War Without End

Jefferson Davis

Ask your library to procure it or buy it, talk it up along with Jim Ennes' expanded existing edition "The Attack on Liberty".
Read them. Let's make this book as controversial and known as Walt and Mearsheimer's "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy". Eileen Fleming (A sometime poster here at WWE) writes a wonderful review and Amazon has pre-release info as well.
This is Israel's Achilles heel and an opportunity to remind/inform Americans and the world about Israel's criminality and US government duplicity and the cover up are rare. Spread the word. It's your right to do so. Exercise it. Let us not continue to forsake them.

Remember the USS Liberty

A new book on the USS Liberty Attack
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 2, 2009) 384 pages
http://www.amazon.com/Attack-Liberty-Untold-Israels-Assault/dp/1416554823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243007694&sr=8-1]Link

"The Attack on the LIberty": A Book Review and Much More

Thursday, 21 May 2009 21:12 by PT Editor Eileen Fleming

May 21, Pal Telegraph, Four days before the forty-second anniversary of that other day in infamy, the release of "The Untold Story of Israel’s Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship" will reopen many wounds caused by the Israeli attack on the unarmed spy ship that navigated in international waters during the Six-Day War.

Acclaimed journalist and son of a survivor, author James Scott dedicated his extensively footnoted, compelling and dramatic account to his father, who lived to tell about it and the thirty-four sailors who did not.

On June 6, 1967, out of a crew of 294, thirty four were killed, 171 wounded and all scarred for life because the USA Government failed to support the troops who continue to request an open Congressional hearing to address the Israeli claim of mistaken identity.

Scott blows apart the only American investigation that was ever conducted; the U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry's white wash rush job that confirmed the Israeli claim which is clearly contradicted by the facts.

Scott conducted hundreds of interviews with Liberty survivors, senior administration and intelligence officials and investigated recently declassified documents by Israel and America. Scott's fast paced tome gives voice to the frustrated outrage felt by many inside the Pentagon, State Department, NSA, Navy and even a few Congregessional representatives.

Among many issues Scott illuminates, is that Israel’s chain of command were well aware of the Liberty’s true identity and he eviscerates their excuse of "mistaken identity" of the uniquely American flag waving ship.

Scott reveals how the American government de-emphasized the attack because of the war in Vietnam as he illuminates the American Governments preference in support of the Industrial Military Complex, [and Israel - JD] over the lives and well being of American servicemen.

Scott documents that Israeli pilots, air control staff and navy officers in Tel Aviv and Haifa were aware that before their unprovoked brutal torpedo attacks on the unarmed spy ship that the vessel was definitely American.

"More than twenty minutes before the fatal torpedo strike killed twenty-five sailors; Israel's chief air controller conclusively identified the Liberty as an American ship." [Page 216]

Many years after the attack, Lieutenant Colonel Shmuel Kislev, the chief air controller at general headquarters in Tel Aviv, confessed that he knew the U.S.S. Liberty was an American ship as soon as an Israeli pilot radioed in its hull numbers.

Two months before the sailor's mass burial at Arlington Cemetery, Navy analysis also uncovered that the Israeli torpedo boat gunners had targeted the spy ship with 40-mm tracer rounds made in the United States.

In 1967, the Republican representative from Iowa, H.R. Gross asked questions that still demand an answer today:

"Is this Government now, directly or indirectly, subsidizing Israel in the payment of full compensation for the lives that were destroyed, the suffering of the wounded, and the damage from this wanton attack? [b]It can well be asked whether these Americans were the victims of bombs, machine gun bullets and torpedoes manufactured in the United States and dished out as military assistance under foreign aid." [Pages 271-272][/b]

By November 1967, lawmakers were willing to spend six million USA tax dollars to build schools in Israel but during the debate, Representative Gross spoke with the voice of conscience and introduced an amendment that "not one dollar of U.S. credit or aid of any kind [should] go to Israel until there is a firm settlement with regard to the attack and full reparations have been made [and Israel] provides full and complete reparations for the killing and wounding of more than 100 United States citizens in the wanton, unprovoked attack…I wonder how you would feel if you were the father of one of the boys who was killed in that connection-or perhaps you do not have any feelings with respect to these young men who were killed, wounded and maimed, or their families." [Page 272-273]

Gross's amendment failed, justice remains delayed and American tax payers continue to support the Jewish State which has reaped a more violent and insecure planet for innocent civilians.

"Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts provided to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and the largest total recipient since World War ll. Total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America's entire foreign aid budget. In per capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain.”[1]

During Fiscal Year 2007, the Congressional Research Service’s “U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel,” written by Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, [updated January 2, 2008] reported that the US gave Israel at least $2,500.2 million in 2007. This number does not include the $137.894 million we spent on joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense projects or the $1.4 billion in loan guarantees made available to Israel in 2007. [Ibid]

While U.S. economic aid to Israel has been phased out, it has been replaced with increased military aid of $3.1 billion each year out of American wallets that go to provide even more weapons of destruction to one of the most powerful militaries the world has ever known.

The United States has given more money to Israel than to any other country, and the "indirect or consequential costs to the American taxpayer as a result of Washington’s blind support for Israel exceed by many times the amount of direct U.S. aid to Israel. Some of these ‘indirect or consequential’ costs would include the costs to U.S. manufacturers of the Arab boycott, the costs to U.S. companies and consumers of the Arab oil embargo and consequent soaring oil prices as a result of U.S. support for Israel in the 1973 war, and the costs of U.S. unilateral economic sanctions on Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria. [Ibid]

During the Bush Administration, Israel killed more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians-including more than 1,000 children during its December-January war on the Gaza Strip-with U.S. made weapons in violation of the Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts. In 2007, the United States agreed to increase military aid to Israel by 25% over the next decade, totaling $30 billion.

"In May 2009, President Obama sent his FY2010 budget request to Congress which includes $2.775 billion in military aid for Israel, an increase of $225 million from this year’s budget. The budget request will go to the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs for hearings and “mark-ups”.

"This request for an increase in military aid to Israel comes despite the fact that Israel consistently misuses U.S. weapons in violation of the Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts." [2]

The Pentagon dismantled the spy ship program in 1968 while survivors and supporters continue to pursue justice. A letter writing campaign to Congress has been established to request a new Court of Inquiry and also that the Congressional Record on June 8th, 2009 will be the first annual "USS Liberty Remembrance Day."

USS Liberty Survivor, Dick Carlson, a member of the National Cryptological Veterans Association, is asking all survivors and supporters to send a snail mail letter to their Congressional representatives [3] which I slightly edited and have mailed to:

Jefferson Davis · Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 5:02 pm Post subject:

Amazon Editorial Reviews
Product Description

On June 8, 1967, as war raged between Israel and its neighbors, an American spy ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, eavesdropped on communications off the coast of Egypt. When Israeli fighter jets flew overhead, the Liberty's crew assumed that the ship's identifying markings and American flag would be visible to the pilots in the clear skies above. After several passes over a period of hours, the jets suddenly opened fire and began strafing and napalming the deck of the Liberty, which had minimal defenses. When the air attack ended, Israeli torpedo boats appeared and scored a direct hit. By the time the assault was over, 34 crewmen had been killed and 171-two-thirds of the crew-seriously injured. Only heroic efforts by the crew saved the ship from sinking.

Back in Washington, news of the attack on the Liberty was received with a mixture of shock and outrage. Many in the Pentagon and in Congress demanded that Israel be held accountable for the unprovoked attack in international waters. The Johnson administration initially responded by threatening Israel but soon softened its attitude. Israel's stunning victory in the Six-Day War, as it became known, was a source of pride to many American Jews, and their support was crucial to an administration mired in an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam. With the death toll mounting daily in Vietnam, the attack on the Liberty was pushed to the back pages of the nation's newspapers and ultimately all but forgotten.

James Scott is a journalist and the son of a surviving Liberty officer. In this riveting book, he recounts the story of the horrifying attack and the tremendous impact it had on the lives of the crew. He puts the attack in context, showing how political considerations trumped the demands for justice from the survivors and their supporters in the military and in Congress. Drawing on new interviews and recently declassified documents, he demonstrates that Israel's initial insistence that the attack was a mistake caused by misidentification of the ship is implausible.

Scott documents, for the first time, the fact that the ship was correctly identified by at least one of the pilots prior to the attacks. His descriptions of the crew under fire and their frantic work to save the ship are dramatic and unforgettable. Scott takes readers into the conference rooms at the White House where the most senior officials in the government debated how to respond to the attack and then eventually devised a plan to protect Israel from public outrage.

