| Author | Message | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:42 am Post subject: USS Liberty affair resurfaces WI pol pursues probe of attack |
| '67 spy ship affair resurfaces: State pol pursued probe of attack
Madidon (WI) Capitol Times
Anita Weier — 10/04/2007 9:56 am
State Rep. Marlin Schneider has been raving for years to his fellow legislators about an attack on the unprotected American spy ship USS Liberty in 1967 by Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats that killed 34 and injured 171.
The Wisconsin Rapids Democrat has repeatedly tried to get a resolution through the Assembly asking Congress for an investigation of the attack. But Israel says the attack was a case of mistaken identity during the Six-Day War against several Arab states, and Schneider has been met with boredom and occasional sneers from his colleagues. Some say the Wisconsin Legislature has no business considering an international matter.
This week, however, the Chicago Tribune published a comprehensive report that included reviewing now-unclassified documents and interviewing people who were on the ship and nearby in the Mediterranean at the time.
The men still living who were on the ship during the attack want a full-fledged investigation. The Tribune account presents some evidence to support their contention that the Israelis knew what they were attacking and that the nearby 6th Fleet first sent out planes to intercept the Israelis and then called them back.
Some contend that Israel feared the U.S. spy ship might intercept plans to widen the war, or that the attack might draw the United States into the war if the U.S. thought Arab forces had hit the ship.
Israel apologized and paid reparations to survivors and family members of the dead and made a payment to the U.S. government for the loss of the ship.
Schneider became interested in the matter in 1998, when he got an e-mail from an Oshkosh man asking whether the federal government could be petitioned about an investigation of the attack.
"I thought it was a no-brainer, an attack on an American ship in which a young sailor from Fond du Lac, Duane Margraaf, was killed," Schneider said.
"But someone warned me that this would be viewed as an assault on the nation state of Israel. As soon as you say something about it, the Jewish lobby crawls all over you, and they call you an anti-Semite."
His resolution went nowhere, and the Assembly decided not to petition the federal government about anything, after which Schneider's fruitless resolutions asked other states to petition Congress for an investigation.
The men who served on the Liberty believe that the attack was deliberately carried out by the Israelis.
"I talked to some of the guys who were on the ship who said that Israeli planes flew over for hours on a sunny day when the American flag was clearly displayed and even tipped their wings," Schneider said.
"But all the sudden they launched a violent attack. A distress signal was sent to the Sixth Fleet, which sent planes to intercept the planes attacking, but Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara literally called the planes back. They were not allowed to defend the ship."
Despite the Tribune investigation, Schneider doesn't think that Congress will do anything about the matter.
Anita Weier — 10/04/2007 9:56 am | |  | | DanielDives | | Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:16 am Post subject: |
| Hi JD,
Q: Despite the Tribune investigation, Schneider doesn't think that Congress will do anything about the matter.
R: I got tar and feathers. You got a piece of rail lying around in yer backyard? | | | | Jefferson Davis | | Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:51 pm Post subject: |
| We need lots and lots of rope.
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