The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Attack on the USS LIBERTY - Part II (6/8/1967) - Sep. 9th, 2003

http://www.logogo.net/liberty.htm ^ | John E. Borne, PhD

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

God Bless America
...................................................................................... ...........................................

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Attack on the USS LIBERTY - Part II

Link to Attack on the USS LIBERTY - Part I

On June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy intelligence-gathering ship off the coast of Gaza, killing 35 men and wounding 171. Israeli apologized and called the attack an accident. The U.S. government accepted the apology and did not openly challenge the explanation For almost three decades the crewmen of the Liberty have waged a campaign to have the attack investigated. Indeed, they claim that not only was the attack was intentional, but also that Johnson recalled the Sixth Fleet rescue flights to avoid a clash between the U.S. and Israel.

The Rescue Flights

In the view of the LIBERTY crewmen, there are two major questions relating to the attack on their ship. First, was the attack accidental or deliberate? Secondly, did President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara delay rescue flights from the Sixth Fleet so that US forces would not clash with Israel?



These are two separate questions, and it would be possible for any observer to conclude that the attack was accidental, and also that the White House delayed the rescue flights. In fact, the crewmen are convinced that the answer is positive in both cases; the attack was deliberate, and LBJ delayed the rescue flights.

When Ennes wrote his book ASSAULT in 1980, he made an effort to find out about the recall of the rescue flights. The investigation is difficult because the US Government has provided almost no information concerning these flights. It has said only that the planes were recalled because Israel had announced that it had attacked the ship.

The US has never admitted that there was more than one flight of planes. There has been no investigation of any kind in this matter, as there was a Naval Court to explore some aspects of the attack. There have been no questions on the matter from Congress or the press; the issue was lost in the flurry of statements in the days after the attack.

Ennes found in 1980, after talking to crewmen and pilots of the Sixth Fleet that there were many confusing and erratic reports concerning the rescue flights , and that there were serious discrepancies between official documents and records on the one hand, and the testimony of reliable witnesses on the other. He concluded, tenatatively, that there had been two rescue flights. The first, at 1450 on June 8, was recalled almost immediately because the planes were carrying nuclear weapons. The second, at 1630 on that same afternoon, was recalled at 1715 because Israel had notified the US at 1700 that it had accidentally attacked the ship.



After Ennes wrote this in 1980, he learned more on the subject from two men who contacted him. The first was Captain Joe Tully, commander of the carrier SARATOGA , which was part of the Sixth Fleet stationed near Crete on June 8, 1967. Tully said that the radio message from LIBERTY, saying that the ship was under attack, was heard by SARATOGA at 1432. Tully notified his superior officer, RADM Geis, who was on a cruiser nearby, that he was turning into the wind and launching his ready group of planes to go to LIBERTY, unless he was given orders to the contrary. Geis approved and told Tully that he (Geis) was also ordering AMERICA, the other carrier in the unit of the Sixth Fleet at the time, to launch rescue planes. (The fleet unit, off Crete on that day, consisted of two carriers with a total of 160 planes, a command cruiser and eight destroyers. LIBERTY was only an hour's flight away at top speed of the planes).

Tully launched his ready group of planes. He noticed that AMERICA had launched no planes, and he signaled "WTH" ("what the hell?") to AMERICA but received no answer. (He did not know then that AMERICA was in the midst of complicated weapons exercises, and was not capable for some time of launching planes).

A moment later, with SARATOGA planes still not over the horizon, Tully received word from Geis that the planes should be recalled. Either VADM Martin, commander of the Sixth Fleet, or Geis, (Tully's memory is not exact) then sent a message to both carriers that a rescue flight should leave in 90 minutes. Tully protested that his planes were ready to leave at once, but he received no reply.

At 1630 planes were launched from both carriers. From this point on there are two confllicting stories. As Tully remembers it, the planes were once again recalled before they had cleared the horizon. However, another account (related in A.Jay Cristol's LIBERTY INCIDENT, and backed by other evidence) says that the planes were not recalled until 1715, after the Israelis had stated that they had accidentally attacked the ship.

Ennes also received new information from LCDR David Lewis, an officer on the ship, who told the following story: Lewis, wounded in the torpedo attack, was transferred to the hospital of AMERICA and RADM Geis sent for him. Geis told him that the first rescue flight had been cancelled on direct orders from Secretary McNamara, who ordered a 90 minute delay before further flights. When the second flight took off at 1630, Geis notified McNamara, who again ordered the recall of the flight. Any officer who doubts the wisdom of an order has the prerogative to go over the head of the officer giving the order, and in this case the only officer superior to McNamara was President Johnson. LBJ came on the phone, and told Geis "I don't care if the ship sinks and every man on board drowns; we are not going to fight against our allies (Israel)."

Geis made Lewis promise not to tell about this conversation as long as he, Geis, was alive. After Geis's death, Lewis revealed this.



