"Lest We Forget: The USS Liberty"

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iV3I0bMoQ0c/WwvHgH4JzqI/AAAAAAACBKM/uBTcPK42wvAeXRR6NhLhGTeJZr592kd6gCLcBGAs/s1600/liberty-1-800x445.jpg
"Lest We Forget: The USS Liberty"
by Paul Craig Roberts

"June 8, 1967 - the fourth day of the Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan - was a beautiful day in the Mediterranean. The USS Liberty was in international waters off the coast of Egypt. Israeli aircraft had flown over the USS Liberty in the morning and had reported that the ship was American. The crew, in close proximity to the war zone, was reassured by the presence of Israeli aircraft. But at 2:00 p.m. sailors sunbathing on the deck saw fighter jets coming at them in attack formation. Red flashes from the wings of the fighters were followed by explosions, blood and death. A beautiful afternoon suddenly became a nightmare. Who was attacking the USS Liberty and why? The attack on the Liberty was an attack on America.

The Liberty was an intelligence ship. Its purpose was to monitor Soviet and Arab communications in order to warn both Israel and Washington should the Soviets enter the war on behalf of its Arab allies. The Liberty was armed only with four machine guns to repel boarders. Its request for a destroyer escort had been denied.

The assault on the Liberty is well documented. With no warning, the Liberty was attacked by successive waves of unmarked jets using cannon, rockets and napalm. The attacking jets jammed all of the US communications frequencies, an indication they knew the Liberty was an American ship.

The air attack failed to sink the Liberty. About 30 minutes into the attack three torpedo boats appeared flying the Star of David. The Israeli boats were not on a rescue mission. They attacked the Liberty with cannon, machine guns and torpedoes. One torpedo struck the Liberty mid-ship, instantly k*****g 25 Americans while flooding the lower decks. The Israeli torpedo boats destroyed the life rafts the Liberty launched when the crew prepared to abandon ship, sending the message there’d be no survivors.

At approximately 3:15 two French-built Israeli helicopters carrying armed Israeli troops appeared over the Liberty. Phil Tourney could see their faces only 50/60 feet away. He gave them the finger. Surviving crew members are convinced the Israelis were sent to board and k**l all survivors.

The Israeli jets destroyed the Liberty’s communication antennas. While under attack from the jets, crew members strung lines that permitted the ship to send a call for help. The USS Saratoga and the USS America launched fighters to drive off the attacking aircraft, but the rescue mission was aborted by direct orders from Washington.

When the Liberty notified the Sixth Fleet it was again under attack, this time from surface ships, the Fleet commander ordered the carriers America and Saratoga to launch fighters to destroy or drive off the attackers. The order was unencrypted and picked up by Israel, which immediately called off its attack. The torpedo boats and the hovering helicopters sped away. Israel quickly notified Washington that it had mistakenly attacked an American ship, and the US fighters were recalled a second time.

The USS Liberty suffered 70% casualties, with 34 k**led and 174 wounded. Although the expensive state of the art ship was kept afloat by the heroic crew, it later proved unsalvageable and was sold as scrap.

Why didn’t help come? No explanation has ever been given by the US government for Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and President Lyndon B. Johnson‘s orders for the Sixth Fleet to abort the rescue mission. Lt. Commander David Lewis of the Liberty told colleagues that Admiral L. R. Geis, commander of the Sixth Fleet carrier force, told him that when he challenged McNamara’s order to recall the rescue mission, LBJ came on the line and said he didn’t care if the ship sank, he wasn’t going to embarrass an ally. The communications officer handling the t***smission has given the same account.

A BBC documentary on the Israeli raid reports confusion about the attacker’s identity almost resulted in a US assault on Egypt. Richard Parker, US political counsel in Cairo, confirms in the BBC documentary he received official communication an American retaliatory attack on Egypt was on its way.

The US government’s official position on the USS Liberty corresponds with Israel’s: The attack was unintentional and a result of Israeli blunders. This is the official position despite the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State Lucius Battle, and a long list of US Navy officers, government officials and Liberty survivors are on record saying the Israeli attack was intentional.