The Attack on the Liberty is the finest account yet of this tragedy and a remarkable tale of men under fire in an incident that remains bitterly disputed after more than forty years.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4

Primary cause of death on some men was penetrating wounds of chest and lungs which made it impossible for them to breathe.
-- Dr . Richard Kiepfer, testimony before the Liberty court of inquiry

Ensign John Scott strode out of the wardroom with a cup of black coffee in one hand and his new Polaroid in the other when the first explosion rocked the ship. An announcement over the loudspeaker moments earlier had warned sailors to stand clear of the twenty-six-foot motor whaleboat suspended on a davit about ten feet above the starboard deck. Crews had planned a routine test of the whaleboat's engine. When the explosion occurred, Scott thought the maintenance crew had dropped the whaleboat to the deck below. After he heard the secondary explosions, Scott realized that the Liberty was under attack. He threw his coffee to the deck and sprinted to his battle station in Damage Control Central. He paused only long enough to toss his Polaroid camera onto the floor of his stateroom before he jumped down the ladder to the deck below, his arms sliding on the rails. Scott arrived inside his office before the general quarters alarm sounded.

Scott assumed that the Egyptians had shelled the Liberty with artillery from shore. The spy ship had sailed much of the morning within sight of land. But the staccato attacks followed by a brief lull and then resumption of fire meant it had to be fighter planes. One of the first messages from the bridge to damage control over the phones confirmed his suspicion. Rocket and cannon shells pounded the Liberty as the planes tag-teamed the defenseless ship. Even in the damage control office below deck, Scott heard the deafening crash of metal on metal as shells ripped holes in the ship's steel skin and echoed through the passageways. Fragments ricocheted off bulkheads inside compartments and littered the decks below.

Scott's job was to coordinate firefighters, organize stretcher bearers, and assess and respond to damage. He operated this vital function out of an austere office four decks below the bridge. Two phone talkers joined him, using sound-powered phones to relay messages to the bridge and to repair parties strategically stationed around the ship. To help navigate the complex maze of compartments, Scott kept the ship's blueprints spread out under glass on a table in the rear of the room. An inclinometer that measured the Liberty's tilt in the water hung from the ceiling. If the ship were to flood, the inclinometer would gauge the ship's list and whether it might capsize. Crews of up to fifteen sailors manned three other repair lockers near the bow, stern, and engine room. Each locker held axes, firefighting hoses, and stretchers along with pumps used to dewater compartments.

Reports arrived of multiple fires on deck. The gasoline drums used to store fuel for the ship's truck and pumps had ignited on the port side, and the fire threatened to spread. Fighters also had hit the motor whaleboat that dangled above the starboard side. The blast set the fiberglass boat ablaze in its davits. Phone talkers also reported that the attackers had hit the bridge. Scott ordered crews from the forward repair locker topside to fight the fires. Men unrolled canvas-covered hoses and turned a valve, releasing a spray of seawater. The effort proved futile. With each pass of the jets, shrapnel punctured the hoses and sapped the pressure. The hoses were worthless, so the firefighters grabbed axes and shovels from the repair locker and tossed flaming debris and rubber over the side.

The situation worsened. Each time sailors charged onto the deck to rescue the wounded, more were hit by shrapnel. Scott ordered his men to travel through the ship's superstructure, using the safety of the internal passageways. Only go on deck, he instructed, between lulls in the attacks. He also ordered his men to leave the dead and grab only the wounded. A round tore through the bulkhead and hit the valve on a vent pipe directly over Scott's head. He looked up to find that the force had turned the valve upside down. The close hit triggered one of the phone talkers to panic. Scott watched as the man suddenly recited the Lord's Prayer. Scott raced over and grabbed the man by his shirt. He slapped him. "Get it together," Scott ordered. "There's time to pray later, but not now."

Down in the engine room, Chief Petty Officer Richard Brooks heard the bell ring out over the roar of the machinery. The thirty-one-year-old Yonkers, New York, native shot a glance at the engine order telegraph and saw that the skipper had thrown the lever to all ahead flank, signaling the need for full power. With each pass of the fighters, shrapnel ricocheted inside the cavernous engine room and dropped to the grated deck below. "Get me all the steam pressure," the machinist's mate barked into the voice tube to the boilermen. "I don'twant to wait fifteen minutes. I want it all now."