This is an astounding and shocking statement by President Johnson. The accuracy of Tully's account and of Geis's account, as related by Lewis, are questions to be explored at greater length.

Recall of the Flights

The accounts of the rescue flights and their recall rely upon minimal and inadequate documentation, possible flawed memories, and unanswered questions. As a result, the story is one of loose ends, unresolved problems and partisan charges. Yet the issues are of such importance that the debate cannot be avoided.

There are two issues of the greatest importance.

1. We are dealing with the problem of the 90 minute delay, and final cancellation, in sending rescue flights to LIBERTY, when as far as the White House and the Sixth Fleet knew the ship was under constant attack and in danger of sinking. It would seem that only the most serious reasons could justify the recall of the flights. Yet if Dave Lewis is correct, LBJ stopped these flights in order to avoid any clash with Israel. As serious as this matter is, no Congressman or journalist asked LBJ or McNamara a single question about it in the 34 years since the attack.
   
2. There is a problem concerning the timing of events. ADM Geis, speaking through Dave Lewis, says that McNamara ordered the cancellation of the first rescue flight at 0900 White House time. Yet the official history (such as President's Daily Diary) states that LBJ (and McNamara) were first notified of the attack on LIBERTY at 0949 White House time, nearly an hour later. If Geis is correct, then the White House documents are false and part of a cover-up.

The LIBERTY crewmen's account of the flights and recalls:

1. Tully and Geis: flight from SARATOGA at 1450. Planes recalled at once by radiotelephone call from McNamara; planes returned to carrier at 1500. Tully ordered to wait for 90 minutes before a new flight. He said that his planes were ready to fly at once but he got no answer. Geis claimed that he protested McNamara's order for recall and spoke to LBJ but this availed nothing. (No official record of this flight and recall; no record of calls from LBJ or McNamara). Carrier AMERICA was not able to send planes on this flight because the carrier was in the midst of training exercises and had no ready group of planes available for an hour.
   
2. Tully, Ennes and Cristol: At 1630 flights were launched from both carriers, but meanwhile events were moving to cancel need for flights. At 1610 Israel notified US attaché Castle that it had accidentally attacked LIBERTY. Castle's message on this reached White House at 1704 and went to Situation Room where LBJ met with advisers. McNamara contacted 6th fleet by radiotelephone; flights ordered at 1715 to return to carriers.

Cristol strongly attacks the above account of the 1450 flight on these grounds:

1. It was not possible in 1967 to speak from Washington to a ship in the Mediterranean by radiotelephone.
   
2. There was a well established chain of command from Geis to McNamara; Geis was not likely to shortcut this.
   
3. McNamara in an interview with Cristol denies that he spoke to anyone in the Sixth Fleet on that day, and in particular did not speak to Geis.

Crewmen response to Cristol criticism:

1. There was standard equipment for radiotelephone calls from White House to ships in Mediterranean in 1967. In fact, in another interview with Cristol, contradicting the one described above, McNamara says that he used radiotelephone to Sixth Fleet to recall the flight at 1715.
   
2. Engen, although he generally praises Cristol and backs his version of events, nevertheless backs the LIBERTY men in detailed accounts and says that McNamara spoke directly to Geis by radiotelephone.
   
3. Although a chain of command existed, the crewmen claim that LBJ and McNamara ignored it when speed of contact was an urgent matter.
   
4. Call from McNamara to Geis was relayed through a US Naval communications station in Morocco and overheard by CPO Julian Hart, who later contacted Ennes to provide this evidence.

The discussion above concerns the 1450 flight from SARATOGA, and the1630 flight from both carriers. There are two other accounts of flights which provide uncertain information or false data. These are:

1. (From Cristol): Flights from both carriers at 1516 by order of ADM Martin; called back at 1609 after 55 minute flight. We do not know why flights were recalled. They were only a few miles from LIBERTY at the time.
   
2. (From Engen): A flight took off from AMERICA at 1600 but was called back at once by RADM Geis. Engen says that LBJ had told Geis that Israel had admitted it accidentally attacked LIBERTY. However, the Israelis did not make this admission until 1700, an hour later, so this account makes no sense.

It is difficult to understand the two accounts above. Among other things, if both accounts were true, at about 1600-1609 we would have a situation where one flight was headed for LIBERTY while another flight, much nearer, was turning back in order and NOT to contact the ship.



The story of the rescue flights is poorly documented and largely still unknown. Tully was not able to find out why the 90 minute delay in the rescue flights was ordered. In a similar way, ADM Thomas Moorer says that later in his capacity as member of the JCS and as CNO, he was never able to find out the reason for the delay. It was considered a closely guarded secret.

Because this is still an area of unexplored history, the LIBERTY men hope to eventually have a Congressional hearing on the issue.