According to Helms, Battle and the minutes of a White House meeting, President Johnson believed the attack was intentional. Helms says LBJ was furious and complained when The New York Times buried the story on page 29, but that Johnson decided he had to publicly accept Israel’s explanation. “The political pressure was too much,” Helms said.

US communications personnel, intelligence analysts and ambassadors report having read US intercepts of Israeli orders to attack the Liberty. In one intercept an Israeli pilot reports that the Liberty is an American ship and asks for a repeat and clarification of his orders to attack an American ship. One Israeli who identified himself as one of the pilots later came to America and met with US Representative Pete McCloskey and Liberty survivors. The pilot said he had refused to participate in the attack when he saw it was an American ship. He was arrested upon returning to base.

The Liberty flew the US f**g. The ship’s markings, GTR-5, measured several feet in height on both sides of the bow. On the stern the ship was clearly marked USS LIBERTY. Mistaking the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, as Israel claims to have done, was impossible.

Tattered f**gs show ferocity of the attacks: The Israelis claim the Liberty flew no f**g, but two US f**gs full of holes from the attack exist. When the first f**g was shot down, crewmen replaced it with a f**g 7-feet by 13-feet. This f**g, with its battle scars, is on display at NSA headquarters at Ft. Mead, Maryland.

Admiral John S. McCain Jr., the father of the current US senator, ordered Admiral Isaac C. Kidd and Captain Ward Boston to hold a court of inquiry and to complete the investigation in only one week. In a signed affidavit Captain Boston said President Johnson ordered a cover-up and that he and Admiral Kidd were prevented from doing a real investigation. Liberty survivors were ordered never to speak to anyone about the event. Their silence was finally broken when Lt. Commander Jim Ennes published his book, Assault on the Liberty .

It is now established fact that the attack on the Liberty was intentional and was covered up by President Johnson and every administration since. There has never been a congressional investigation, nor has the testimony of the majority of survivors ever been officially taken. Moreover, testimony that conflicted with the cover-up was deleted from the official record.

Disgusted by the US government’s official stance discounting the survivors’ reports, Admiral Tom Moorer, retired Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, organized the Moorer Commission to make public the known facts about the attack and cover-up. The Commission consisted of Admiral Moorer, former Judge Advocate General of the US Navy Admiral Merlin Staring, Marine Corps General Raymond G. Davis and former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Akins.

The Commission’s Report concluded:

• “That there is compelling evidence that Israel’s attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and k**l her entire crew.
• “That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the US Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while the ship was under attack.
• “That surviving crew members were threatened with “court-martial, imprisonment or worse’ if they exposed the t***h; and [the survivors] were abandoned by their own government.
• “That there has been an official cover-up without precedent in American naval history.
• “That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation.”

Why did Israel attack the Liberty? Was something super secret going on that is so damaging it must be protected at all cost? Some experts believe Tel Aviv decided to sink the Liberty because the ship’s surveillance capability would discover Israel’s impending invasion and capture of Syria’s Golan Heights, an action opposed by Washington. Others believe Israel was concerned the Liberty would discover Israel’s massacre of hundreds of Egyptian POWs, a war crime contemporaneous with the attack on the US ship. Still others believe that Israel intended to blame the attack on Egypt in order to bring America into the war. It is known the US was providing Israel with reconnaissance and that there were joint US-Israeli covert operations against the Arabs that Washington was desperate to keep secret.

Survivors with whom I spoke said the attack was the easy part of the experience. The hard part has been living with 40 years of official cover-up and betrayal by the US government. One survivor said that he was asked to leave his Baptist church when he spoke about the Liberty, because the minister and fellow church-goers felt more loyalty to Israel than to a member of the congregation who had served his country. His church’s position was that if our government believed Israel, the survivors should also.

