| Author | Message | | Tipper | | Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: Upcoming Speeches by USS Liberty Survivors |
| Upcoming Speeches by USS Liberty Survivors
September 6, 2008 — crescentandcross
Three U.S. Navy Veterans will be speaking out across the Lower Hudson Valley at the end of September about a long hidden secret.
Ernie Gallo, Rick Aimetti and Rocky Sturman were sailors in the U.S. Navy when they lived through the sudden and brutal attack
on the research vessel, USS Liberty, by the air and naval forces of the State of Israel in international waters on June 8, 1967. “The
Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship,” say the three survivors.
The USS Liberty was identified by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft as a US naval ship sailing in international waters at less than five
knots. With no offensive armament, the ship was no military threat to anyone. Yet after more than nine hours of radar tracking and
aircraft surveillance by almost hourly over-flights, Israeli air and naval forces attacked the US vessel without warning.
Thirty four Americans were killed and another 174 were wounded. The ship, a $40 Million state of the art Signals Intelligence
Platform, was later declared unsalvageable and sold for scrap.
Despite a near consensus of the crew that the Israeli attack was made with full knowledge of USS Liberty’s identity, the Johnson
administration never sought the prosecution of the guilty parties or otherwise attempted to seek justice for the victims. It
reportedly concealed and altered evidence in its effort to downplay the attack. And while it never formally accepted the Israeli
explanation that the attack was an accident, neither did it press for a full investigation.
Instead, the federal government placed USS Liberty survivors under a gag order for 40 years. The order carried threats of
imprisonment or fines up to $10,000, and prohibited survivors from telling any story at variance with the official US Navy version.
This month, in spite of the still standing gag order, three USS Liberty Veterans are speaking out to honor the memory of the 34
brave American men killed and the 173 wounded on June 8th, 1967.
Veteran Ernie Gallo tells why: “The coordinated lie of our government and Israel dishonors our dead…. For posterity, we want the
truth told in our history books rather than the lie…. And last but most importantly, it is vital that our current Naval personnel know
that when they are in the presence of the Israeli Defense Forces, history indicates that there is not an American politician that will
stand up for you.”
US Naval Veterans Gallo, Aimetti and Sturman will be speaking:
• Thursday, September 25th at 7pm at the Greenwich Library, 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT.
• Saturday, September 27th at 10am at the Norwalk Library, 1 Belden Avenue, Norwalk, CT.
• Saturday, September 27th at 2pm at the Suffern Library, 210 Lafayette Avenue, Suffern, NY.
• Sunday, September 28th at 11:30am at the Memorial United Methodist Church, 250 Bryant Avenue, White Plains, NY.
• Sunday, September 28th at 3pm at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 521 North Broadway, Upper Nyack, NY.
THESE EVENTS ARE NOT SPONSORED OR ENDORSED BY THE GREENWICH, NORWALK OR SUFFERN LIBRARIES AND ARE
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
For all details and to schedule interviews, please contact Post Road at 203.919.9696. | |  | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
