| Author | Message | | Alpha | |  | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: |
| Senator John 'Israel first and foremost' McCain and his admiral father have covered up the USS Liberty attack for decades:
Subject: Fwd: ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SECONDS FROM NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST-RE THE ISRAELI ATTACK ON THE U.S.S. LIBERTY
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:27:02 -0400
From: Zan Overall
I HAVE MET MR. TOURNEY. He IS a U.S.S. Liberty veteran. More Americans need to
know this history. Very few do. Go to U.S.S. Liberty Veterans Association. Spread the word.
Zan Overall.
-----Original Message-----
From: Fritz
Sent: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 4:27 pm
Subject: ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SECONDS FROM NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST
USS LIBERTY
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ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SECONDS FROM NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST
March 12, 2008
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
My fellow Americans, I sit here at 3:00 am with my heart racing and my hands shaking and I ask that you please take a moment to read my letter. I ask not that you read it for my sake, but rather for your own and for your children and grandchildren.
JUNE 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, we came as close to a nuclear war than anytime in history and it scares me to death as it should you. For the benefit of those who do not know what happened (the result of a deliberate campaign of cover-up and censorship by a Zionist-owned media in America) I will give you a quick history lesson. It all started on a beautiful bright, sunny day 40 years ago. Our ship, the USS LIBERTY, was sailing off the coast of Sinai, doing 5 knots. The LIBERTY was the most sophisticated intelligence gathering platform in the world at that time. We were in international waters gathering intelligence, plucking it from the air, which we had every right to do. We were doing what our government ordered us to do.
Early in the morning we began to see Israeli aircraft coming very close to our ship, some so close we could see the pilots waving at us. As we waved back we could clearly see the Star of David on the aircraft. This went on for many hours. Our flag was flying (as always) GTR-5 was painted on both sides of her bow and "USS LIBERTY" was clearly painted on her stern. There could be no mistake as to who we were. Israel knew we were American and we knew we had been identified as American and friendly as the Israelis themselves have since admitted. They plotted us on their war table and made positive ID of our ship as the LIBERTY. The crew all knew the war was still ongoing and we all took comfort in the fact that our Israeli "friends" had come to visit us. It made all of us feel safer, just in case one of the Arab combatants got spunky and came after us as we all knew Israel would be there to protect their American friends and allies.
We had been on station for approximately 7 to 8 hours. Suddenly, at 2:00 all hell broke loose. We were being attacked by jet aircraft. On their first pass they took out our 4 fifty-caliber machine guns, all of our antennae and our moon dish. Everything we had to communicate with was destroyed. They continued their air assault for about 30 minutes using rockets, canons and napalm which they dropped on the bridge to try and burn us alive. Fifteen minutes into their vicious attack Terry Halbadier got an antenna to work and we began broadcasting "under attack, under attack by unknown jet aircraft." The jets were unmarked, hiding the identity of our attackers. The USS SARATOGA, commanded by Captain Tully, sent aircraft to our aid only to have them recalled by voice from Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. Again, Captain Tully ordered rescue aircraft to come to our aid. Then, President Lyndon Johnson got on the phone and ordered the recall himself, saying "I don't give a God damn if every man on board that ship dies, I will not embarrass our ally, Israel."
Now, if we didn't know who was attacking us until much later into the attack how did the poll cat Johnson know it was the Israelis that were attacking us? The reason is simplewe were set up by our own government as pawns to let Israel have her way with us. Why else would our government recall the life-saving aircraft when we were still under attack?
When the jets got through with us they sent the torpedo boats, three of them. Then and only then did we become aware of who was attacking us. We could see their flags on their boats with the Star of David on them. We were horrified that our so-called "ally" was doing this to us. The word went out we were under attack by Israeli torpedo boats. This was picked up as far away as Vietnam and many other listening posts around the world. Still no help from our government. We were on our own.
The torpedo boats fired five torpedoes at us, one hitting its mark midships, instantly slaughtering 25 American sons. The torpedo boats kept up the attack, I guess, until they ran out of ammunition, shooting at our boilers, firefighters, stretcher bearers, anything that moved. The captain ordered us to prepare to abandon ship.
We put over 3 life rafts, all that remained that would float. We were going to put our most severely wounded men in them. The Israelis would have none of that and shot two of them out of the water and took one aboard their boat as a trophy.