[SAMWolf]

Doing ok for the most part. Ran into some problems with the threads but Snippy and I got it covered.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Oh, sorry I missed you, Snippy.

Nighty night. Hope to see you tomorrow.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Glad to hear that, Sam.

[PhilDragoo]

I read a recent book on the genesis of the U.S. - Israeli alliance during the Kennedy administration. Interestingly, at the same time the New Frontiersmen were trying to put together an alliance with Nasser, a relationship like we have today with Egypt. Nasser was interested, but when he went to war in Yemen against the Saudis it was too hard to put together. Still, some very high level State Department types wanted a deal with Nasser. Did the Israelis suspect we were feeding Nasser intelligence?

That is the thesis of John Loftus and Mark Aarons which I excerpted on Part I at 76.

[PhilDragoo]

Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 STOCKDALE JAMES B. ABINGDON IL. [02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]

My stepson USNA 94 gave me this book:

I have seen information that Kerry (the french-looking one) steamrollered reports of live POWs to "normalize" relations with Vietnam so his relative could make a killing there in real estate.

That together with his other Hanoi Jane in drag antics (throwing someone else's medals over the White House fence) make him a prime candidate for ignominous defeat.

[SAMWolf]

Evening PhilDragoo.

That together with his other Hanoi Jane in drag antics (throwing someone else's medals over the White House fence) make him a prime candidate for ignominous defeat.

Funny how that part of his Vietnam service is overlooked, sort of like clinton's draft dodging was ignored.

[colorado tanker]

Interesting theory, Phil. It would be nice to put McNamara under some truth serum and find out what really happened. Given the way he's tried to whitewash his role as architect of the Vietnam War, I doubt he'll ever tell the truth about the Liberty.

[colorado tanker]

If Kerry is serious about running as a war hero, he has a lot of 'splainin' to do about his actions after he came home.

[adlaistevenson]

The attack on the USS Liberty is a shameful chapter in our history. The answers of why the attack occured, and the US

response however are easier to explain. With the most recent Freedom of Information Act documents, and the comprehensive

history of the National Security agency by James Bamford titled Body of Secrets a clear picture is rendered. During the

Six Day War, the Joint Chiefs needed rapid intelligence on the ground situation in Egypt, fearing possible US and

USSR involvement. Remember that the Israeli Military, was then, principally armed by the French, not the US. Land based

stations, like the one in Cyprus were too far away to collect the narrow line-of-sight signals used by air defense radar, fire

control radar and microwave communications. The airborne SIGINT platforms, C-130s and EC_121s were limited to

about 5 hour stints in their "orbit areas" and couldn't provide sustained collection. That left the ships, which were all NSA

vessels. With the USS Oxford, Jamestown, Georgetown, and Belmont in the Pacific, and the USS Muller off Cuba,

that left the USNS Valdez and the USS Liberty. The Valdez was passing Gibraltar, going back to the States and the

USS Liberty was tasked.

By June 8, three days into the war, the Egyptian prisoners in the Sinai had become nuisances with no place to house them,

or enough Israleis to watch them. At El Arish, eavesdropping within eyeshot was the USS Liberty. The crew witnessed

the execution of sixty unarmed Egyptian prisoners, hands tied behind their backs. About 400 more prisoners were executed

in this fashon in El Arish by the Isralei army officers that day. This has been verified by Isralei military historian Aryeh

Yitzhaki, based on testimony from dozens of soldiers who admitted killing POWs. As many as 1000 other Egyptian POWs

were killed this way in the Sinai. Also 14 Indian peacekeepers flying the UN flag were killed in an apparently deliberate

attack. With the killing of the unarmed UN forces, the Israleis had crossed the Rubicon, and committed themselves to no

surviving witnesses. By 10:55 am, Senior Isralei officials knew for certain that an American surveillance ship was in their midst.

It had been positively identified by Isralei naval headquarters and clearly visible to the forces at El Arish. Commander Pinchas

Pinchasy, the naval liason at IAF referenced the "GTR-5" designation ( clearly painted on bow and stern, port and starboard

adjacent to "USS LIBERTY") in Janes Fighting Ships. His report of "an electromagnetic audio-surveillance ship of the

U.S. Navy, named Liberty, whose marking was GTR-5", was received at Isralei Naval Headquarters in Haifa, and survives to

this day.

Here's the kicker: for 35 years the NSA has hidden the fact that one of its planes was overhead during the slaughter,

eavesdropping the attack, A Navy EC-121 ferrett out of Athens. The intercepts from that plane, which answer some of

the key questions about the attack, remain among the NSAs most guarded secrets. All Americans should demand thier

release.

And remember, we Liberals can be patriotic too.
adlaistevenson

[SAMWolf]

This is the first I heard about a Navy EC-121 out of Athens being present.

I have heard that the attack was to cover up the execution of POWs by the Israelis. It's incidents like this, that never seem to get answers that makes the people distrust the government.