Survivor Phil Tourney said that “being forced to live with a cover-up is like being raped and no one will believe you.” Survivor Gary Brummett said he “feels like someone who has been locked up for 40 years on a wrongful conviction.” Until the US government acknowledges the t***h of the attack, Brummett says the survivors are forced to live with the anger and dismay of being betrayed by the country they served.

Survivor Bryce Lockwood has been angry for all these years. The torpedo that k**led his shipmates, wrecked his ship and damaged his health was made in the USA. Survivor Ernie Gallo told me he “has been haunted for five decades” by the knowledge that his commander-in-chief recalled the US fighters that could have prevented most of the Liberty’s casualties.

Every American should be troubled by the fact that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense prevented the US Sixth Fleet from protecting a US Navy ship and its 294-man crew from foreign attack. They should also be troubled that the President ordered the Navy to determine the attack was unintentional. For more information, visit the USS Liberty site.”
- https://www.theburningplatform.com/
◆
Related:
"New Revelations In Attack On American Spyship USS Liberty"
"The Attack on USS Liberty, June 8, 1967"
"Israel's Attack On The USS Liberty- The Full Story"

What happen to you 200 plus yrs ago was horrible!!!I get it!!!....But sorry, paying back for this is NOT gonna happen!!!...Its like me asking Germans to pay Jews for all the atrocities Hitler did to them....That is not gonna happen either....So,please try to get over it and stop your crying and instead appreciate everything you have right now!!!

From David Frum, The Atlantic.

“On Memorial Day, as the nation turned to the president to lead its shared rituals of unity and common purpose, he revealed himself too small for the office he holds.
Memorial Day is for the living: for those who mourn, for those who remember, for those who carry upon their bodies and souls the scars of war. It is the opportunity for society to express gratitude. That is not only a duty to the past. It’s a commitment to the future—because Memorial Day speaks not only to those who have sacrificed in the past, but to those who may be called on to sacrifice in years to come.
“To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” is a promise not denominated only in dollars and cents. We commit spiritually, too, to do our limited human best to understand and appreciate the losses and suffering imposed by the defense of the nation.
It is the responsibility and honor of the president to speak for the nation on the solemn occasions of collective remembrance. Some presidents are endowed with greater natural eloquence than others, but that does not matter. What the country listens for is the generous and authentic message underneath the rhetoric, whether that rhetoric is graceful or clumsy. The last general to win the presidency said, “I h**e war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” The country heard those words, believed them, and trusted him.
The 45th president is often described—and sometimes praised—as “authentic.” That compliment, if is a compliment, is not truly deserved. In many ways, President Trump is not the man he seems. He was not a great builder, not a great dealmaker, not a billionaire, not a man of strength and decisiveness.
But there is one way in which he truly is authentic: He is never able to play-act the generous feelings that he so absolutely lacks. “To show an unfelt sorrow is an office which the false man does easy.” In that one sense, Donald Trump is not false. He does not feel sorrow for others, and he does not try to pretend otherwise.
Trump’s perfect emptiness of empathy has revealed itself again and again through his presidency, but never as completely and conspicuously as in his self-flattering 2018 Memorial Day tweets. They exceed even the heartless comment in a speech to Congress—in the presence of a grieving widow—that a fallen Navy Seal would be happy that his ovation from Congress had lasted longer than anybody else’s.
It’s not news that there is something missing from Trump where normal human feelings should go. His devouring need for admiration from others is joined to an extreme, even pathological, inability to return any care or concern for those others. But Trump’s version of this disconnect comes most especially to the fore at times of national ritual.
Donald Trump cares enormously about national symbols—the f**g, the anthem—when he can use them to belittle, humiliate, and exclude.
Trump has called for revoking the citizenship of those who burn the f**g. He has suggested that NFL players who do not rise for the Star-Spangled Banner should be deported. He scored one of the greatest victories of his presidency when the National Football League submitted to his demand to punish players who did not stand at attention for the anthem. Vice President Pence ran the victory lap for Trump on this one.
But when it comes time to to lead the nation in its shared rituals of unity and common purpose, Donald Trump cannot do it. He is, at most, president of slightly more than half of white America, and often not even that. He cannot not be a jerk, and he is most a jerk when a proper president would be most a leader.
What happens then if the country should find itself in a moment when national leadership is required? A mass-casualty terrorist attack, a natural disaster that takes many lives, a crisis that might lead to war, a war itself? Trump’s decisions are leading the country toward possible conflict in the Korean Peninsula and against Iran.
What if that leadership actually arrives at the brink of outright conflict? How can a president who only grabs credibly ask others for sacrifice? How can the most untrustworthy man ever to hold the office effectively summon anyone to follow him? Franklin Roosevelt in his first inaugural address spoke of “the warm courage of national unity.” There will never be any such thing under a Trump presidency, and the fault lines embittered by Trump’s ceaseless provocations will shatter in a real national crisis.
On every Memorial Day, Americans should pray for peace. On this Memorial Day and the next, and the one after that, Americans should pray with extra fervor—because war, if it comes, will come under the leadership of a man too puny and too mean to do the job.”

