On the 52nd anniversary of the attack on the USS Liberty, Ray McGovern focuses on Terry Halbardier, who sent the SOS that saved the ship from Israeli destruction.
This article was written in 2014 on the occasion of Halbardier’s death.
By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News
Terry Halbardier, who as a 23-year old seaman in 1967 thwarted Israeli attempts to sink the USS Liberty, died on Aug. 11 in Visalia, California. It took the U.S. government 42 years after the attack to recognize Halbardier’s heroism by awarding him the Silver Star, a delay explained by Washington’s determination to downplay Israeli responsibility for the 34 Americans killed and the 174 wounded.
On June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, the Israeli military attacked the USS Liberty, an American spy ship which had been monitoring Israeli transmissions about the conflict. Intercepted Israeli communications indicated that the goal was to sink the Liberty and leave no survivors.
USS Liberty receives assistance from units of the Sixth Fleet, after she was attacked and seriously damaged by Israeli forces off the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, 1967. (US Navy photo)
Warplanes and torpedo boats had already killed 34 and wounded 174, when Halbardier slid over the Liberty’s napalm-glazed deck to jury-rig an antenna and get an SOS off to the Sixth Fleet. The Israelis intercepted the SOS and broke off the attack immediately. In effect, Halbardier prevented the massacre of all 294 onboard. Still, the infamy of the attack on the Liberty was two-fold.
First, the Liberty, a virtually defenseless intelligence collection platform prominently flying an American flag in international waters, came under deliberate attack by Israeli aircraft and three 60-ton Israeli torpedo boats off the coast of the Sinai on a cloudless June afternoon during the six-day Israeli-Arab war. Second, President Lyndon Johnson called back carrier aircraft dispatched to defend the Liberty lest Israel be embarrassed, the start of an unconscionable cover-up, including top Navy brass, that persists to this day.
Given all they have been through, the Liberty survivors and other veterans who joined Halbardier to celebrate his belated receipt of the Silver Star on May 27, 2009 can be forgiven for having doubted that the day of the hero’s recognition would ever come.
In the award ceremony at the Visalia (California) office of Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman pinned the Silver Star next to the Purple Heart that Halbardier found in his home mailbox three years ago. Nunes said, “The government has kept this quiet I think for too long, and I felt as my constituent he [Halbardier] needed to get recognized for the services he made to his country.”
Silver Star recipient Terry Halbardier, who got off an SOS message that saved the USS Liberty from Israeli destruction on June 8, 1967.
Nunes got that right. Despite the many indignities the Liberty crew has been subjected to, the mood in Visalia was pronouncedly a joyous one of Better (42 years) Late Than Never. And, it did take some time for the moment to sink in: Wow, a gutsy congressman not afraid to let the truth hang out on this delicate issue.
Treatment Accorded the Skipper
I was present that day and I could not get out of my head the contrast between this simple, uncomplicated event and the earlier rigmarole that senior Navy officers went through to pin a richly deserved Medal of Honor on another hero of that day, the Liberty’s skipper, Captain William McGonagle.
Although badly wounded by Israeli fire on June 8, 1967, McGonagle was able to keep the bombed, torpedoed, napalmed Liberty afloat and limping toward Malta, where what was left of the bodies of the 34 crewmen killed and the 174 wounded could be attended to. Do the math: yes, killed and wounded amounted to more than two-thirds of the Liberty crew of 294.
I remembered what a naval officer involved in McGonagle’s award ceremony told one of the Liberty crew: “The government is pretty jumpy about Israelthe State Department even asked the Israeli ambassador if his government had any objections to McGonagle getting the medal.”
When McGonagle received his award, the White House (the normal venue for a Medal of Honor award) was all booked up, it seems, and President Lyndon Johnson (who would have been the usual presenter) was unavailable.
So it fell to the Secretary of the Navy to sneak off to the Washington Navy Yard on the banks of the acrid Anacostia River, where he presented McGonagle with the Medal of Honor and a citation that described the attack but not the identity of the attackers.
