The Truth about the USS Liberty

College Voice of Connecticut College | Will be Nov. 1st | Yoni Freeman

[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?

[gcruse]

"masters"
"inner party"

Come on, Adolf, dispense with the code words.

[archy]

The type of weapon used was napalm, the wrong kind of weapon to use if one wanted to sink the ship...

Thase napalm fires sure make big holes. Right on the waterline, like a torpedo that fails to explode.

[archy]

One of the reasons it causes nasty flame wars is that people frequently post nonsense like this post. The version of the attack presented here is simply a pack of barefaced lies. I can think of no kinder way to describe it.

Were you there? I'm not meaning to question your evaluation, only wondering if your assessment is based on firsthand knowledge.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Why would they want to thwart US communications intelligence gathering?

There was considerably more going on in the area than *just* communications gathering. The alert flight of aircraft from the carriers USS America and USS Saratoga responding to the attack on the Liberty on the orders of Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis were recalled because higher command believed that they were armed with nuclear weapons. Geis is reported to have later claimed that the order recalling the alert aircraft flight from the carrier came directly from Secretary of Defense MacNamara. Subsequent flights were also cancelled, and assistance did not reach the wounded aboard the Liberty for 16 hours, though the Sixth Fleet was less than 300 miles away, and it appears that the Israeli attack was photographed and filmed from US submarine USS Amberjack, SS522 and/or possibly also at least two other US submarines operating in the area.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Why would they want to thwart US communications intelligence gathering?

There was considerably more going on in the area than *just* communications gathering. The alert flight of aircraft from the carriers USS America and USS Saratoga responding to the attack on the Liberty on the orders of Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis were recalled because higher command believed that they were armed with nuclear weapons. Geis is reported to have later claimed that the order recalling the alert aircraft flight from the carrier came directly from Secretary of Defense MacNamara. Subsequent flights were also cancelled, and assistance did not reach the wounded aboard the Liberty for 16 hours, though the Sixth Fleet was less than 300 miles away, and it appears that the Israeli attack was photographed and filmed from US submarine USS Amberjack, SS522 and/or possibly also at least two other US submarines operating in the area.

-archy-/-

[archy]

Why would they want to thwart US communications intelligence gathering?

There was considerably more going on in the area than *just* communications gathering. The alert flight of aircraft from the carriers USS America and USS Saratoga responding to the attack on the Liberty on the orders of Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis were recalled because higher command believed that they were armed with nuclear weapons. Geis is reported to have later claimed that the order recalling the alert aircraft flight from the carrier came directly from Secretary of Defense MacNamara. Subsequent flights were also cancelled, and assistance did not reach the wounded aboard the Liberty for 16 hours, though the Sixth Fleet was less than 300 miles away, and it appears that the Israeli attack was photographed and filmed from US submarine USS Amberjack, SS522 and/or possibly also at least two other US submarines operating in the area.

-archy-/-

[Cicero]

As it happens, I am strongly pro-Israel.

Nevertheless, I believe that the preponderance of the evidence suggests that Israel deliberately attacked "The Liberty."

They did so because Lyndon Johnson lied about where the ship was and because Lyndon Johnson was using the ship to gather information that might have caused the U.S. to undermine Israel's self-defense at a crucial time, when its very existence was at stake. In other words, they did it because they had to, to ensure their own survival.

Sometimes our political leaders send American troops into harm's way for very questionable or immoral purposes. The troops have no choice but to obey orders and go. That was true of clinton's immoral attack on Yugoslavia. I believe it was also true of Lyndon Johnson's plan to use information gathered by the Liberty to undermine Israel's self-defensive war.

The result was tragic. It's hard not to feel divided about this. On the one hand, Israel acted to defend its very existence. On the other hand, they killed American troops unprepared to defend themselves, with whom they were not at war. I blame Lyndon Johnson, who in the end was indeed forced to join Israel in covering up what happened, because it was as potentially damaging to him as it was to Israel.

I'm sorry that left-wing anti-semitic fools are putting this story to such shameful use. But it doesn't help to paper over what actually happened.

[yonif]

This is not a "version" of the attack. It simply dicusses the facts, as they are summarized in the final paragraphs. Fact, the ship didn't sink, it went to a near port. Fact, napalm was used. Fact, US Ambassador to UN said no ships in 400 mile radius (Liberty was in there). Fact, Israel was at war with Egypt and as there was an understanding there were no US Ships in the vacinity it simply thought it was an Egyptian ship. These are facts.

[yonif]

Israel did apologize for the mistaken and tragic event.

[yonif]

They don't deny the truth. They did fire upon the ship, but in a mode of where they didn't know it was American.

[rmlew]

Yoni,
It is great to see a Conservative Jew outspoen at ConnColl!
I was at Conncoll in 1995-96 for Freshman Year. (I helped found the Hillel and was the rep for Student Council.)I see that it is as liberal as ever.

I tried to be active, but it was difficult. The College Republicans was run by a pro-Choice "fiscal moderate" (see RINO) who made it clear that they would only campaign for Bill Weld and that if anyone else were the nominee, she would not vote for him. I was pushed out for being too conservative.

Later I wrote some pro-life articles for the paper. For my efforts someone drew a swastika on my dormroom door. (I guess they noticed the Mezzuzah.)

Do you know professor William Frasure? He was my advisor and one of the few conservatives I know.
I'm sure Professor Brooks has been helpful. Is he still the Hillel advisor? Is he still a peacenik on Israel? (Can you say hi for me?)
I see you have a new president, presumably Jewish. See if you can't get him to make a statement. Is he as liberal as Claire Gaudiani was?