Obama declared there were no scandals under his administration making him the top winner of the “Pinocchio Pageant”.

You’re delusional! Here are some you missed!

Great Stimulus Heist! $1 Trillion dollars set aside for “stimulus projects” vanished. Dispatched “Joe Biden” to find out where the money went. Where’s the report?

Operation Fast Furious and Stupid! Insane plan by Obama to use gun dealers and straw man purchasers to get weapons into the hands of Mexican Drug Lords? This qualifies him as a candidate for the “Darwin Award for stupidity!”

Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress! First sitting member of a president’s cabinet to be held in contempt for not answering tough questions on the “fast and furious fiasco.”

Obamacare! If you like you doctor, you can keep him. Your rates will go down. Nothing but a massive Ponzi scheme to enrich the Obama Cronies by extorting money from the working class.

Spying on Journalists! Spied on James Rosen using wiretaps.

IRS scandal! Targeting pro-life and tea party members for extra scrutiny and delaying their applications for tax exempt status to prevent them from having a stronger voice in the upcoming e******n.

B******i! Spun a phoney story to cover up their stupidity in the handling of the attack on the American embassy and death of the ambassador and four brave Americans simply to buy some time to win the e******n.

Hillary Clinton’s secret server! Obama knew she had been operating a secret server to enrich her foundation, channel monies to the DNC, take huge sums of payola from corporate and foreign donors to gain political influence to achieve their objectives at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Pigford Scandal! Use of taxpayer monies to compensate minorities for racial discrimination for which it was later determined no legitimate basis could be established.

NSA spying scandal! Edward Snowden pilfered classified data under obama’s Watch and it was applauded by Eric Holder.

Bowe Bergdahl! T*****r was responsible for death’s of other soldiers who left base camp in an attempt to rescue Bergdahl who joined the Taliban. He was tried, convicted and pardoned by Obama. He is currently free and planning to run for a congressional seat as a democrat.

Iran Nuclear Deal And Ransome! Obama was silent during Iran’s green revolution put down by the mullah. He tried to secretly deliver pallets of cash $180B to our worst enemy allowing them to expand and accelerate their nuclear program and increase their sponsorship of terrorism around the globe.

Polluting The Colorado River! Under Obama’s watch the EPA polluted the Colorado River by causing the release of toxic waste into a tributary of the Colorado River.

GSA scandal! The GSA was found to be spending huge sums of federal monies on lavish parties funded by the hardworking taxpayer.

VA death list scandal! Veterans were put on secret death lists while executives handed in phony reports and signed themselves up for huge bonuses.

Solyndra! One of the many examples of “Crony Capitalism” whic occurred under the Obama Administration. Corners were cut and protocols ignored to shovel federal monies into companies with absurdly unrealistic business models. Federal funds delivered, kickbacks paid back to the politicians, executives receive large salaries and bonuses, workers who were pawns in this political chess game were hired, business fails, employment terminated. America wonders where the $10 Trillion debt came from under the Obama Administration.

