Posted on 01/13/2004 10:40:22 PM PST by churchillbuff
After State Department officials and historians assembled in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, I am compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history's most shocking cover-ups.
On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship -- the USS Liberty -- killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then betrayed and left to die by our own government.
U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled, not once, but twice, through direct intervention by the Johnson administration. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty, which I personally confirmed from the commanders of the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga, was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.
To add insult to injury, Congress, to this day, has failed to hold formal hearings on Israel's attack on this American ship. No official investigation of Israel's attack has ever permitted the testimony of the surviving crew members.
A 1967 investigation by the Navy, upon which all other reports are based, has now been fully discredited as a cover-up by its senior attorney. Capt. Ward Boston, in a sworn affidavit, recently revealed that the court was ordered by the White House to cover up the incident and find that Israel's attack was "a case of mistaken identity."
Some distinguished colleagues and I formed an independent commission to investigate the attack on the USS Liberty. After an exhaustive review of previous reports, naval and other military records, including eyewitness testimony from survivors, we recently presented our findings on Capitol Hill. They include:
· Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the ship. Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility. The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and numbers on its bow.
Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with a small Egyptian transport, the Liberty was conspicuously different from any vessel in the Egyptian navy. It was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world in 1967. With its massive radio antennae, including a large satellite dish, it looked like a large lobster and was one of the most easily identifiable ships afloat.
· Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.
· Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most seriously wounded.
As a result, our commission concluded that:
· There is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.
· In attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against U.S. servicemen and an act of war against the United States
· The White House knowingly covered up the facts of this attack from the American people.
· The truth continues to be concealed to the present day in what can only be termed a national disgrace.
What was Israel's motive in launching this attack? Congress must address this question with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services.
The men of the USS Liberty represented the United States. They were attacked for two hours, causing 70 percent of American casualties, and the eventual loss of our best intelligence ship.
These sailors and Marines were entitled to our best defense. We gave them no defense.
Did our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? If so, why? Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli interests? These are important questions that should be investigated by an independent, fully empowered commission of the American government.
The American people deserve to know the truth about this attack. We must finally shed some light on one of the blackest pages in American naval history. It is a duty we owe not only to the brave men of the USS Liberty, but to every man and woman who is asked to wear the uniform of the United States.
Moorer was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 1970 to 1974. He is joined in the independent commission of inquiry by Gen. Ray Davis (recently deceased); Rear Adm. Merlin Staring; former Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Ambassador James Akins.
The answer is an infinite number until one of the investigations comes up with a conclusion that will satisfy your preconceptions.
You join a long line of conspiracy buffs here on FR.
You didn't read Admirar Moorer's article, bub. There's never been an official congressional investigation. You don't care enough about our troops to care about that, apparently. Just like a Leftist.
Call HIM names, not me, buddy. At least I know he's served this country and its flag. I know nothing about you except that you post sophmoric rantings.
I don't know anything about that quote, or the sites you're talking about. I know he served the US in uniform honorably, and he has a legitimate concern about what happened to the men of the Liberty. I can't help it that you don't share that concern, but please leave the slurs out if it. Freepers like you sound like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but instead of introducing "racism" into every discussion, you casually use a different term of abuse to silence people you disagree with.
That is uncalled for. What I proposed seems the most reasonable explanation for what occurred, given the facts we know.
If you're such the expert, then you tell us what happened. You don't know any more than anyone else what the real story is.
Most reasonable explanation? The most reasonable explanation is the one to be found in this book: Operation Cyanide: How the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III.
Are you asking me, or are you asking the men of the Liberty, and the significant number of top retired military officers, who say that an official, open inquiry hasn't happened, and ought to. "Don't they have anything better to do with their time?" you ask. I have more respect for men who have served our flag -- a number of them injured in the cause -- than to treat them so sarcastically.
- Israel had inteligence operatives embedded in the Pentagon that were feeding Israel critical information about the Egyptian forces.
- Israel was acting on information that could only have been obtained through espionage against the US.
- The Liberty was moving into a position that would have revealed conclusively that Israel had an active and current espionage activity at a very high level in the Pentagon.
- Israel took out the Liberty to protect their sources and operatives.
- Johnson made a political decision not to act at a time when doing so would have resulted in the destruction of Israel with a resulting geopolitical shift towards the Communist Block in the middle east.
I agree. Of course, I'm not interested in them. I'm interested in an inquiry that would satisfy the survivors of the Liberty attack, and the top military officers who oversaw them. Unless you hate our troops the way the Leftists and peacenicks do, I assume you don't mean them when you say "Jew haters."
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