Please don’t misunderstand. The Liberty crew is not big on ceremony. They are VERY-not-big on politicians who wink when Navy comrades are killed and wounded at sea. The Liberty survivors are big on getting the truth out about what actually happened that otherwise beautiful day in June 1967.
The award of the Silver Star to Terry Halbardier marked a significant step in the direction of truth telling. Halbardier said he accepted his Silver Star on behalf of the entire 294-man crew. He and fellow survivor Don Pageler expressed particular satisfaction at the wording of the citation, which stated explicitly — with none of the usual fudging — the identity of the attackers: “The USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats in the East Mediterranean Sea.”
In the past, official citations, like Captain McGonagle’s, had avoided mentioning Israel by name when alluding to the attack. I think former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck put it best in condemning this kind of approach as “obsequious, unctuous subservience to the peripheral interests of a foreign nation at the cost of the lives and morale of our own service members and their families.” Strong words for a diplomat. But right on.
Just a Guy From Texas
Were it not for Halbardier’s bravery, ingenuity, and technical expertise, the USS Liberty would surely have sunk, taking down much if not all of the crew.
You see, the first thing the Israeli aircraft bombed and strafed were the Liberty’s communications antennae and other equipment. They succeeded in destroying all the antennae that were functional. One antenna on the port side, though, had been out of commission and had escaped damage.
In receiving the Silver Star, Halbardier made light of his heroism, claiming that he was just a guy from Texas who could do a whole lot with simple stuff like baling wire. (In the infantry we called this kind of thing a “field expedient.”)
In any case, with his can-do attitude and his technical training, he figured he might be able to get that particular antenna working again. But first he would have to repair a cable that had been destroyed on deck and then connect the antenna to a transmitter.
The deck was still being strafed, but Halbardier grabbed a reel of cable, ran out onto the deck, and attached new cable to the antenna so a radioman could get an SOS out to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean.
Voila. “Mayday” went out; almost immediately the Israeli aircraft and torpedo ships broke off the attack and went back to base; the Israeli government sent a quick apology to Washington for its unfortunate “mistake;” and President Johnson issued orders to everyone to make believe the Israelis were telling the truth, or at least to remain silent.
To their discredit, top Navy brass went along, and the Liberty survivors were threatened with court martial and prison if they so much as mentioned to their wives what had actually happened. They were enjoined as well from discussing it with one another.
The shot-up Liberty.
As Liberty crewman Don Pageler put it, “We all headed out after that, and we didn’t talk to each other.” The circumstances were ready-made for serious Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The stories shared by Liberty survivors after the award ceremony, including descriptions of the macabre but necessary effort to reassemble torpedoed body parts, and the plague of survivor’s guilt, were as heart-rending as any I have heard. They are stories that should be shared more widely for those muzzled far too long.
These were the deep emotional scars to supplement the ones all over Halbardier’s body, some of which he uncovered when asked by the local press gathered there in Visalia. Typically, Halbardier made light of the shrapnel that had to be plucked out of his flesh, emphasizing that he was lucky compared to some of the other crew.
No Mistake
Despite Israeli protestations, the accumulated evidence, including intercepted voice communications, is such that no serious observer believes Israel’s “Oops” excuse of a terrible mistake. The following exchanges are excerpts of testimony from U.S. military and diplomatic officials given to Alison Weir, founder of “If Americans Knew” and author of American Media Miss the Boat:
Israeli pilot to ground control: “This is an American ship. Do you still want us to attack?”
Ground control: “Yes, follow orders.”
“But sir, it’s an American ship, I can see the flag!”
Ground control: “Never mind; hit it!”
Haviland Smith, a CIA officer stationed in Beirut during the Six-Day War, says he was told that the transcripts were “deep-sixed,” because the U.S. government did not want to embarrass Israel.
Equally telling is the fact that the National Security Agency (NSA) destroyed voice tapes seen by many intelligence analysts, showing that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing. I asked a former CIA colleague, who was also an analyst at that time, what he remembered of those circumstances. Here is his e-mail reply:
“The chief of the analysts studying the Arab-Israeli region at the time told me about the intercepted messages and said very flatly and firmly that the pilots reported seeing the American flag and repeated their requests of confirmation of the attack order. Whole platoons of Americans saw those intercepts. If NSA now says they do not exist, then someone ordered them destroyed.”