The torpedo boats left and then came Israeli helicopters with armed troops, ready to board our ship and finish us off. They hovered over us like vultures ready for the kill and suddenly they left. We found out later that they left because they knew we had gotten messages out that it was Israel doing the murdering not any Arab state.
When all was said and done in this almost two hour attack, 34 men were murdered, 174 were wounded. There were over 821 canon and rocket holes in our ship. Thousands of 50 caliber armor piercing bullets riddled her skin and there was a 40 x 40 foot torpedo hole in her side. The LIBERTY was the most heavily damaged ship in modern history including WWII.
We did not receive any help from our government for 18 hours after the attack when help was only 15 - 20 minutes away. Why was our government willing to sacrifice 294 American sailors, marines and the finest intelligence ship in the world? That's what we all were wondering. A few days later, Admiral Isaac Kidd came aboard our ship and ordered every crewman never to speak a word about what happened to us to other crewmen, parents, family, no one under penalty of prison or worse and we all knew what worse meant.
We took the ship to Malta. The dead were removed from the torpedo space and the ship was repaired and painted to look brand new, as if nothing had ever happened.
I stayed silent for many years. I was so afraid to say anything as was the rest of the crew. In about 1983-1984 I read a book called "Assault on the Liberty" by James Ennes Jr., an intelligence officer onboard when we were attacked. I began asking questions of the navy, congress, anyone I could write to find out answers to a simple question - why our government went along with the cover-up as it is still doing today. The standard answer you get from congress is there have already been many investigations which is a bold face lie and I have told them that. All you have to do is check the congressional record and you will see there has never been any investigation except for the sham Board of Inquiry which was a white wash and only took 6 days to complete. Isaac Kidd signed off on it as did Captain Ward Boston, Admiral John McCain Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson all in a matter of 10 days. The conclusion? Mistaken identity!! Captain Boston has recanted what was in the Board of Inquiry as a pack of lies. He was ordered to sign off by none other than Admiral John McCain Jr., Senator McCain's father.
The fact is we were set up to sink fast, blame it on Egypt and bring the U.S. into the war. This was the deal made by our government and the Israeli Government. This government will not help us get the truth out. They are knee-deep in bed with the Israeli Lobby, AIPAC and every other Israeli interest out there. Our elected officials sold us out then and they are still selling us out now. Israel is committing war crimes on Americans and our government could care less. This country is not "We the Government" it is "We the People" and if we don't take our government back soon it is nobody's fault but our own.
What I found out later is our government was 120 seconds away from dropping nuclear bombs on Cairo, Egypt and they would have if the LIBERTY would have sunk. The LIBERTY staying afloat was an act of God. He kept us afloat to tell you the truth. If our government would have nuked Cairo you can bet the Soviet Union would have retaliated in kind on the American people. This was a pact with the devil with only the greater interest of Israel in mind.
My fellow Americans, look what is going on in the Middle East today. It all goes back to the Six Day War 40 years ago. We need you to email your representatives in Congress and demand an investigation into the attack on the LIBERTY. Remember, they work for us, we don't work for them. As futile as it may seem, we must at least TRY to take our country back from Israel before it is too late, if indeed it is not already.
Miracles have hinged on smaller odds than this. Look at what happened to us 40 years ago we should have been dead, sunk to the bottom of the sea and yet we stayed afloat, as I said, by the hand of God. It was a miracle. Remember, Israel didn't just attack the LIBERTY, she attacked America with our government's help, and remember, as the old saying goes, A leopard does not change its spots". What this gang of criminals has done once it will do again, and this time, chances are that we will not be as lucky as we were 40 years ago. Despite all the propaganda we hear, Israel is not our friend. No friend treats us as she has. She would just as soon slit our throats as look at us, and this is not a theory, it is a fact proven by history.
Phillip F. Tourney, Survivor June 8, 1967 | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:15 am Post subject: |
| Remember The USS Liberty?
Dave Gibson http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/53596
February 27, 2008
Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty. Most people have never heard of the U.S. Navy reconnaissance ship, nor the names of the 34 sailors who lost their lives in the attack. Most people would also be shocked to know that it was Israel that was responsible for the unprovoked act. While the governments of Israel as well as that of the United States have done their best to cover up the murder of our sailors, their story is one that must be heard.