The fighters first strafed the Liberty from bow to stern, targeting the bridge, machine guns, and antennae. With those destroyed or on fire, the attackers crisscrossed the spy ship to target the engine room, the Liberty's heart. Boilers there converted water to steam that raced through metal veins and arteries, driving the two turbines and the screw. Beyond the propulsion system, generators transformed steam pressure to electricity to power everything from the lights and refrigerators to the ship's radios and spy equipment. If the pilots crippled the engine room, Brooks knew the Liberty would be dead in the water, an easy target for fighters or torpedo boats. The Liberty was particularly vulnerable because it was designed as a cargo ship. Warships such as destroyers had two engine rooms and two boiler rooms to increase survivability in an attack.

Thirteen years in the Navy had taught Brooks that the engine room was one of the most dangerous places on a ship. Pilots knew to aim just beneath a ship's smokestack, but that was only one component of the risk. Superheated steam, often at temperatures as high as 750 degrees, crisscrossed the Liberty's engine room in asbestos-covered pipes. If shrapnel or a round punctured a major line, Brooks knew scalding steam could flood the room and broil the men alive. That had happened too often during World War II. Another risk centered on the deaerating tank, filled with thousands of gallons of superheated water, suspended high above the engine room. If it ruptured, scalding water would rain down on the sailors. The Liberty's two boilers also sat like grenades on the engine room floor. If a rocket or torpedo split open the ship's side beneath the waterline, the rush of cold seawater likely would trigger the hot tanks to explode.

The engine room represented a critical weak spot for the ship. Most of the Liberty's compartments were restricted to a single deck and guarded by watertight hatches. That allowed damage control crews to seal off flooded compartments in an attack. The engine room's towering boilers and uptakes, about as high as a five-story building, made it impossible to compartmentalize the cavernous space. If a torpedo hit the engine room, seawater could flood the rest of the ship in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. The steel frame of the ship's decks and compartments also served as the ship's skeleton. The absence of that frame around the engine room weakened the Liberty's hull. If the engine room were to flood, the combination of the added weight of the water and weak structure likely would cause the ship to break in half.

Golden, the Liberty's chief engineer, charged in from the wardroom moments after the attack began to find that Brooks had ordered crews to light the No. 2 boiler and increase steam pressure. Though Golden served as the department head, Brooks ran the engine room. Golden even griped that Brooks refused to let him do anything. The machinist mate had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Liberty's equipment. With his thick New York accent, he often challenged his men to pick any valve and draw a sketch of it. If he couldn't find the valve, Brooks would stand that sailor's watch. Men pored over the boilers, turbines, and pumps to find obscure and hidden valves, but no one had yet stumped Brooks. That knowledge proved essential now as rounds and shrapnel pinballed inside the compartment, busting lights and tearing the insulation from the steam pipes. Smoke from the stack now poured through the skylight above and soot rained down. Through the chaos, Brooks continued to bark at his men.

Petty Officer Eikleberry slipped on his headphones and tuned the receiver's dials in search of the attackers' radio communication. He felt winded from his sprint from the Liberty's fantail to the research spaces two decks below. Eikleberry had wandered up to the main deck after the general quarters drill for a glimpse of the Egyptian coast, hoping to spot one of the recon flights that had buzzed the ship throughout the morning. He had scanned the golden beaches and seen the dark smoke on the horizon when he heard the first rockets. He had looked up to see a fighter roar down the port side of the Liberty from bow to stern and then bank into the sky. Smoke had billowed up from the ship's bow and bridge. Eikleberry slid down the ladder to the deck below and dashed through a rear-berthing compartment, past the aft repair locker, through the mess deck, and down another ladder to his general quarters station in the bowels of the ship.

Senior research officers hovered over Eikleberry and other communications technicians as rounds blasted the side of the ship and ricocheted inside the compartment. If Eikleberry or another operator could intercept the pilot's radio communications, the men could identify the attacker's nationality based on whether the pilots spoke Arabic, Hebrew, or Russian. Eikleberry fingered the black dials on his receiver. The young operator, who had joined the Navy two months before his eighteenth birthday, couldn't believe the ship was under...

http://www.amazon.com/Attack-Liberty-Untold-Israels-Assault/dp/1416554823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243007694&sr=8-1

Alpha

Subject: ISRAEL'S ATTACK ON USS LIBERTY - ATTEND EVENTS IN WASHINGTON, DC 6-8-09:

Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 6:57 AM

forwarded from Fred Shepherd of Global Information Services.