One need hardly add at this point that the destruction of evidence without investigation is an open invitation to repetition in the future. Think the more recent torture-interrogation videotapes.
As for the legal side: the late Captain Ward Boston, unburdened himself on his accomplice role as the Navy lawyer appointed as senior counsel to Adm. Isaac Kidd, who led a one-week (!) investigation and then followed orders to pronounce the attack on the Liberty a case of “mistaken identity.” Boston signed a formal declaration on Jan. 8, 2004, in which he said he was “outraged at the efforts of the apologists for Israel in this country to claim that this attack was a case of ‘mistaken identity.’” Boston continued:
“The evidence was clear. Both Adm. Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew Not only did the Israelis attack the ship with napalm, gunfire, and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned three lifeboats that had been launched in an attempt by the crew to save the most seriously wounded, a war crime
“I know from personal conversations I had with Adm. Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of ‘mistaken identity’ despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”
W. Patrick Lang, Col., USA (ret.), who was the Defense Intelligence Agency’s top analyst for the Middle East for eight years, recounted the Israeli air attacks as follows: “The flight leader spoke to his base to report that he had the ship in view, that it was the same ship he had been briefed on, and that it was clearly marked with the U.S. flag
“The flight commander was reluctant. That was very clear. He didn’t want to do this. He asked them a couple of times, ‘Do you really want me to do this?’ I’ve remembered it ever since. It was very striking. I’ve been harboring this memory for all these years.”
Lang, of course, is not alone. So too Terry Halbardier, who told those assembled at his Silver Medal award ceremony, “I think about it [the attack on the Liberty] every day.”
Why Sink the Ship?
What we know for sure is, as the independent commission headed by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Thomas Moorer put it, the attack “was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.”
What we do not know for sure is why the Israelis wanted that done. Has no one dared ask the Israelis? One view is that the Israelis did not want the United States to find out they were massing troops to seize the Golan Heights from Syria and wanted to deprive the U.S. of the opportunity to argue against such a move.
USS Liberty after the attack.
James Bamford offers an alternative view in his excellent book, Body of Secrets. Bamford adduces evidence, including reporting from an Israeli journalist eyewitness and an Israeli military historian, of wholesale killing of Egyptian prisoners of war at the coastal town of El Arish in the Sinai.
The Liberty was patrolling directly opposite El Arish in international waters but within easy range to pick up intelligence on what was going on there. And the Israelis were well aware of that. But the important thing here is not to confuse what we know (the deliberate nature of the Israeli attack) with the ultimate purpose behind it, which remains open to speculation.
Also worth noting is the conventional wisdom prevalent in our Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) that Egypt forced Israel into war in June 1967. An excellent, authoritative source has debunked that, none other than former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin! In an unguarded moment in 1982, when he was prime minister, he admitted publicly:
“In June 1967, we had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that [Egyptian President] Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”
Thus, the Israeli attack admittedly amounted to starting a war of aggression, and the occupied West Bank territories and the Golan Heights gained by the Israelis in the 1967 war remain occupied to this day. The post World War II tribunal at Nuremberg distinguished a “war of aggression” from other war crimes, terming it the “supreme international crime, differing from other war crimes only in that it contains the accumulated evil of the whole.”
Perhaps the attempt to sink the Liberty and finish off all survivors qualifies as one of those accumulated evils. Terry Halbardier summed it up this way when he was awarded his Silver Star: “There’s lots of theories but let’s just say they didn’t want us listening in to what they wanted to do.”
Getting Away With Murder
In sum, on June 8, 1967, the Israeli government learned that it could get away with murder, literally, and the crime would be covered up, so strong is the influence of the Israel Lobby in our Congress, and indeed, in the White House. And those USS Liberty veterans who survived well enough to call for an independent investigation have been hit with charges of, you guessed it, anti-Semitism.