On June 8, 1967 the USS Liberty was steaming along in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula. The ship was collecting intelligence on the actions of Israeli and Arab troops during the Six Day War. During the morning hours, the ship's crew observed marked Israeli aircraft making low-level flights over the ship. There were in fact, 13 over-flights by several Israeli planes including a lumbering Nord Noratlas ("flying boxcar"). The crew reported being able to see the faces of the Israeli pilots and even exchanging waves.
At 2:00pm, Israeli Mirage III jets began strafing the decks of Liberty with rocket and cannon fire. That action was followed by Mysteres dropping napalm onto her decks. The Israeli jets initially targeted the bridges, communication antennae, and the four .50 caliber machine gun mounts.
About 30 minutes after the planes ended their attack, three Israeli torpedo boats appeared. A total of five torpedoes were launched, with only one hitting. The torpedo struck Liberty just below the water line, leaving a
40 x 40 ft hole in her hull. The strike hit the intercept compartments, killing 25 men instantly. The torpedo boat crews continued to pound the ship with 20mm and 40mm cannon and machine gun fire.
Due to the constant gun bursts coming from the circling torpedo boats, fire control efforts were abandoned. Not only were the sailors being shot, but their firehouses were shot to ribbons and rendered useless.
The USS Liberty took well over 800 rocket and cannon hits. The decks of ship were napalmed twice, leaving all but three rubber life rafts destroyed. At one point, crewmen dropped the remaining rafts into the water, only to have them shot to pieces by Israeli machine gunners.
The attack lasted for two hours, left 34 sailors dead and 171 injured.
Because the ship's antennae were targeted and most destroyed, initial calls for help were impossible. While still under attack, radio crewmen were able to piece together their remaining equipment and contact the nearby Sixth Fleet. Two flights of F-4 Phantoms were launched from the USS Saratoga and USS America both times, Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara ordered the planes return to their ships. Rear Adm. William Geis claimed that he called the Pentagon to ask for confirmation of the second order from McNamara. Geis said that President Johnson came onto the phone line and himself ordered the wing returned.
According to Cdr. David Lewis (a USS Liberty survivor), Adm. Geis told him in private that President Johnson said: "I do not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, we will not embarrass an ally."
Israel claimed that they mistook the Liberty for the Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir. The El Quseir was only 275 feet long as compared to the 455 foot length of the Liberty. It was later learned that the El Quseir was actually in port at Alexandria for the duration of the Six Day War.
The USS Liberty was well marked and flew a large American flag atop her mast. In fact, the official Navy Board of Inquiry report contains the following statement: "The Navy inquiry confirms testimony of five members of the crew that they had personally observed the [American flag] was hoisted. Hull markings were clear and freshly painted."
Despite the official Israeli story of mistaken identity, two Israeli pilots radioed base and clearly identified the ship as American. They were ordered to attack the ship anyway, both refused. The pair was immediately arrested upon returning to base.
In 1982, one of the Israeli pilots named Evan Toni spoke extensively with Rep. Paul McCloskey (R-CA). He told McCloskey that this superiors told him to ignore the markings and U.S. flag. Former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter, confirmed the pilot's account. Porter told Robert Novak that he heard the exchange as radio transmissions were being monitored from the embassy.
Capt. Ward Boston USN (ret) served as the senior legal counsel to the U.S. Navy court of inquiry on the USS Liberty incident. In a sworn affidavit taken on Jan. 8, 2004, Capt. Boston said the following: "The evidence was clear. Both Adm. Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack...was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. It was our shared belief that the attack could not possibly have been an accident. I am certain that the Israeli pilots [and] their superiors were well aware that the ship was American."
In 1991, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Thomas Moorer told the Washington Post: "To suggest that they [the IDF] couldn't identify the ship is...ridiculous. Anybody who could not identify the Liberty could not tell the difference between the White House and the Washington Monument."
There are two prevailing theories as to why Israeli forces attacked the Liberty. One is that they would sink the ship and blame it on Egypt, thus prompting the U.S. to enter the war on the side of Israel. That theory is supported by Capt. Ward Boston. The other is that Israel did not want the U.S. to know about the unprovoked attacks their troops were carrying out. Shortly after the liberty was nearly destroyed, Israeli troops began attacking Syria.
