The Truth about the USS Liberty

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.

…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?

The question is WHO recalled the strike.

Cristol merely says that it wasn't McNamara. I tend to believe him on that point, because of the time difference between the Eastern Med and Washington, DC (IIRC, ten or eleven hours), and this attack went down in midday local time. Someone would have to locate McNamara (or get him out of bed), get him up to speed on the situation (possibly while he's still trying to get fully awake), he'd have to decide to recall the birds (which have been winging eastward towards the Liberty the entire time), and the recall order would have to get out to the aircraft in time.

You might be able to do all that today, with all the commo infrastructure we have available (civilian and military). In 1967? Far less likely.

My guess is that COMSIXTHFLT in Naples recalled the strike once he realized which aircraft had been committed.

Do you know if that interview is available on the internet?

As to that specific interview (on The Dennis Prager Show; sometime in the last week
or two), I suspect you'll have to contact Prager's staff. Prager sells tapes of his shows.
Either just go to www.dennisprager.com and click for "customer service". I think
there is e-mail and phone contact info. (the phone info sort of buried at the bottom of the page).

Or try this ponderous URL to get there.

http://stores.dennisprager.com/cgi-bin/Dennisprager.storefront/3dc320c0001f8b69271742f09cbf06d8/Service

Additionally, there is this "contact information" at Cristol's site of
www.thelibertyincident.com:

Contact information

To contact the author, please send your comments, questions, or supplemental
material by mail to:

The Liberty Incident
c/o American #200
1666 - John F. Kennedy Causeway
Miami Beach, FL 33141

Please include a legible name, mailing address, and telephone number.

Hope this helps you out.

Cristol merely says that it wasn't McNamara.

According to a poster here who heard the interview, Cristol denies McNamara even sent the planes at all. That's where it gets wierd. Perhaps, he was just a bit too general in his denial and he didn't mean to imply that. Then again, given Cristol's tendency to distort the truth, I don't have a problem believing he denied that any planes were dispatched and recalled.

Both sites are owned, operated, and representative of the policies of the Council for the National Interest.

Go to http://rescuemideastpolicy.com/index.html
and you will see that header, etc. at the bottom. This is a newer site of theirs.

Here is their main site:
http://www.cnionline.org/
On that page you have:
For highlights from our April 27-30 conference please visit the following link:
www.rescuemideastpolicy.com

You see? It is their policies. Look before you speak, or type in this context.

Israel destroyed over 415 Palestinian villages, along with their churches and mosques, so that the Palestinian villagers could not return.

So....what about this statement do you claim is incorrect or "Anti-Semitic" and what exactly does this have to do with the USS Liberty? Have you ever heard of Irgun or The Stern Gang? They were Jewish terrorist orginizations. Irgun in particular is known for wiping out at least one village of Arabs. How is it anti-Semitic to restate these facts?

As you can see, a biased and anti-Israeli organization presented this video.

Who presented the video is irrelevant. Furthermore your claim that the facts being presented on the websites are "biased" is a matter of opinion. Perhaps you don't like the facts but that doesn't make them "anti-Israel" or biased.

What of the film? Do you have anything other than a logical fallacy (guilt by association) to debunk any of the facts presented in the film? Did you even watch the film?

it is anti-Semitic by acusing Israel, as a state and people, for committing these acts, which in effect, if happened, they would have done by a terrorist organization not the government of Israel, who did not and never supported any terrorist groups fighting in its name (for example the Kach' organization, Israel brands it as terrorist).
It is anti-Semitic. In addition it is accusing Israel with generalistic and unfactual comments. They can't back this up. They are simply trying to write propaganda to make Israel look as a criminal.

What is this have to do with the USS Liberty? Think about it. Would a anti-Israel organization show a documentary saying that Israel mistakenly attacked the Liberty or a documentary which accuses Israel of doing so on purpose? And how can you trust a documentary written by such an organization as showing the truth. In that documentary, as I said, it did not talk about the congressional hearings that occured, it did not talk about the various other facts we mentioned. It simply forgot them. If you wish to present a balanced view, you would have to show both sides. In that specific documentary it is a bunch of rhetoric, anti-semetic, and biased propaganda aimed at Israel.