Does all this have relevance today? Of course. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understands that there is little that Israel could do that would earn the opprobrium of the U.S. Congress or retaliation from the White House, whether it’s building illegal settlements or slaughtering civilians in Gaza. The Israelis seem convinced they remain in the catbird’s seat, largely because of the Israel Lobby’s influence with U.S. lawmakers and opinion makers.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, (DoD Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley)
One of the few moments when a U.S. official has had the audacity to face Israel down came from significantly a U.S. Navy admiral. In early July 2008, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, was sent to Israel to read the riot act to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who seemed to be itching to start hostilities with Iran while President George W. Bush was in office.
We learned from the Israeli press that Mullen, fearing some form of Israeli provocation, went so far as to warn the Israelis not to even think about another incident like the attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, that the Israelis should disabuse themselves of the notion that U.S. military support would be knee-jerk automatic if Israel somehow provoked open hostilities with Iran.
This is the only occasion I am aware of in which a U.S. official of such seniority braced Israel about the Liberty incident. A gutsy move, especially with Vice President Dick Cheney and national security aide Elliott Abrams then in the White House, two hawks who might well bless, or even encourage, an Israeli provocation that would make it very difficult for Washington to avoid springing to the defense of its “ally.”
The Israelis know that Mullen knows that the attack on the Liberty was deliberate. Mullen could have raised no more neuralgic an issue to take a shot across an Israeli bow than to cite the attack on the Liberty. The Jerusalem Post reported that Mullen cautioned that a Liberty-type incident must be avoided in any future military actions in the Middle East.
Perhaps Mullen had learned something from the heroism of Terry Halbardier
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. After serving as an Army infantry/intelligence officer, he spent a 27-year career as a CIA analyst. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Everyone should have a sign in there front yard that has. U.S.S.Liberty 1967.
An outstanding article..I zm surprised that Devin Nunes ,a member of todays groveling Conservative worship of Isrsel.,had the nerve to do this ceremony! In 1980 ,everyone in DC were stunned when Senator Adlai Stevenson IV quit abruptly.. His father was the legendary Adlai Stevenson of Ill ,Democratic Presidential candidate in 52 & 56 . The unbeatable Senator, who had no credible challengers, had met with survivors of the USS Liberty ,to the outrage of the Israeli Lobby, they had just tried to knock of Moderate Republican Charles Percy in 1978 (.succeeded in 84 hitting him.Left / Right, primary / general ,then funding a hapless Libertarian to pull votes from.him.), for defying them . When Stevenson ran for Governor in 82 they viciously slandered him ,and he lost by 1600 votes to a Republican known for his syncopated Israeli Lobby attitude….Illinois, Land Of Lincoln ,and once heartland of America First had been taken over by Israel.First . The USS Liberties story must be told far and wide ,to wake up the so called ‘ Patriots ‘ who fall for the eternal deception of the world Zionism .
Wow my comment was scrubbed.all i said was that every one should have a sign in there front yard that said U.S.S. Liberty 1967….since my comment disappeared. Ill add that years ago there was a recording of President Johnson making the demand..i want that god dam ship at the bottom….anyone ever hear this recording of Johnson….
What else can Israel get away with. How about 9/11. Recently FBI released pictures of Mossad members preparing to take pictures of Twin Towers burning on 9/10 and taking pictures on 9/11 as they danced with joy.
I recall that in the 1980’s l read two books in succession about the attack on the USS Liberty, about which l knew nothing at the time. One of these referred to a “Polaris” or somesuch submarine sitting on the seabed in hydrophone communication with the Liberty on the surface. This made a distinct impression on me, as a merchant navy Captain. If l recall correctly the Liberty was to monitor Israeli radio traffic to look out for the Israeli decision to use it’s new nuclear weapons on Egypt, i.e. Cairo, if it was losing the war. I can only speculate then that the U.S. Administration might threaten the Israelis with the missiles aboard the submarine, or equally, would threaten the Egyptians ( i.e. Cairo) with the missiles if they were about to overrun Israel. At a distance of some 30 years l still vividly recall the reference to the submarine sitting on the seabed below the Liberty. The other book was more conventional Liberty fare that we are all familiar with. I heard the same reference briefly while watching a TV documentary on the same topic. Can anyone clarify whether there was in fact a missile submarine under the Liberty, and whether the Israelis had nukes on that date.