In 1980, Sen. Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL) held a press conference at which time he announced his belief that the Israeli attack on the Liberty had not been a tragic accident but a deliberate act. In his last year in the U.S. Senate, Stevenson promised a formal investigation.
Shortly after Stevenson's announcement, the Israeli government contacted the Carter White House. They offered to settle the damage claims for an insulting $6 million. Vice-President Walter Mondale readily accepted the deal.
It was apparent to many people that the only reason Israel agreed to pay anything was due to Sen. Stevenson's interest in the case. Israel did pay the $6 million in three annual payments of $2 million. Of course, the payments meant nothing, as Congress simply increased the amount of aid given to Israel by $2 million each of those three years. The American taxpayers were actually billed for the damages inflicted upon their own sailors!
While motives are unclear, the fact that the Johnson and subsequent administrations covered up the attack is very clear. For his actions during the attack, USS Liberty's Capt. William McGonagle was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor at a Washington Navy Yard ceremony. On the very same day that Capt. McGonagle received the medal, President Johnson held a White House ceremony honoring other CMH awardees. McGonagle's citation does not mention that his ship came under attack from Israeli forces.
Much worse than crucial facts deleted from a medal citation is what is omitted from the tombstones of the 34 USS Liberty crewmen who lost their lives in an act of war. Their headstones simply read "Died in Eastern Mediterranean."
The names of the USS Liberty crewmen who were killed while under attack from Israeli forces on June 8, 1967 are as follows:
Lcdr. Phillip McCutcheon Armstrong Jr.
Lt. James Cecil Pierce
Lt. Stephen Spencer Toth
CT3 William Bernard Allenbaugh
SN Gary Ray Blanchard
CT2 Allen Merle Blue
QM3 Francis Brown
CT2 Ronnie Jordan Campbell
CT2 Jerry Leroy Converse
CT2 Robert Burton Eisenberg
CT2 Jerry Lee Goss
CT1 Curtis Alan Graves
CTSN Lawrence Paul Hayden
CT1 Warren Edward Hersey
CT3 Alan Higgins
SN Carl Lewis Hoar
CTS Richard Walter Keene Jr.
CTSN James Lee Lenau
CTC Raymond Eugene Linn
CT1 James Mahlon Lupton
CT3 Duane Rowe Marggraf
CTSN David Walter Marlborough
CT2 Anthony Peter Mendle
CTSN Carl Christian Nyguen
Sgt. Jack Lewis Raper, USMC
Cpl. Edward Emory Kehmeyer III, USMC
IFCN David Skolak
CT1 John Caleb Smith Jr.
CTC Melvin Douglas Smith
PC2 John Clarence Spicher
GMG3 Alexander Neil Thompson Jr.
CT3 Thomas Ray Thornton
CT3 Philippe Charles Tiedthe
CT1 Frederick James Walton
The only thing more outrageous than the prolonged attack on the USS Liberty by Israel is our own government's compliance in the cover-up. There has never been a Congressional investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The accounts of Liberty survivors, long-serving Navy officers, and a U.S. Ambassador have all fallen upon the deaf ears of the U.S. Congress.
Regardless of how the governments of both nations treat this tragedy, no matter how hard they try to cover-up the deadly attack which occurred on June 8, 1967...We must never forget the brave men of the USS Liberty! | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:35 am Post subject: |
| http://www.military.com/news/article/key-figure-in-uss-liberty-inquiry-dies.html?col=1186032310810
Key Figure in USS Liberty Inquiry Dies
June 16, 2008
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
Retired Navy Capt. Ward Boston, who in 2002 broke 35 years of silence to say the US Navy Board of Inquiry long cited to clear Israel of wrongdoing in attacking a US Navy ship during the Six Day War was a sham, died June 11 in California. He was 84.
Emma Boston, his wife of 60 years, told Military.com that Boston had been sick for about six weeks before his death and had been hospitalized. She said he ultimately died of pneumonia, which he contracted in the hospital.
"He was sharp as a tack right up until they put him under sedation" because of his difficulty breathing, she said.
In 1967, Boston was a Navy lawyer and assigned as the legal adviser to the board, which was convened within days of the June 8 attack by Israeli air and naval forces on the USS Liberty, an American surveillance ship floating in international waters in the Mediterranean.