What do you mean? Who presented this video is already a hint as to what kind of information will be presented by this video. And the fact this organization is anti-Israel, makes this video already distrustful to its factual content.

First of all, are those facts that I just excepted? No they are not. OK. It is like this. Facts can be used against one's cause, like Israel. Take this for example (this is what is prevelant in some news organizations such as CNN): "4 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank" This is a fact. 4 were killed. But what the headline doesn't mention is that the 4 were "killed" when the bomb they were constructing prematuraly blewup.

I watched the film. And was not shocked at what I saw. Nothing but propaganda taken directly from the style of Arab-anti Israel propaganda.

I did not debunk any of the facts in the film. All the "facts" that were presented were either lies, misrepresented facts, and rehetoric from the organization which helped fund the making of the documentary, an organization against Israel and against the Israeli-American friendship.

it is anti-Semitic by acusing Israel, as a state and people, for committing these acts, which in effect, if happened, they would have done by a terrorist organization not the government of Israel

Rabin, who headed Irgun, received a Nobel Peace Prize and did in fact the become the Leader of Israel. To say that Israel didn't condone what he did, is to ignore all facts. There is nothing anti-Semetic about telling the truth. Now, as to the alleged "bias" by the organization presenting the film in question: Do you have anything to say about that or do you expect everyone to simply accept your charges of anti-Semitism with not even a shred of rational or hard evidence to support your accusation?

Would a anti-Israel organization show a documentary saying that Israel mistakenly attacked the Liberty or a documentary which accuses Israel of doing so on purpose?

The question is vapid. Your attempt to paint the organization as "anti-Israel" hasn't even begun, much less been established.

And how can you trust a documentary written by such an organization

The organization in question didn't write the documentary. Have you seen the documentary?

as I said, it did not talk about the congressional hearings that occured,

What's to talk about? There have been no congresional hearings convened which investigated the matter. When there is such a hearing, then perhaps a documentary producer can mention it.

Who presented this video is already a hint as to what kind of information will be presented by this video.

Nonsense.

I did not debunk any of the facts in the film.

Obvious to any reading your screed. Until you do, your credibility will be about nil.

"Rabin, who headed Irgun, received a Nobel Peace Prize and did in fact the become the Leader of Israel. To say that Israel didn't condone what he did, is to ignore all facts. There is nothing anti-Semetic about telling the truth. Now, as to the alleged "bias" by the organization presenting the film in question: Do you have anything to say about that or do you expect everyone to simply accept your charges of anti-Semitism with not even a shred of rational or hard evidence to support your accusation? "

I am not here to discuss the activities of the Irgun (which by the way in Hebrew means organization or group). Frankly, I do not know much about that. I already provided my conclusions regarding anti-Semitism by showing excepts from the various articles concerning Israel. In no article on that middle east section do they condone Palestinian terorrism. Remember that. They don't even mention it.

"The question is vapid. Your attempt to paint the organization as "anti-Israel" hasn't even begun, much less been established"

See the above comment.

"The organization in question didn't write the documentary. Have you seen the documentary? "

It helped by providing various "facts" and its own assumptions. Furthermore many of its "Israeli History" facts which are thrown into the documentary are in line with what this organization believes in. Such as the distortment of how the 1967 war began. They simply say Israel attacked first. This is true in a sense, but they do not provide clear background information leading up to the vital day.

"What's to talk about? There have been no congresional hearings convened which investigated the matter. When there is such a hearing, then perhaps a documentary producer can mention it. "

There has been 5 congressional investigations. In order to be "fair" to the other side and show balance, the producer should have included this fact and many others.

It is not nonsense, it is fact. It is the art of propaganda and knowing what one will do based on their way of thinking.

It is commensense. For example, would Stalin's propaganda machine include anything good about the United States in history textbooks or video footage? Of course not. He would state various crime "statistics," show white policemen beating up blacks, etc. You would expect that even before he does so.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.