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Former Chief Navy Counsel Alleges Cover-Up by LBJ of 1967 Israeli Attack on U.S. Ship
AP ^

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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WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Navy attorney who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former President Lyndon Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.

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.

---

On the Net:

USS Liberty Memorial Web site: http://www.ussliberty.org

AP-ES-10-22-03 1943EDT



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: conspiracy; coverup; israel; liberty; thomasmoorer; ussliberty; warcrimes
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: okiedog; All
Excuse me ? So this is reason for "our closest ally in the middle east" to attack Americans ? We should have counter- attacked the ungrateful bastards with our own air strike

Actually, the first Warship to offer help was a Soviet Destroyer.

It shadowed the Liberty during the night in case the Timbers shoring the bulkheads gave way and the Liberty suddenly sank.

22 posted on 10/22/2003 6:22:03 PM PDT by Lael (Bush to Middle Class: Send your kids to DIE in Iraq while I send your LIVELIHOODS to INDIA!)
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To: okiedog
He may be speaking honestly, but unfactually. The "support" behind the conspiracy theories regarding the Liberty Incident are completely false. The Navy Captain should review the hard facts. First of all, the fact that the interpreters aboard the Liberty only spoke Russian and Arabic reveals the flaws in the conspiracy theorists' argument that the Liberty was there to monitor Israeli communications. How could they be there to mointer Israeli communications if they don't even speak Hebrew?

Why would the IDF would knowingly fire upon a US ship? Historically noted, the US had agreed with the United Nations that no ships would enter the "war zone." Therefore, when a ship that was not visibly marked enterd the war zone, the IDF had no way of knowing it was an ally and justly assumed that it was an enemy ship.

23 posted on 10/22/2003 6:27:22 PM PDT by Recourse
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To: TheOtherOne
http://ussliberty.org/
24 posted on 10/22/2003 6:32:21 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (Sane, and have the papers to prove it!)
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Comment #25 Removed by Moderator

To: TheOtherOne
I have a neighbor who was with Navy intelligence (now retired) and did a lot of liaison with Israeli officers. He said the Israelis he knew never bothered to deny that the attack on the Liberty was deliberate; but they were remorseful about it. They just said that their country was in peril and some decisions were made that, in retrospect, they aren't proud of.

Try to get the Israeli government -- or the U.S. government -- to admit that on the record, though.

If an Arab country had done this to us, there would have been hell to pay.

26 posted on 10/22/2003 6:34:30 PM PDT by resistmuch
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To: rmlew
Either the we were spying on Israel, or this was a huge SNAFU

Since you brought up the subject of SPYING, consider this.

At that time (1967) the US Navy was being severely compromised by the Walker spy ring. All US Naval communications were being read by Moscow as if they were in clear text.

If Israeli intelligence was aware of this then they really had no alternative other than to sink that ship. If the Liberty acquired any information about Israeli movements it would could have resulted in Israel loosing that war. If Liberty had been lost with all hands, then they would simply say that it was a mistake in identity.

The cover-up by LBJ simply means that he was afraid that if the truth of the matter became public, (whatever that truth may have been), it would have been a great embarassment for his administration.

27 posted on 10/22/2003 6:34:49 PM PDT by zchip
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To: TheOtherOne
Adm. Thomas Moorer is a man of principal. Not the first time he has had something important to say.
28 posted on 10/22/2003 6:38:54 PM PDT by TBall
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: Dr Zilman
That's utterly asinine. If our "ally" had intelligence that our comms had been compromised they could have passed that intel along to us.

Not asinine at all. If Israel had a mole in a position to know what was going on in Moscow there is NO WAY that they would ever inform anybody. To do so would compromise their mole.

30 posted on 10/22/2003 6:44:26 PM PDT by zchip
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Dr Zilman
Because it was flying an American flag. I had friends aboard, I believe what they told me.
Golly, gee. A flag?
We all know that pilots always see those.

An outright lie.
Not according to Israeli reports. I read that the communications between the Israeli boats and teh Liberty were recorded. Those should settle the issue.

Yeah, right. How could a ship like the Liberty hide out on the open sea?
By operating in an area off limits to American ships?
All US flagged ships were supposed to be west of Cyprus.
Here we had an intelligense ship, operating between two warring countries, not only unannounced, but 300 miles out of place.
Of course, if we had given the Israelis a Naval liason, this would not have occured.

32 posted on 10/22/2003 6:56:10 PM PDT by rmlew (Peaceniks and isolationists are objectively pro-Terrorist)
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To: Lael
Actually, the Israeli torpedo boats offered assistance once they were told it was an American ship.
33 posted on 10/22/2003 6:57:33 PM PDT by rmlew (Peaceniks and isolationists are objectively pro-Terrorist)
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To: Dr Zilman
All they would have had to do to get the ship moved out would have been to ask.

Who knows? Maybe they did ask. What if LBJ said NO and sent Liberty on station anyway. After all, who are the Israelis to tell/ask the United States to do anything? (Thinking like LBJ and his extremely brilliant administration.)

34 posted on 10/22/2003 7:02:42 PM PDT by zchip
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To: rmlew
Oh, Like the facts matter in this...sheesh!
35 posted on 10/22/2003 7:02:58 PM PDT by RaceBannon
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To: TheOtherOne
"Why would our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own?" Moorer asked from his wheelchair at the news conference

A question that is still resoundingly relevant today.

36 posted on 10/22/2003 7:03:08 PM PDT by WackyKat
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To: rmlew
Ah, but it was flying the Stars and Stripes for the second strafing run, for sure, confirmed.

Also, the class of ship it was, it was an American ship, the Soviets did not have a class similar to it

Tragic, but I have read nothing to prove it to be pre-meditated as an attack on an American target, ust an attack on "some" target.
37 posted on 10/22/2003 7:05:40 PM PDT by RaceBannon
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Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: SJackson; Yehuda; Nachum; Paved Paradise; Mr. Mojo; Thinkin' Gal; Bobby777; adam_az; Alouette; ...
Ping.
39 posted on 10/22/2003 7:07:21 PM PDT by yonif ("If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither" - Psalms 137:5)
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To: zchip; rmlew; Yehuda
Hmmm

Now, THATS an interesting theory!!
40 posted on 10/22/2003 7:07:54 PM PDT by RaceBannon
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