply the biggest and best fixer? He was crucial in determining [for LBJ] which way the U.S. might respond to the threatened hostilities in the Middle East...Rostow was a hawk who believed in...the Vietnam War and... his Zionism was strongly felt and expressed...(He) had daily contact with the President.” Shades of Paul Wolfowitz and other Neocons, who helped to drive the U.S. into the Iraqi War. (5)
For the sake of speculation, just imagine this scenario: The U.S. President on June 8, 1967 was a patriot in the tradition of “Old Hickory,” Andrew Jackson. Instead of recalling our aircraft that were on their way to rescue the Liberty, he (or she) orders them to continue on their mission, not only to defend the vessel and to stop the massacre, but to retaliate against the Zionist thugs by bombing their naval base at the port of Ashdod, their military headquarters at Tel Aviv and Haifa, and for good measure, dropping a few MX missiles on Dimona, their then-secret Nuke-making facility, located in the Negev desert. If, only?
One Liberty veteran, who asked me not to use his name in my story, told me he was below deck on the day of the mass killings by the Israelis. He said: “When it was announced [on the intercom] to ‘stand ready to receive a torpedo,’ I chalked myself off. My whole life quickly passed before me. I thought for sure I was going to die. When the torpedo did hit, I thought it was going to sink the ship, it listed so badly.” He added, after pausing, “I loved that ship!”
Getting back to Lt. Ennes. He was the first member of the crew to spot the Israeli planes. He wrote at p. 60: “I pointed to a single delta-wing Mirage jet about 45 degrees above the water, paralleling our course in that pattern that had become routine.” Lt. Ennes, at p. 62, then recalled his injuries as a result of being hit by the first Israeli air strike: “My khaki uniform was bright red now from the two dozen rocket fragments buried in my flesh. My left leg broken above the knee, hung from my hip like a great beanbag. The taste of blood was strong in my mouth as I tested my good leg. Was I badly hurt?” Suffice to say, Lt. Ennes did recover from his physical injuries. But, there are other kinds of wounds, that one never recovers from, but can only live with. Knowing that your government abandoned you in your time of desperate need is surely one such severe psyche wound. What LBJ did to the men of the Liberty is a stain on our Republic!
Finally, as to whether the U.S. Congress will ever do anything to bring justice to the cause of the Liberty, Lt. Ennes answered: “I don’t really see that happening. But, we can’t stop asking for it.”
Notes:
1. ussliberty.org
One of the 34 murdered victims on the USS Liberty was Petty Officer William B. Allenbaugh, a native of my home town, Baltimore, MD, and also a graduate of Calvert Hall H.S., my alma mater. Petty Officer Allenbaugh left behind a wife and two very young children: a daughter, Patricia; and a son William. I was pleased to meet his son, William B. Allenbaugh, Jr., and his family at the ceremony. His poem about his hero dad can be found here:
http://www.ussliberty.org/allenb.htm
2. http://webzoom.freewebs.com/gidusko/Lva_press_release.pdf and http://www.freewebs.com/gidusko/report.htm
Keep in mind, that Israel has also been charged with War Crimes by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their outrageous conduct in 2006, in Occupied Gaza and the West Bank, and in Lebanon, too. The result: Nothing! It’s like the state of Israel is completely immune to the Laws on the Planet Earth! See:
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/13767/index.php3. Check out an excellent documentary, “Dead in the Water,” on the USS Liberty, by the BBC. It’s available on DVD, at: http://members.aol.com/gidusko/flyer.gif
4. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/July2004/Hughes0712.htm
5. http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/snieg_oilwar.htm#1
© William Hughes 2007. | | | | Philadelphian | | | | Cowboy | | Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject: |
| | fake American Jefferson Davis wrote: | | Remembering the USS Liberty: Four Decades Later |
Why do you continue to refuse to make a clear, definitive statement that USS Liberty crewmembers did not lie under oath? | | | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:56 pm Post subject: |
| Dos you support Israel over America? Yes.
Do you oppose a honest open congressional investigation by the crew that says there is a cover-up. Yes.
Nobody care what you claim you are or what you say.
You're a confirmed liar and avowed Liberty apologist in the interests of Israel above all else.
That much is certain Mr. AIPAC. | | | | Cowboy | | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:46 am Post subject: |
| Why do you continue to refuse to clearly and precisely state that the crewmembers of the USS Liberty did not lie under oath at the US Navy Court of Inquiry???
I have made such a statement. You refuse and continue to evade. | | | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:53 am Post subject: |
| Do you support Israel over America? Yes.
Do you oppose a honest open congressional investigation by the crew that says there is a cover-up. Yes.
Nobody cares what you claim you are or what you say.
You're a confirmed liar and avowed Liberty apologist in the interests of Israel above all else.
That much is certain Mr. AIPAC.
Avoid and divert as per usual Cowboy. | | | | Cowboy | | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:59 am Post subject: |
| Why do you continue to refuse to clearly and precisely state that the crewmembers of the USS Liberty did not lie under oath at the US Navy Court of Inquiry???
I have made such a statement. You refuse and continue to evade. | | | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:02 am Post subject: |
| You'd take pride in firing the torpedo at the USS Liberty from the Israeli Navy MTB so suspect is your "loyalty".
Why are you against the Liberty crew's request for a first time honest open investigation? Why are you posting here? You're a fraud.
Avoid and divert. You fool no one. | | | | Cowboy | | Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject: |
| | Quote: | | You'd take pride in firing the torpedo at the USS Liberty from the Israeli Navy MTB so suspect is your "loyalty". |
Absolute bullshit from our fake American JD.
| Quote: | | Why are you against the Liberty crew's request for a first time honest open investigation? |
There have been many US investigations.
| Quote: | | Why are you posting here? You're a fraud. |
So says the fake American who doesn't care in the least when Islamists kill Americans.
| Jefferson Davis wrote: | | No, I'm not a citizen under your fascist statist "Amerika" and damn proud of it.... | | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
