Posted on 10/30/2002 3:37:06 PM PST by yonif
The Truth about the USS Liberty By Yoni Freeman
In response to the presentation on Tuesday October 30th 2002 of the documentary “The Loss of Liberty” by the Council for the National Interest Connecticut, it is my duty to present the real facts concerning the Liberty incident.
The first question one should ask is who exactly are these documentary sponsors? Well after researching the organization on their website (http://www.cnionline.org/) I concluded that the Council for the National Interest is nothing more than an anti-Israeli organization which also shows tendencies of being anti-Semitic. Here are some excerpts from different Middle East articles, written by them, on their website:
1) "The State of Israel was founded 54 years ago to provide a "home" for a people who had been rejected, uprooted, tortured, maimed and expelled by Europe. Did any of us living then think that the Jews would do the same to their hosts in the "homeland," and reject, uproot, torture, maim and expel their Palestinian neighbors? Whole Palestinian villages have been destroyed without a trace -- so that those villagers who left them in 1948 would never have a village to return to at a later date. Why does this sound familiar? Victims have become victimizers?" http://rescuemideastpolicy.com/ads/ad_1.html
2) "ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: WHOSE EXISTENCE IS REALLY IN DANGER?" http://rescuemideastpolicy.com/ads/ad_2.html
3) "The State of Israel was founded 54 years ago to provide a “home” for a people who had been rejected, uprooted, tortured, maimed and expelled by Europe. Did anyone think that Jews would do the same to the Palestinian people who were already living there?" "From 1947-1949, Israel rejected, uprooted, tortured, maimed and expelled the Palestinian population. Israel destroyed over 415 Palestinian villages, along with their churches and mosques, so that the Palestinian villagers could not return. Once Jews were victims of these atrocities, but it is clear that the Jewish victims in Israel have become victimizers of the Palestinians." "In 1967, Israel invaded the rest of historical Palestine: the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The UN has repeatedly voted that Israel leave the Palestinian land and let the Palestinian people be free. Israel has refused, constantly violating international" "Discrimination and apartheid in Israel are striking. Christians and Muslims are not allowed to rent, buy or lease in 92% of Israel. Israel prohibits Palestinian Christians and Muslims from living in Jewish-only colonies." http://rescuemideastpolicy.com/ads/ad_3.html
4) "We the people of the United States challenge our Congress to confront Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his apartheid policy in the occupied Palestinian territories" http://rescuemideastpolicy.com/ads/ad_4.html Everyone already knows my views concerning Israel so there is really no need for me to bring up counter-points to combat these lies above.
But wait a minute, their website states that their organization is “striving for a balanced Middle East Policy.” Do the excerpts above show this?
As you can see, a biased and anti-Israeli organization presented this video. It was no surprise that an anti-Israeli documentary regarding the USS Liberty was aired, subsequently.
In short, the “documentary” (wrmea.com/archives/march2002/0203104.html),
…dramatically proves, beyond any doubt, that the attack by Israel on June 8, 1967 against the U.S. naval intelligence gathering ship USS Liberty, in which 34 Americans were killed and 171 wounded, was deliberate…
… “Loss of Liberty” makes clear that then-President Lyndon Johnson conspired with Israel and its Israel-First supporters inside the U.S. government to support the “tragic accident” scheme.
In order to understand this issue one must understand the background information regarding this incident. In June 1967, a United States Ship, the Liberty, came too close to the coast of Israel. During those days Israel was in a state of war, warding off attacks of surrounding Arab states who were trying to destroy it. The US ambassador declared in the United Nations that no American ships were in the range of 400 miles from Israel. The National Security Agency, part of the ship’s command, was supposed to give timely orders to the USS Liberty to leave, however, these orders arrived days after the attack.
Eight days later, Israeli Air Force planes and boats attacked the ship, killing 34 and wounding 177. The ship did not sink, and slowly moved crippled to a nearby port. After the incident voices were heard: “Did Israel deliberately attack the USS Liberty?”
Here are the facts: Israel’s understanding was that there were no American ships less than 400 miles off its coast, and as she was at war with Egypt, enemy warships were the only ones thought to be off the coast of Israel. At the time the USS Liberty was bombed, there were explosions on the coast and Israeli command thought it was a naval bombardment from Egypt. It was then that Israel moved to attack what they believed to be an Egyptian ship.
In a bid to attack the ship, Israeli jets were scrambled to the area. The Israeli jets that attacked the Liberty were diverted from other targets, and consequently were armed with napalm rather than iron bombs. In a premeditated and deliberate attack meant to sink a ship, no aviator in the world would choose napalm over iron bombs. In the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, for example, iron bombs sunk US battleships in minutes, and the Liberty, a converted freighter, was no battleship.
There were ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations) that concluded there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a US ship. Furthermore they concluded that there was substantial evidence the attack was a tragic mistake caused by blunders of both the US and Israel. Seven US presidents, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, have each accepted the conclusion that the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity. Since the incident the haters of Israel have tried to use this event to try to pull America and Israel apart. This is nonetheless what this Council for the National Interest has tried to do with this presentation. Fortunately this conspiracy theory that this documentary presented on Tuesday at Cummings Center had few takers.