The question(s) about the presence of a US Submarine, specifically the USS Amberjack, during the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, Captain Colin Smith, are most interesting.
In fact, an earlier article by Ray McGovern, here at Consortium News, dated July 4, 2015 has a number of comments which address the question(s).
Scuttlebutt (and I use that term in both its definitions, both as rumor (or perhaps honest recounting, AND as deliberate effort to sink a ship by filling it with holes), has it that various crew members of the USS Liberty claim that the Amberjack was present, perhaps even filmed the attack and, at least one Liberty survivor suggests, might have fired the torpedo which caused the Liberty to list.
Frankly, there is no way of knowing the truth of the matter primarily because the veracity of any claims or “records” the U$ government might put up now, as such, belated, “evidence” must be yet considered suspect.
Soon enough, most Liberty survivors will be dead, as are most all the principal government actors in the “drama” in both the U$ and Israel. Thus the truth, the actual honest history, will be subject either to complacent revision or, one hopes, far more informed public scrutiny.
By the way, my comment about Hollywood was essentially facetious, and I wholly agree with you that depiction of most events, that in any way constitute the prevailing mythology of U$ behavior, especially around wartime, or “heroic” incidents, is both stilted and absurd.
Frank Zappa suggested, very correctly, I consider, that Hollywood is the entertainment arm of the Pentagon.
The title of Ray McGovern’s article is entitled, “Still Waiting for USS Liberty’s Truth”.
If Israel had nuclear weapons at that time, then it is most likely that their delivery system(s) would have been rather primitive.
Readers may enjoy these thoughts on the subject written in response to another piece from Consortium News on the subject of the USS Liberty:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/08/16/john-chuckman-comment-a-uss-liberty-survivor-also-illegally-arrested-in-israels-latest-piracy-on-the-high-seas-tells-his-story-the-great-and-enduring-mystery-of-israels-1967-attack-on-an-americ/
I wonder why Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford have never done a movie on this “incident”.
They could easily do the whole movie and never reveal that Israel was involved.
It could be left as an unexplained mystery.
Subtle implications might be honed, pointing toward which ever nation is currently #1 on the growing most-hated list, or even toward some Unknown Enemy, lurking in the shadows, hating us, with smoldering rage, for our freedoms …
Hollywood would love it, and being the entertainment arm of the Pentagon, such a film might just polish up Hollywood’s somewhat, of late, tarnished image of excess and elitist privilege.
Such a movie would be a media smash hit (slam dunk!) as well, since it would enshrine the notion firmly in public perception of nations, unnamed (but known) and malign, just itching to rain their ugly weapons down upon kindly old Uncle Sugar.
In all seriousness, this article is much appreciated, even as it skirts all too closely to being termed “anti-Semitic” by those Who Would Rather Not Know.
Especially those slouching toward Armageddon for piety, profit, and plunder.
And those many who cherish the national myths of their childhoods, even as civil society crumbles to dust and precarity around them, which they do their very best to ignore.
Would an honest recounting, a movie based on truth, find box-office success?
It very well might, if for no other reason than that what happened would, finally, be talked about, finally even acknowledged as a collusion of deceit and official pressures brought to bear on human beings who deserved far better, as did the nation,!which deserved to be told the truth.
Were there an honest movie made, it might spark inquiry into other “incidents”, into other deceits and even false flag operations, jystbas hidden, suppressed, and instructive.
My appreciation to Consortioum News for republishing this article and to Ray McGovern for daring to write what others are still afraid to say or acknowledge.
As a Master Mariner l can tell you that Hollywood’s treatment of nautical themes is appalling. That’s why l never go to see movies involving ships. The last l didn’t see was Captain Philips, a tawdry piece of bullshit. To seamen Philips made the hijacking almost inevitable by cutting short the deviation to avoid pirate areas, and curry favour with his company by saving fuel and time. He was widely derided even by his crew as a blowhard and glory hunter. The funniest was John Wayne and his magic sextant. After pretending to take an altitude of the sun he turned around and read off from the sextant…….”Latitude……Longitude…..l gotta get me one of those! I avoid “Titanic” because like most seaman l’m sick to death of hearing about it. There’s no mystery. E.E. Jones was a Cock up. He was going much too fast to be able to see and avoid an iceberg. End of story. Of course had he carried searchlights like ships do today he could have swept ahead and gotten an earlier warning.
