Posted on 10/22/2003 5:25:49 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Former Chief Navy Counsel Alleges Cover-Up by LBJ of 1967 Israeli Attack on U.S. Ship
Published: Oct 22, 2003
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In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired Capt. Ward Boston said Johnson and 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."
Boston was senior legal counsel to the Navy's original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he's a military man, and "when orders come ... I follow them."
He said he felt compelled to "share the truth" following the publication of a recent book, "The Liberty Incident," which concluded the attack was unintentional.
The USS Liberty was 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 at what became known as the outbreak of the Israeli-Egyptian 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 whether it was an accident.
It was "one of the classic all-American cover-ups," said Ret. Adm. Thomas Moorer, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who spent a year investigating the attack as part of an independent panel he formed with other former military officials. The panel also included a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James Akins.
"Why would our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own?" Moorer asked from his wheelchair at the news conference. He was chief of naval operations at the time of the attack.
Moorer, who has long held that the attack was a deliberate act, wants Congress to investigate.
Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev disputed any notion that Israel knowingly went after American sailors.
"I can say unequivocally that the Liberty tragedy was a terrible accident, that the Israeli pilots involved believed they were attacking an enemy ship," Regev said. "This was in the middle of a war. This is something that we are not proud of."
Calls to the Navy seeking comment were not immediately returned.
In Boston's statement, he does not say why Johnson would have ordered a cover-up. Attempts were made to reach Boston at his home in Coronado, Calif., but he did not return calls seeking comment.
Moorer's panel suggested several possible reasons Israel might have wanted to attack a U.S. ship. Among them: Israel intended to sink the ship and blame Egypt because it might have brought the United States into the 1967 war.
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On the Net:
USS Liberty Memorial Web site: http://www.ussliberty.org
AP-ES-10-22-03 1943EDT
Someone on our side made the decision to send the Liberty, lightly armed and without notifying the combatants, into the middle of a war zone. No one has ever answered the questions of who gave that order and why. I imagine that if there is any sort of cover-up, it is to cover the ass(es) of the person(s) who gave that order.
The Isreali pilots who attacked the Liberty had been in uninterrupted combat for four straight days. We weren't supposed to be there. It is entirely believable that they made a mistake in identification.
How would sending anyone to Israel change the answers?
It's amazing who the Israel can do no wrong crowd will cite when it serves their purposes. What's next, Bill Clinton vouching that the attack was an accident?
It's amazing who the "Israel can do no right" crowd will cite--or flat-out invent--when it serves their purposes.
That much isn't "invented."
But James Bamford? His latest book cites radical Islamist claims of war crimes made two decades after the war--war crime claims that even the Egyptian government has said are complete BS.
When folks like you choose to work hand-in-hand with the same folk who fund al-Qaeda...well, just what in the HELL am I supposed to think?
More making stuff up...
had Jonathan Pollard spy on us in the '80s
I have news for you: we spy on Israel. Israel spies on us.
Nations, in general, spy on other nations--even (and especially) friendly nations.
But you are correct: the Liberty was not sunk.
The risks to Israel of attacking an American ship are vastly overstated in any case, as shown by the Johnson-McNamara coverup described by Captain Boston in this story. Or by the fact that Israel paid no price at all for having Pollard spy on us, even though Caspar Weinberger said that Pollar's actions were so heinous he deserved the death penalty. The Israelis know they have an Amen Corner in the United States who will defend them, no matter what they do.
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