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
From the article:
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.
It begs the question, though...
Why would Israel have sought to bring the US into a war that Israel was winning handily? Once the US is in the war, it becomes an American war, and Israel's polcy will have to conform to American goals.
Even the Egyptians say that this claim is a load of BS.
Why are you repeating Islamist propaganda? Do you have dual loyalties at work here? Are you a member of the Wahhabist Amen Corner?
Why do you keep saying that the Liberty "sank"?
Thanks for the great links on the Walker story though!
Do you believe that Israel planned on attacking the USS Liberty? (i.e. made preparations, etc.)
I certainly don't have dual loyalties: my sympathies are with the American sailors butchered in cold blood in 1967, and not with the butcherers. And I applaud patriots like Admiral Moorer and the Liberty survivors who are working hard to see that the truth comes out.
How do you KNOW, for FACT, that the Israelis willfully, with malice aforethought, attacked the Liberty?
Did you take part in the attack?
And I applaud patriots like Admiral Moorer and the Liberty survivors who are working hard to see that the truth comes out.
Some of the Liberty survivors disagree with Admiral Moorer et al.
However, I'd be interested in finding out the answer to this and all these other questions. Maybe we should condition our next aid package to Israel on 1) Israel's allowing us to examine all evidence relating to the attack on the Liberty, 2) allowing all Israelis involved in the attack to be cross-examined under oath and in public before Congress, and 3) allowing the survivors of the attack also to give testimony in public before Congress.
Do you think AIPAC would go for this?
Ouch. If he admits that the IAF used ordnance incapable of sinking the ship, then he has to back off the preplanned attack claim.
Unless, of course, his mullah simply tells him to ignore it.
They also have a link to a very comprehensive, recent article in the Institute of Naval Proceedings concluding that the attack was deliberate.
Already has.
2) allowing all Israelis involved in the attack to be cross-examined under oath and in public before Congress
Why would Israel, a sovereign country, allow its citizens to go before a foreign government? Would you want the US pilots who bombed Canadian troops go before the Canadian parliament? Tapes of the Israeli IAF communications have been released which bring out the true misfortunate facts.
3) allowing the survivors of the attack also to give testimony in public before Congress.
They have already given testimony numerous times. What do you think of the testimony by other members of the Liberty who oppose the viewpoint Israel did this on purpose?
Israel knows how to run a black flag operation. this wasn't one of them.
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