Secret Service Gone Wild! The secret service was loose under the loose Obama Administration. The secret service frolicked with hookers in Columbia, let fence jumpers get to the walls of the White House, had tipsy driver ram the security fence.

Shutdown Theater: Obama’s closed parks and shutdown memorials to our veterans.

He stands before America and declares there were no scandals during his presidency. He’s delusional. The worst president ever. The democrats served him up to the American people and the V**ers put him in. I will never v**e for a democrat, ever!

Obama declared there were no scandals under his administration making him the top winner of the “Pinocchio Pageant”.

You’re delusional! Here are some you missed!

Great Stimulus Heist! $1 Trillion dollars set aside for “stimulus projects” vanished. Dispatched “Joe Biden” to find out where the money went. Where’s the report?

Operation Fast Furious and Stupid! Insane plan by Obama to use gun dealers and straw man purchasers to get weapons into the hands of Mexican Drug Lords? This qualifies him as a candidate for the “Darwin Award for stupidity!”

Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress! First sitting member of a president’s cabinet to be held in contempt for not answering tough questions on the “fast and furious fiasco.”

Obamacare! If you like you doctor, you can keep him. Your rates will go down. Nothing but a massive Ponzi scheme to enrich the Obama Cronies by extorting money from the working class.

Spying on Journalists! Spied on James Rosen using wiretaps.

IRS scandal! Targeting pro-life and tea party members for extra scrutiny and delaying their applications for tax exempt status to prevent them from having a stronger voice in the upcoming e******n.

B******i! Spun a phoney story to cover up their stupidity in the handling of the attack on the American embassy and death of the ambassador and four brave Americans simply to buy some time to win the e******n.

Hillary Clinton’s secret server! Obama knew she had been operating a secret server to enrich her foundation, channel monies to the DNC, take huge sums of payola from corporate and foreign donors to gain political influence to achieve their objectives at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Pigford Scandal! Use of taxpayer monies to compensate minorities for racial discrimination for which it was later determined no legitimate basis could be established. You make the man sound like a piller of vertue.

NSA spying scandal! Edward Snowden pilfered classified data under obama’s Watch and it was applauded by Eric Holder.

Bowe Bergdahl! T*****r was responsible for death’s of other soldiers who left base camp in an attempt to rescue Bergdahl who joined the Taliban. He was tried, convicted and pardoned by Obama. He is currently free and planning to run for a congressional seat as a democrat.

Iran Nuclear Deal And Ransome! Obama was silent during Iran’s green revolution put down by the mullah. He tried to secretly deliver pallets of cash $180B to our worst enemy allowing them to expand and accelerate their nuclear program and increase their sponsorship of terrorism around the globe.

Polluting The Colorado River! Under Obama’s watch the EPA polluted the Colorado River by causing the release of toxic waste into a tributary of the Colorado River.

GSA scandal! The GSA was found to be spending huge sums of federal monies on lavish parties funded by the hardworking taxpayer.

VA death list scandal! Veterans were put on secret death lists while executives handed in phony reports and signed themselves up for huge bonuses.

Solyndra! One of the many examples of “Crony Capitalism” whic occurred under the Obama Administration. Corners were cut and protocols ignored to shovel federal monies into companies with absurdly unrealistic business models. Federal funds delivered, kickbacks paid back to the politicians, executives receive large salaries and bonuses, workers who were pawns in this political chess game were hired, business fails, employment terminated. America wonders where the $10 Trillion debt came from under the Obama Administration.

Secret Service Gone Wild! The secret service was loose under the loose Obama Administration. The secret service frolicked with hookers in Columbia, let fence jumpers get to the walls of the White House, had tipsy driver ram the security fence.

Shutdown Theater: Obama’s closed parks and shutdown memorials to our veterans.

He stands before America and declares there were no scandals during his presidency. He’s delusional. The worst president ever. The democrats served him up to the American people and the V**ers put him in. I will never v**e for a democrat, ever!