[perryp]

Former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff speaks out about USS Liberty cover-up

By ADM. THOMAS MOORER

After State Department officials and historians assembled in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, I am compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history's most shocking cover-ups.

On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship -- the USS Liberty -- killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then betrayed and left to die by our own government.

U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled, not once, but twice, through direct intervention by the Johnson administration. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty, which I personally confirmed from the commanders of the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga, was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.

To add insult to injury, Congress, to this day, has failed to hold formal hearings on Israel's attack on this American ship. No official investigation of Israel's attack has ever permitted the testimony of the surviving crew members.

A 1967 investigation by the Navy, upon which all other reports are based, has now been fully discredited as a cover-up by its senior attorney. Capt. Ward Boston, in a sworn affidavit, recently revealed that the court was ordered by the White House to cover up the incident and find that Israel's attack was "a case of mistaken identity."

Some distinguished colleagues and I formed an independent commission to investigate the attack on the USS Liberty. After an exhaustive review of previous reports, naval and other military records, including eyewitness testimony from survivors, we recently presented our findings on Capitol Hill. They include:

· Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the ship. Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility. The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and numbers on its bow.

Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with a small Egyptian transport, the Liberty was conspicuously different from any vessel in the Egyptian navy. It was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world in 1967. With its massive radio antennae, including a large satellite dish, it looked like a large lobster and was one of the most easily identifiable ships afloat.

· Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.

· Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most seriously wounded.

As a result, our commission concluded that:

· There is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.

· In attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against U.S. servicemen and an act of war against the United States

· The White House knowingly covered up the facts of this attack from the American people.

· The truth continues to be concealed to the present day in what can only be termed a national disgrace.

What was Israel's motive in launching this attack? Congress must address this question with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services.

The men of the USS Liberty represented the United States. They were attacked for two hours, causing 70 percent of American casualties, and the eventual loss of our best intelligence ship.

These sailors and Marines were entitled to our best defense. We gave them no defense.

Did our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? If so, why? Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli interests? These are important questions that should be investigated by an independent, fully empowered commission of the American government.

The American people deserve to know the truth about this attack. We must finally shed some light on one of the blackest pages in American naval history. It is a duty we owe not only to the brave men of the USS Liberty, but to every man and woman who is asked to wear the uniform of the United States.

Moorer was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 1970 to 1974. He is joined in the independent commission of inquiry by Gen. Ray Davis (recently deceased); Rear Adm. Merlin Staring; former Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Ambassador James Akins.

[MacGorilla]

The USS Liberty incident was been a baffling mystery for years. Maybe someday we'll know the truth.

[The Mick]

Damn!
I was not familiar with the attack before you posted this. If true, and the gentlemen behind the study certainly have credibility on their side, then this is truly a disgraceful act by our government.

[MacGorilla]

Even from the beginning, the whole "accident" thing was pretty far fetched. I've heard the Israelis hit the Libert because they though we were spying for Egypt.

[sanity assassin]

The truth about this story has been out for a number of years, adn the guilt of Israel is very obvious. Israel has still to be brought to justice for it, like a good many other things too.

[eklipse]

If Israel was involved I'm sure it was all just a big 'accident' or an act of 'self-defense'.

I'd sooner believe that the ship in question had been hijacked by neo-Nazi, anti-Semetic, Ba'ath party members smuggling weapons to the Palestinians before I suspected Israel of any nefarious activity.

[xi_hyperon]

About a year ago I read this book about the NSA, in which a section of it is devoted to what happened in the Liberty incident and why. The Liberty was a floating listening post and was sent by the Joint Chiefs to the Middle East to monitor happenings during the war of 1967. If memory serves right, the author alleges that the Israelis sought to silence the ship as it was off the coast of El Arish, supposedly the site where dozens of Egyptian prisoners were being executed. I haven't got time to find the book or post much more, but thought I'd throw this out as a suggestion for anyone who would like to learn more. This was just one small part of the whole book, which overall was a fascinating read.

[vmarks]

It wasn't until June 1 of 1967 that the US 'would now back Israel' (as the memo read.)