As you can see this documentary didn’t bring forward (1) the fact Israel mistakenly saw this ship as enemy, due to the state of war it was in and bombs shot out from the same area, (2) the US, days earlier, stated there were no ships within 400-miles radius which the Liberty was in, (3) the type of weapon Israel used to attack the ship was napalm, the wrong kind of weapon to use if one wanted to sink the ship(4) there were 10, including 5 congressional investigations, into the incident all concluding that the attack on the USS Liberty by Israel was a tragic mistake.
This incident should serve as a lesson to the Connecticut College administration and related offices in that it should be more vigilant in who it allows to rent its rooms. Making money is ok, but making money off these kinds of organizations is wrong. What’s next? A National Alliance meeting?
Just curious to know if you have had occasion to read the evidence and testimony that supports the Israeli investigations you mention?
Warmest regards,
Joe Meadors
Fine. Kindly define exactly what you mean by "a complete and comprehensive public Congressional investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty."
Simply the same level and depth of Congressional scrutiny that was accorded the attacks on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark, USS Vincennes, USS Cole, Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, etc.
As it stands now, simply mentioning the Liberty incident in a Congressional report immediately turns that report into a Congressional investigation of the attack on the ship.
Even the USNavy JAGC tells us that their investigation did not cover the attack.
Our largest flag -- Holiday Colors -- was flying throughout the torpedo attack.
Another account by a supposed Israeli journalist or reservist [maybe both] abord the torpedo boat *here*. Note that several of the details he describes are at odds with known facts of the attack, but do admit to the launching of the torpedo that claimed 25 lives, and to the killing of the sailor who prevented the Israeli gunboat from murdering the sailors in the lifeboats.
-archy-/-
Can you explain why Israel would attack the USS Liberty, if it could jam your signals?
Can you also explain the failure of the Liberty to answer identification requests?
Can you also expain your involvement with Americans for Middle East Understanding, a group founded by a member of the Israeli Communist party Haddash, Jeff Halper?
AMEU has an intereisng booklist and links. Teh anti-zionism and Historical Revisionism about the Holocaust and teh existance of ancient Israel is fascinating. One might get the idea that there is an anti-Israel agenda.
Do you agree with your crewmate, James Ennes, that ours is a Zionist Occupied Government?
The aircraft carriers USS America and and USS Saratoga and their supporting task force were also within 400 miles, reported as 300 miles out during the attack. Of course, an Israeli attack on them would have resulted in the end of the State of Israel. It's safer to attack a lone ship and machine the survivors, but obnly if you can blame it on someone else- the Egyptians, say. Was that the idea?
I understand that. That's really the whole issue.
Not everything. I've read lots of reactions to the evidence, some of the actual transcripts, on your site.
My post was in response to your statement that there's never been an investigation.
I understand you don't agree with the conclusions. I understand that you don't think they were comprehensive enough. I understand (though you didn't say it) that you don't accept Israel's apology, or think the compensation paid was enough or got to the right people (I don't either, I blame State for that).
But with complete respect for what you and your shipmates have gone through, I think it's disingenuous (sp?) to say there was never an investigation. If you disagree with the findings, or the thoroughness (sp?-I can't spell), that's the case you should be making.
The Liberty was operating legally in international waters.
Do you remember when Ronald Reagan had our Navy shoot down the Libyan planes when they challenged our right to fly in international air space?
In the preparation for an article in the Naval Law Review, LCDR Walter Jacobsen JAGC researched the claim that the area had been declared a war zone. He found that none of the parties to the war had ever declared the area a war zone.
Were you a few hundred miles away from the Syrian border, out of range, to spy on the Golan operations? Or were you there to find evidence from a war-crime that did not occur?
When attacked we were about 77 miles from Ashdod. As to the "true mission" of the ship I haven't a clue. Hopefully that information will come out when the US government deems the attack an appropriate issue to investigate.
Can you explain why Israel would attack the USS Liberty, if it could jam your signals?
Haven't a clue. Hopefully that information would be forthcoming in the yet-to-be-held US government investigation of the attack.
You do raise a good question.
If the Israelis really did think they were attacking an Egyptian ship why did they jam radios on USNavy tacitcal frequencies.
Can you also expain your involvement with Americans for Middle East Understanding
Don't know what you mean by "involvement." They offer a forum for people interested in issues like the Liberty attack and let us tell our story in our words.
Both the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars have passed resolutions calling for a Congressional investigation of the attack. Are you going to ascribe dark intentions to their efforts as well?
Do you agree with your crewmate, James Ennes, that ours is a Zionist Occupied Government?
Don't recall Jim ever claiming that.
I will state quite categorically that our government is full of people in authority who see no problem with American life rafts being deliberately machine gunned in the water with impunity and without remorse.
The Liberty was operating legally in international waters.
Do you remember when Ronald Reagan had our Navy shoot down the Libyan planes when they challenged our right to fly in international air space?
Wo was Libya at war with? No one. War and peace are different under international law.
The Japanese were operating in international waters during the Battle of Midway. We had every right to attack them.
DO you want to know how many times the US borded ships in international waters?
International waters are not sacrosanct during war. The coast between two countries is a war zone.
The US Navy recognized this situation. That is why there was a 400 mile exclusion zone. All American ships were supposed to be west of Cyprus.
This is also why Israel had no reason to expect an American ship in the area, after we had promised them to keep our ships out of the area.
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