Please forward this information to others.

We are working with Ernie Gallo, President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association and Pat Roushakes, Executive Director of the Liberty Alliance in order to force a thorough and unbiased investigation of Israels attack on the USS Liberty Ship on June 8, 1967 that resulted in the murder of 34 and the wounding of 174 crew members.

For decades, those aboard the USS Liberty were threatened with a possible Ten-Thousand Dollar fine, Ten Years of Imprisonment and more if they revealed the truth about this unwarranted attack. The cover-up of this unprecedented slaughter by Israel is considered to be the second day of infamy and is one of the most guarded secrets in US history by a number of Americans who committed acts of treason. Every American should know what happened, get involved and never forget!

You are invited and encouraged to participate by joining the survivors of the Liberty and others in Washington, DC especially at the White House; by writing press releases for your local newspaper; by encouraging radio and TV hosts to discuss the issue with or without survivors; by notifying others in your community and encouraging them to participate; by airing relevant films in your community and on community TV; by calling and writing President Obama, Senators, Congressmen, newspapers, neighbors, et al.

Schedule of events on June 8, 2009 in Washington, DC:

12 PM, Arlington National Cemetery: The survivors, relatives and others will attend the annual ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery that honors those who died in the attack.

3 PM United States Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC: For all to attend the dedication of a model of the USS Liberty Ship. There may also be an appearance by James Scott, the son of a surviving Liberty officer, a journalist and author of a new book, The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israels Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship. This ceremony is hosted by the Presidential Commission on Remembrance.

5 PM AT The White House: Many of the survivors of the USS Liberty, their supporters, concerned citizens, reporters and others will be meeting at the gates of the White House to present for President and Mrs. Obama a painting of the USS Liberty Ship, a Liberty memorial jacket and a Liberty hat of the USS Liberty Ship. They will ask to meet with the President and plead with him to order a thorough and unbiased investigation of Israels attempt to sink the USS Liberty and kill all 294 Americans on board everyone on board.

For ongoing information, please contact Fred Shepherd, Executive Director of Global Information Services, 336 Bon Air Center, # 441, Greenbrae, CA 94904. Phone 415-459-8738 and Cell 415-699-0703 from 9 AM 10 PM, Monday thru Sunday. Email altencon@aol.com. Website www.gisfilms.org. We utilize nationwide television to broadcast relevant films to educate and inform the uninformed and misinformed. Relevant films: The Loss of Liberty, Dead in the Water and Cover Up: Attack On The USS Liberty.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards,

Fred Shepherd

"The world is too dangerous to live in - not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen." Albert Einstein

Global Information Services
336 Bon Air Center #441, Greenbrae, CA 94904
415-459-8738 email: altencon@aol.com
website: http://www.gisfilms.org/

Jefferson Davis · Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject:

New book examines Israeli attack

June 1967 attack killed Shreveporter, injured another

By John Andrew Prime June 7, 2009
jprime@gannett.com
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090607/NEWS01/906070330/1060

A new book that takes a long, hard look at an Israeli attack on the U.S. spy ship USS Liberty in June 1967 draws in part on reporting and commentary that linked the international tensions and the Shreveport-Bossier City area.

The book published Tuesday is "Attack on the Liberty," penned by investigative reporter James Scott, whose father, ship damage control engineer Ensign John Scott, survived the brutal assault that killed 34 sailors and wounded more than 170 others.

The June 8, 1967 attack took place in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea just off Sinai coast. The Liberty, which was clearly marked as a U.S. Navy vessel and also had an oversized flag displayed, was observed for several hours by Israeli jets, then strafed and finally attacked by torpedo boats.

One of the dead sailors was James Lupton, 25, from a large Keithville family with members in the military and local police. He died when a torpedo slammed into the secret compartment he and other communications technicians shared.

His father, Clyde Lupton, suffered a heart attack when he heard his son had been killed, and was dead within three years.

Among the wounded was Gary Wayne Brummett, of Kickapoo, who bears the mental and physical scars to this day and remains mistrustful of Israel and its forces.

A quote from Brummett opens the book:

"I know what a slaughterhouse looks like," said Brummett, a 3rd Class petty officer at the time of the attack. "That's what this was."

Brummett was "was incredibly helpful to me on the research end," says Scott, a former investigative reporter for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., a recipient of the McClatchy Co. President's Award and the South Carolina Press Association's 2003 Journalist of the Year. "Gary was instrumental in helping me understand how the engine room worked and what it was like there during the attack. I interviewed him a number of times."