[rmlew]

The same reason that a few right-wing anti-semites do.
Communist want to destroy Israel. Spreading disinformation to drive a wedge between the US and Israel would help.

[yonif]

In addition both US and Israeli investigations conclude these facts. 8 administrations have agreed to Congressional and independent findings that said it was a tragic mistake.

Comeon, how many times did the US make such mistakes like in 1991 when they killed British soldiers on APCs cause they mistook them for Iraqis?

[yonif]

The lies I hear are that the USS Libery was "listening in" on Israeli soldiers committing "war crimes" by executing Egyptian POWs.

If it was an effort to cover up these "crimes" why was the Liberty attacked with napalm and not iron bombs? why was the Liberty not sunk? Why were there survivors? The only reason Israel attacked it was because it thought it was Egyptian ship and it went over to it to cripple it, as it did to the Liberty.

[seeker41]

I think you might find him at Liberty Forum.LOL

[hanuman]

Even if you accept that the INITIAL atack on the U.S.S. Liberty was a mistake (a big if), there remains the question of subsequent attacks on the ship and crew. At a later point, you have an obviously devastated ship aflame and adrift -- and scarcely a threat to anyone. Yet, when Israeli torpedo boats had the opportunity to inspect the ship at very close range and to observe that it was indeed a U.S. ship (Old Glory was still flying) what did they do? They shot and tried to sink the goddamn lifeboats!

Admiral Wheeler thought the attack was deliberate. Dean Rusk thought the attack was deliberate. And, most importantly, the crew of the Liberty thought (and still thinks) that the attack was deliberate. I choose to believe the statements of our patriotic servicemen who served on the Liberty over all the post-hoc rationalizations and cover stories that have emerged since those dark days in 1967.

[TopQuark]

One of the reasons it causes nasty flame wars is that people frequently post nonsense like this post.

How do you know that? You joined FR just today.

Have you been banned, Mr. Davis?

[yonif]

To anyone else:

C.I.A. report June 13, 1967 no malice; attack a mistake

U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry June 18, 1967 mistaken identity

Report by Clark Clifford July 18, 1967 no evidence ship was known to be American

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 1979/1981 no merit to claims attack was intentional

National Security Agency 1981 Mistaken identity

House Armed Services Cmtee 1991/1992 No support for claims attack was intentional

About the boats:

• There are also indications that Mr. Painter will claim on camera that when the USS Liberty put life rafts in the water these were machine-gunned by Israeli torpedo boats, which if true could well be a violation of the laws of war.

If Mr. Painter does indeed level this charge in the documentary he is contradicting both his own sworn testimony before the Court of Inquiry, and that of his Captain. The Court’s opening question to Lt. Painter, after name, rank and organization, was:

On 8 June 1967, at about 1400 hours, an incident occurred aboard the USS Liberty in which the vessel was attacked. Would you please relate to this Court of Inquiry what you recall concerning that incident?

Nowhere in his response did Lt. Painter mention anything about Israeli attacks on life rafts in the water. On the contrary, he testified that most of the life rafts had been damaged and set alight during the prior jet attacks on the ship, and that he and his crew pushed many of these burning life rafts overboard:

At this time [after the torpedo attack], the DC central passed the word to prepare to abandon ship. We then filed out to our life rafts which were no longer with us because they had been strafed and most of them were burned, so we knocked most of them over the side... All during this time in Repair Three, my men were fighting fires and knocking burning life rafts, etc.

What possible reason could Lt. Painter have had for omitting in his testimony the charge which he now makes, that Israel attacked the Liberty’s life boats after they were put in the water? Or does he claim that he did testify to this before the Court of Inquiry but that his testimony was tampered with? Does he therefore charge that even the US Navy is part of an alleged coverup?

Whatever the reason for the divergence between Mr. Painter’s present claims and his testimony, Captain McGonagle also never mentioned any attack on life boats during his testimony. On the contrary, he testified that after the torpedo attack some crewmen mistakenly put life boats in the water, and that he ordered them to stop because the ship was in no danger of sinking:

No bodies were noted in the vicinity of the ship following the explosion. Several life rafts, however, were released and placed into the water by various crew members whom I was unable to communicate with prior to their placing the boats in the water. They exercised their initiative on the scene, and no fault can be found with their estimate, not having the information that I had. When the messenger was sent to tell them to leave the lifeboats alone, that the ship was in no danger of sinking at that time, but that the lifeboats might be needed at a later time, no additional lifeboats were placed in the water.

Does it seem reasonable that Cdr. McGonagle, having mentioned in his testimony the placing of the life boats in the water, would somehow forget to tell the Court of Inquiry that these life boats were then attacked by Israel? I researched this answer on various media-watch dog websites.

[green team 1999]

well,there we go again,i`m not going to post pictures like before,but you left few inconvenient items out.

1- israeli recon planes came to take a look at the ship uss liberty .(picture available,taken from the ship.)

2-torpedoe boats came over and circle the ship,(us flag clearly seen)(picture of boats available,taken from the ship)

3-after all that recon from the air and water then came the fighter bombers,(not only napalm but cannon fire against the liberty,(us flag clearly seen at the mast)and the torpedoe boats also did attack with torpedoes and machine gun against the ship,( a picture posted by a fellow freeper shows the torpedoe damage at water level.

[yonif]

Post links to the pictures and then I will reply.