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| Beth Emley/Messenger Post Staff | June 06, 2002 |
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Posted on 06/07/2002 5:56:44 PM PDT by RCW2001
| 'No one ever apologized' |
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John Hrankowski will be miles away from Arlington National Cemetery this weekend, but he will be close in spirit as fellow crewmates from the USS Liberty gather to remember the 35th anniversary of an Israeli attack on an American intelligence ship.
The Greece man said his health is preventing him from attending the "No Greater Love Remembrance Ceremony" Saturday in Washington, D.C., where crewmates will pause to remember the 34 who died and 172 wounded during the June 8, 1967 air and sea attack. The attack occurred during the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab states.
"It's got to be rectified because we didn't get killed. We're still here," said Hrankowski, who was 19 at the time of the attack and earned a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered.
The attack is controversial because Israel claimed it mistook the USS Liberty for an out-of-service Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir and that the U.S. was operating in a war zone without displaying a flag.
Hrankowski and other Americans dispute that account. They say the ship was in international waters, away from fighting, and that the American flag was flying.
Ever since the USS Liberty Veterans Association formed 20 years ago, Hrankowski - the only known USS Liberty survivor in Monroe County and one of only a few in the state - has been an outspoken advocate, talking to groups all over the country to tell the full story.
"Our government said Israel apologized and paid, but the Israelis have not answered and no one ever apologized," Hrankowski said.
According to information on the USS Liberty website, Lyndon Johnson in his memoirs called the attack "a tragic accident." Robert McNamara, his secretary of defense, stated "I didn't believe [the attack] was intended at the time, and I don't believe it now."
But Dean Rusk, Johnson's secretary of state, differed, saying: "I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it to this day. The attack was outrageous."
Hrankowski, 55, still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder because of wounds he suffered from being hit by metal pieces from explosives during the attack.
A former deputy sheriff with the Monroe County Court system, he left work because of his health 10 years ago. Over the past 10 years, he's endured colon surgery and a heart attack - in addition to the ongoing mental trauma.
"There's not a night I've slept a full night," said Hrankowski.
Hrankowski was 21 when he was discharged from the Navy in November of 1969 and returned to Rochester with his wife, Mary Ann, whom he married a few months before getting out of the service.
Hrankowski said for years, there wasn't much publicity about the attack until the early 1980s, when the Veterans Association formed.
During that time period, survivor Jim Ennes, an officer who witnessed the attack, wrote "Assault on the Liberty," which tells the story.
Since then, another book, "Body of Secrets," was written by another survivor, James Bamford, and a History Channel special called "Cover-up Attack on the USS Liberty," was aired four times this year.
A European film about the USS Liberty is about to be released, along with a book written by a Pulitzer-prize winning author, Hrankowski said.
Hrankowski and other veterans traveled to Washington earlier this year to talk to U.S. congressmen about the incident. He said there could be hearings in the future, but nothing is definite yet.
Because of the anniversary of the attack, Hrankowski said he's been deluged with requests for interviews from the local and national media, including MSNBC and CNN.
Hrankowski said publicity helps the cause, but what veterans want is full disclosure to Congress.
"All we want is to have everything released," he said. "We're just asking them to give us a shot like every other incident and have it documented for history and let us be on our way."
For more information on the USS Liberty attack, go to the website at www.ussliberty.org. The website was created by Jim Ennes and Joe Meadors, two survivors of the attack.
After all, all life is precious.
glad you have come aboard. =)
On purpose?
battle damage
Same thing happened on FR when the Israeli "Art Student" story broke. One didn't even have to say the Mossad was behind it, merely wondering what the deal was got people labeled an Arafat supporter, a Nazi, a Jew hater, a conspiracy nut and so on. Got me interested in what Israel is doing. Until that thread, don't think I replied more than a handful of times on a mideast topic in four years of posting. The knee-jerk reactions and slanders are typical liberal reactions when there is something to hide.
So its no big f deal to you that a bunch of U.S. sailors were slaughtered by a foreign airforce paid for with my tax dollars...you can kiss my American a... and go back to the foreign country you came from (or have loyalty to)
I was called on another site, similiar to this one, "an evil coward" because I said, I was neutral, in the struggle between Arafat and Sharon (two bloody old men). I think that the situation of the USS Liberty and the attack, must serve as a distant warning bell.
This is to realise that other things, ie the concentration camps of WW2, seems to give others the right to then blanket and cover hateful treatment of living human beings.
If people still divide themselves into two camps-pro Israeli, or pro Palestinian- I exclude Jewish Americans and Arab Americans- they might think of the USS Liberty and take a second sober think.
British troops were murdered by Arabs in the uprisings of 1938. They were murdered by Israeli in 1946-1948. They got out of that area after the blowing up of the King David Hotel. Yes, try to avoid being drawn in on one side or the other, says I. Murder is murder.
Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets by David Stafford
Enforce the Bill of Rights and demand the Constitution be adhered to....NOW..... To rehash Dead History is like playing a violin while Rome burned-smoke and mirrors of your own placing.
Almost forgot, Sheople LIKE to live in the past......
It's not to in the job description to be deliberately murdered by your "ally."
As for my "fact-filled" post, I already stated what I thought the situation was based on the fact that there really are no facts available to go on. Shit happens in war zones. Civilian airliners get shot out of the air by U.S. warships by mistake. Canadian Marines get bombed by U.S. pilots in Afghanistan by mistake. And so on. Does Isreal have a pattern of attacking U.S. troops, before or since? No.
It is quite possible, and perhaps likely that an Isreali pilot deliberately mis-reported the target so that it was attacked repeatedly, and then later lied. Without proof to the contrary, do you expect the Isreali's to sacrifice a valuable pilot when they are all needed to defend the nation? No. And neither would we - without proof.
From what I have read on the subject, there was a collosal intelligence mistake on the part of the Isrealis. As for wether or not the Liberty was or was not in International waters, you have to remember that the USS Liberty was an intelligence gathering ship that was designed specifically "not" to look like a U.S. warship (a fact conveniently left out of the thread). Isreal was, after all, fully engaged in the Six-day war.
Furthermore, intelligence gathering ships routinely violate the international waters of the nations they are gathering intelligence (hell, US subs used to go into Murmansk during the Cold War). At the very least they run right along those boundaries - which are not always easy to identify at sea or when flying accross them at super-sonic speeds - especially back in the 60's when there was no GPS and radar wasn't always as precise as we would have liked it to be. In fact the "radar error" excuse was often used to explain why our intelligence ships were fond where they were not supposed to be.
As for the nazi argument, the nazis killed millions. There was overwhelming evidence and proof that they did the things they did purposefully and methodically over a long period of time. There is absolutely no justification for that analogy and you know - or would if you had any shame.
You show me evidence that proves the Isreali government sanctioned an attack on a known US flagged ship and I'll grovel for an apology to everyone on this forum. And when I say PROVE, I mean unimpeachable evidence.
As for the nimrod that threw Skakle into the mix, half of his conviction was probably based on the fact that people are just tired of the Kennedy family getting away with murder (pun intended). I'm sure the jury did the right thing.
And finally, my observations about the retired deputy sheriff were simple and valid. I'm sure all retired law-enforcement officers live so well. [/sarcasm]
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