The tally of killed and wounded comprised 70 percent of the crew, a proportion of casualties rarely reached unless a vessel is sunk. And only heroic efforts by the officers and crew saved the ship from sinking, Scott asserts in the book, which relates how the incident impacted the lives of the crew members and their families.

He also delves into the inner workings of politicians and military leaders in Washington and Tel Aviv, and shares new research in which reveals that at least one key Israeli pilot knew the ship was American. He also looks into how the mindset of Washington gelled once it became apparent that initial outrage over the attack paled in comparison to the daily body count rising in the Vietnam War, and that many Americans, including but not limited to the Jewish community, was proud of how Israel had trounced national enemies in the brief but strategic war.

Those who know of the attack on the Liberty today tend to fall into two camps, with no real middle ground. There are those who condemn Israel for an attack on an ally, and those who swear it must have been an accident and the Israelis were not sure who they were attacking.

Few today remember though, that in 1967 the Israelis could not be sure that the United States was, or would remain, a steadfast ally. The last major military-political action in which the two nations had been involved, the Suez Crisis of 1956, witnessed the United States forcing Israel, France and the United Kingdom to abandon efforts to wrest the Suez Canal from Egyptian control. With that as a last memory, the impartial observer might infer that Israel would view a U.S. spy ship as much a threat as an asset while it attacked Egyptian forces in a new conflict.

The USS Liberty became the most decorated ship and crew in Navy history. Its skipper, Cmdr. William McGonagle, received the Medal of Honor even though his lengthy citation describes his heroism and wounding without once mentioning that the attack was by Israelis.

The ship and its crew also received the Presidential Unit Citation. Sailors received two Navy Crosses, 11 Silver Stars, numerous lesser awards for valor and 204 Purple Hearts, for a total of 840 medals. The casualty rate was 70 percent.

The official U.S. Navy report on the attack largely relieved Israel of responsibility. A Navy attorney who was part of the investigation later publicly charged that it had been purposefully misdirected.

Though Israel apologized within hours of the attack, its claim that its forces had mistaken the Liberty for a much smaller Egyptian horse and troop transport that was hundreds of miles way drew derision from the U.S. media at the time.

The Times' editorial on the attack, quoted in the book, noted that "almost as shocking as the attack itself has been the manner in which Washington — especially the Defense department — has seemed to try to absolve Israel of any guilt right from the start. Some of these efforts would be laughable but for the terrible tragedy involved."

The Times described the Israeli account as "far-fetched" and continued "mere apology is not enough in a case of this kind. Israel should guarantee stiff punishment for those responsible for the attack."

The official Navy inquiry lasted just eight days, "less time than it took to bury some of the dead," Scott said. Investigators interviewed only a dozen crew members; never visited Israel, reviewed its war logs or signals transcripts; nor interviewed any of the attackers, he added.

Scott's father was awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest award for heroism, for his role during and after the attack. In late 2007, the elder Scott traveled to Israel with his son for research and met with Brig. Gen. Yiftah Spector, one of the pilots who attacked the Liberty.

According to James Scott, Spector stuck out his hand and said, "I'm sorry."

"Those were the words my father and many of his shipmates had wanted to hear for decades, the words no one in the Navy, the White House, or Congress had ever publicly been willing to say," Scott wrote in the book. "My father reached out and took Spector's hand and said, 'Thank you.'"

In addition to the toll on the ship and crew, the incident has had far-reaching repercussions that last to this day.

Relations with Israel and North Korea continue to be among the most festering the United States has.

The Liberty tie to North Korea came with Pyongyang's belief that the Liberty incident demonstrated the United States would not show any backbone if its intelligence ships were attacked. Within months, North Korea seized the spy ship Pueblo in international waters, holding its crew hostage and causing the nation's intelligence community harm that took decades to repair.

"The specter of the Liberty has haunted the Navy and intelligence community for decades," Scott said. "The attack raised important questions over how politics and diplomacy impact battlefield decisions and how we handle these situations. Those questions still resonate today."

War Without End

The global war against terror, news about the illegal invasion of Iraq, the corporate puppet presidents, the war criminal Tony Blair, September 11th 2001, the USS Liberty and New World Order crimes against humanity.

Book Review: A new book n the USS Liberty Attack by Israel