Israel claimed the attack was a case of mistaken identity, and that it believed the Navy ship was an Egyptian vessel. The report ultimately turned over by the board made no conclusions on culpability, though survivors have long maintained that the Israelis knew full well they were attacking an American ship.
In the years since, the three members of the board died, leaving only Boston as an inside witness to their work. In 2002 he at last began to talk about the investigation, saying the board's work was intended as a cover-up. Subsequently Boston drafted and signed a full statement, in which he said the final report was not the one he signed off on as the legal counsel. Handwritten corrections and his initials were absent from the board transcript released publicly, he said.
He also stated that the board president, Rear Adm. Isaac Kidd, told him that he had been ordered to re-write portions of the report when he brought it to Washington.
Boston's comments were welcomed by stunned Liberty survivors, who believed they would finally get the congressional hearings they sought for more than three decades.
Other credible sources had called the incident a deliberate attack on an American ship -- among them former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, former CIA Directors Richard Helms and Bobbie Inman, former National Security Agency Director Marshall Carter, and Rear Adm. Merlin Staring, who was legal counsel to board's appointing authority, Adm. John McCain.
But Ennes said Boston's first-hand knowledge of the board's work lent greater weight to his words.
"We
felt the lid had finally been lifted in 2002 when Captain Boston came forward to report the inner workings of the cover-up, Jim Ennis, a Liberty survivor and author of the 1980 book Assault on the Liberty, told Military.com. "Finally, we thought, Congress would give us the investigation we have sought since 1967.
But a statement from a witness to the board's work, said Ennes, "could not move a single member of Congress to look seriously at what survivors agree was a cover-up of the deliberate attack by Israel. Thirty-four men were killed in the attack and more than 170 wounded. The board, told it had just one week to wrap up its work, interviewed about 15 survivors, and took no testimony from the more than 60 men hospitalized, Boston said.
Supporters of Israel argue that Israel would have no motivation to attack an American ship. Among explanations offered by those who believe the attack was deliberate is that Israel feared the U.S. spy ship would pick up radio signals indicating Israeli soldiers were executing captured and unarmed Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, or because they feared the U.S. would react negatively if it knew that Israel launched its attack on the Golan Heights without having been attacked by Syria. | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: |
| http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iO641ol36_WKrD-oaRsOa_G6818QD91CMRF80
Navy attorney in USS Liberty investigation dies
By CHELSEA J. CARTER June 18th, 2008
SAN DIEGO (AP) Ward Boston, a former Navy attorney who helped investigate the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 crewmen and years later said President Lyndon Johnson ordered that the assault be ruled an accident, has died. He was 84.
Boston, a retired Navy captain from Coronado, Calif., died June 12 of complications from pneumonia at a San Diego-area hospital, his wife, Emma Boston, said Wednesday.
Boston was assigned as a legal adviser to a military board of inquiry investigating the attack on the Liberty, an electronic-intelligence-gathering ship that was cruising international waters off the Egyptian coast on June 8, 1967. Israeli planes and torpedo boats opened fire on the Liberty in the midst of the Israeli-Arab Six-Day War.
In addition to the 34 Americans killed, more than 170 were wounded.
Israel has long maintained that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, an explanation that the Johnson administration did not formally challenge. Israel claimed its forces thought the ship was an Egyptian vessel and apologized to the United States.
After the attack, a Navy court of inquiry concluded there was insufficient information to make a judgment about why Israel attacked the ship, stopping short of assigning blame or determining that it was an accident.
In 2002, Boston said Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, told those heading the Navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary," according to a signed affidavit.
Boston said he kept his silence because he was a military man, and "when orders come ... I follow them." He said he felt compelled to go public following the publication of the book "The Liberty Incident," which concluded the attack was unintentional.
Boston said in a legal declaration that he was certain the Israel pilots knew the Liberty, which clearly displayed American flags and had markings in English instead of Arabic, was a U.S. Navy ship.
Ret. Adm. Thomas Moorer, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who investigated the attack as part of an independent panel he formed with other former military officials, wrote in 1997 that he believed Israel intentionally attacked the Liberty to conceal that it was preparing to seize the Golan Heights from Syria.
A. Jay Cristol, a U.S. bankruptcy court judge who wrote "The Liberty Incident," said in the book that 10 U.S. and three Israeli investigations have found no evidence of any Israeli intent to attack an American ship.
Boston is survived by his wife and three children. | | | | Alpha | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