This backing was the result of talks between the Mossad chief Amit and CIA head Richard Helms. On June 2 or 3, Helms sent President Johnson an 'eyes only' message assessing the lead up to the 1967 Six-Days War, and that Israel would launch its attack within a few days. Jordan apparently reached the same conclusion, with King Hussein declaring on June 4 that war was only 'a few days away.'

The IAF had Mirage IIICs, Super Mystéres, Ouragans and Vantours. The Egyptians sent up their own air patrol mostly composed of Syrian aircraft, with a few British-made Hawker Hunters, four patrols of twelve planes each, from 4 am until 7am round the clock, over the Mediterranean, the Israeli border, and the Suez.

Fmr. Director Helms wrote:

Israeli authorities subsequently apologized for the accident, but few in Washington could believe that the ship had not been identified as an American naval vessel. Later, an interim intelligence memorandum concluded that the attack was a mistake and "not made in malice against the U.S." When
additional evidence was available, more doubt was raised....

... This prompted my Deputy, Admiral Rufus Taylor, to write me his view of the incident. "To me, the picture thus far presents the distinct possibility that the Israelis knew that the Liberty might be their target and attacked anyway, either through confusion in Command and Control or through deliberate disregard of instructions on the part of subordinates."

In any of these events, Moorer wasn't on the ship, and is only looking at the incident in its individuality, not the totality of the other events surrounding Israel fending off Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in the face of the UN's evacuation instead of defending the Suez as they originally intended to. Moorer joined the Joint Chiefs of staff in 1970, two and a half years post the incident, and joined the inquiry following that. The US only declared it's intentions as friendly days before war broke, and declared in the most subtle, hidden, understated way possible. Confusion over the presence of such a ship was probable.

So, either there is the possibility that it truly was an accident (very probable) or that it was the result of confusion. I'm going to discount deliberate disregard of instructions on the part of subordinates as improbable based on my experience with members of the Israeli armed forces, even though Helms accounts for the possibility.

[perryp]

more Israel-firsters in government....

Tempers flare over US spy-ship inquiry

Survivors of one of the most hotly disputed incidents in American military history - the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty spy-ship in 1967 -_on Monday_accused the US authorities, past and present, of a cover-up in backing Israeli claims that it was a tragic mistake.

Emotions boiled over in the basement of the State Department as the Office of the Historian opened a public conference on the six-day Arab-Israeli war with heated debate over newly released intercepts from the archives of the secretive National Security Agency.

Most of the basic facts are undisputed. On June 8 1967, Israeli aircraft and later torpedo boats struck the Liberty just off the Mediterranean coast, killing 34 crew and wounding 172. The ship, one of the world's most sophisticated listening vessels but only lightly armed, limped into port.

From there the controversy begins. An immediate US Navy court of inquiry backed the Israeli claim that it had been mistaken for an Egyptian warship. The US accepted $12m (?9.4m, £6.5m) in compensation.

While some historians have accepted this, survivors and a varied group of academics and former military officials insist the attack was deliberate.

"You're trying to whitewash it," one survivor shouted from the audience as Marc Susser, the State Department's historian, acted as moderator and sought to keep order, refusing to allow speeches from the floor. Even debate on the panel of invited historians descended into acrimony with one contributor accused of being an Israeli agent.

Two recent developments added fuel to the controversy.

Last week Ward Boston, a naval captain who acted as senior legal counsel for the Navy's court of inquiry in 1967, signed an affidavit declaring that the late Admiral Isaac Kidd, president of the court, had told him that President Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara, defence secretary, had ordered a cover-up.

And on Monday, David Hatch, the National Security Agency's own historian, elaborated on the recently declassified NSA material, the first time the eavesdropping agency had released real voice intercepts.



Mr Hatch confessed that the information "doesn't settle much". But his analysis of the conversations between an Israeli air controller and two helicopter pilots "suggested strongly" that the Israelis did not know at first they were attacking a US vessel, although there was mention of a US flag flying.

He also regretted that the new NSA material did not clarify why the Liberty had not received orders sent to it to leave a war zone.

Joseph Lentini, a survivor who has spent the past 36 years researching the tragedy, told reporters he remained convinced that the attack was deliberate.

He admits it is hard to understand why the Israelis would want to sink a ship of its closest ally at a time of war. Conspiracy theories abound.