Leaving the USS Liberty Crew Behind
Published on Sunday, June 8, 2014 by Common Dreams
Leaving the USS Liberty Crew Behind
--Ray McGovern
Justifying the swap of Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bergdahl, President Obama cited a principle of never leaving U.S. soldiers behind, but that rule was violated in the shabby treatment of the USS Liberty crew, attacked 47 years ago by Israeli warplanes
On June 8, 1967, Israeli leaders learned they could deliberately attack a U.S. Navy ship and try to send it, together with its entire crew, to the bottom of the Mediterranean with impunity. Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty, a state-of-the-art intelligence collection platform sailing in international waters off the Sinai, killing 34 of the 294 crew members and wounding more than 170.
On the 47th anniversary of that unprovoked attack lets be clear about what happened: Israeli messages intercepted on June 8, 1967, leave no doubt that sinking the USS Liberty was the mission assigned to the attacking Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats as the Six-Day War raged in the Middle East. Let me repeat: there is no doubt none that the mission of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was to destroy the USS Liberty and kill its entire crew.
Referring last week to the controversy of the swap of five Taliban prisoners for Sgt. Bode Bergdahl, President Barack Obama claimed, The U.S. has always had a pretty sacred rule: We dont leave our men or women in uniform behind. The only exception, he might have added, is when Israeli forces shoot them up; then mums the word.
Mr. President, try explaining that pretty sacred rule to the USS Liberty survivors. I know them well enough to sense the hollow echo that Obamas claim will leave in their ears and in the ears of the families of those who did not survive.
The crew of the USS Liberty has been left behind, in a figurative as well as a physical sense. There is no way to retrieve the bodies of those washed out to sea through the large hole made by the Israeli torpedo that hit the Liberty amidships, killing 26 of the crew.
There is a way, however, to stop throwing salt in the survivors wounds, as every U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson has done in acquiescing to the false narrative that it was all a terrible case of mistaken identity and confusion by Israeli command and control. That salt burns especially on anniversaries of the tragedy, raising troubling questions about the power of the Israel Lobby and the Israeli government over U.S. politicians.
In apparent fear of the Israel Lobby and not wanting to offend the Israeli government, U.S. officials including the Navy have refused to come clean on what happened 47 years ago. The mainstream U.S. media has been a willing partner in this failure to face the facts and demand accountability.
No Accident
Here, for example, is the text of an intercepted Israeli conversation, just one of many pieces of hard, unambiguous evidence that the Israeli attack was not a mistake:
Continues with Intercept of Israeli Conversation....
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/08-3
A Little Weird
(1,754 posts)I had never heard anything about this.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)The Liberty Veterans Association offers a $10,000 reward to anyone who can establish the truth of A. Jay Cristol's claim:
"After ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations), there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a US ship."
The LVA has disputed the truth of this statement for years. We know it is untrue. The claim that there have been any official Congressional investigations into the culpability for the Israeli attack on USS Liberty is patently false. There have been NO official Congressional investigations on this subject. We believe that the best way to prove that the above statement is untrue is to offer a reward to anyone (including Mr. Cristol) who can prove that it is true.
Address responses to challenge@usslibertyveterans.org.
The challenge has been offered since March 1, 2004, with no takers.
Mosby
(16,310 posts)Last edited Sun Jun 8, 2014, 05:44 PM - Edit history (1)
There is no proof that there was a conversation between the pilot and the ground where the pilot was told to attack an American ship. The actual tapes from the incident show the exact opposite in fact.
It was made up by some writer years ago in order to sell books.
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)I thought that was an automatic hide. Thanks for posting
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I'm not going to post a nastygram to you, but for fairness:
http://archive.adl.org/israel/uss.html#.U5TLefldV8E
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Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)*snarf*
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)as is this article. There are many other debunking sites.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)..and has no dog in the fight, so to speak. ADL, on the other hand, does.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I read some of the comments. Many of they same kooks who think Israel had a hand in 9-11, believe this too.
Commondreams may be liberal, but they attract a lot of kooks, haters, anti-Semites and assorted clowns.
Also McGovern has always had an anti-Israel bias.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)I'm sorry, but many people, especially the survivors - who were there - feel it was a deliberate attack.
Ray McGovern's thoughts about Israel has nothing to do with the story itself. He's just a messenger and anything he's written about this attack can be fact-checked.
Wikipedia actually has a good page about the incident:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
bvar22
(39,909 posts)It was flying a massive US Flag at the time of the attack,
and it is fairly difficult to mistake a US Military ship.
They took it off the board.
Case Closed.
truth2power
(8,219 posts)truth2power
(8,219 posts)I read it yesterday and was trying to figure out how I could post it here without causing some heads to explode over whether to throw Ray McGovern under the bus or admit Israel's culpability in the incident. Best to post without comment, as you have done.
The comments under the article over at CD are instructive, I think.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)I am not saying I think it isn't real. I just think citation is important. It is pretty damning.
hack89
(39,171 posts)"And ground control came back and said, 'Yes, follow orders.'"
http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2007/10/03/1191448866
hack89
(39,171 posts)"And ground control came back and said, 'Yes, follow orders.'"
http://www.americantaskforce.org/daily_news_article/2007/10/03/1191448866