Thank you Ray for a very good and important article. Strangely enough, I’ve shown it to friends and they won’t read it. It’s part of this tunnel of news we are in, and the fear of “anti-Semitism” which can dilute, or downright wash away, any criticism of the country these days.
I’d like to ask you a question I can never find any answers to. I read that the lead Israeli pilot, or near the lead, refused to attack the Liberty once the identification of a US ship was made. He flew back to Israel and was imprisoned. Has his story ever come out anywhere?
The lead Israeli pilot was Yiftah Spector. He clearly identified the Liberty as American and was reluctant to attack, but he did. Later, along with a few other Israeli pilots of conscience, he did refuse to carry out attacks in the occupied territories. His career was over, and he was forced out of the Israeli Air Force. Too bad he did have the courage to resist the criminal order to attack the USS Liberty.
Sorry, that should have said too bad he did NOT have the courage to carry out the criminal attack against the USS Liberty.
To REFUSE to carry out the criminal attack as ordered by his Israeli superiors. Having a senior moment this morning.
I think everyone understood the mistype from the beginning. No sweat, your point was made.
Thank you John. I have so much anger regarding this tragedy
I thought he had been jailed by refusing. Thank you for the clarification. I had hoped there was one pilot of great moral conscience who rebelled against the orders by his superiors. Wishful thinking perhaps.
The Jews are sacred cows in the USA. They can do whatever they want and never be held accountable. So I like reading Consortium News and Counterpunch but nothing is going to change. The only possibility of change will come when Israel and the USA are hit hard in a war and lose most of their population and infrastructure. You know like they have done to third world countries. Then there could be changes but perhaps it would be way too late in the day to save anything. There is an evil there that has to be cut out. But as things stand nothing is going to change the way it is.
Thanks CN, Ray… Have seen much content re: USS Liberty… don’t remember another point out that comm was disabled making Terry genuine hero!
Do remember incident where attack on US vessel killing Amer troops attributed by MS Greedia2 Iran or Iraq… guess same incident.
Ironically just completed online view of “The Plot” by Will Eisner… hoped2 see CN piece2 recommend2 your readers (w/proviso Netanyahoo Rtwing SCUM same as yer fired.
Sometimes coo sht occurs! Tnx1 mo X!!
And, Israel has been brazenly going forward with its clandestine policy objectives, on the basis of similar American cover-ups such as these, ever since.
And, now they want Julian Assange too, for exposing these cowardly deeds to us; at least since 2006.
And, so what has changed in the passage of time?
Recently listened to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explaining to a reporter from TYT what ‘progress’ is not.
And her explanation describes beautifully what we are continuing to witness, year in and year out.
And, this is where America, and the world, systemically are stuck, on the razors edge, between collapse and catastrophe.
Unless… who is our own worst enemy???
I had hoped that the current Israeli assault on Article 1 of your Constitution would wake America up. Bibi has now justifiably got it into his head that he can do anything he wants, with impunity. His contempt for the obsequious U.S. government must be huge. You’d think that silencing free speech by redefining the BDS movement as “anti-Semitic” would bring out all the gun freaks, who have always cited defending the Constitution as their rationale for being armed. Of course he is a thug, but a clever one. Before he came to power there was a small chance that Labour might pursue peace. Now all he has to do is keep the people scared out of their minds, and he will be in power for ever. LBJ, who it appears now was complicit in JFKs murder, turned out to be a coward and a bully. Israel now has Congress so tied up with funding that nobody would dare challenge him. Whale find frightening is that a tiny, religious state with nukes dictates foreign policy to the most powerful military in the world. They are so fanatical that their final tactic is the “Samson Option”. Lucky old world!!
How many dual-citizens were involved in the Liberty coverup I wonder?
Many thanks Joe Lauria for offering this article again at this critical time. I’m going to link an excellent essay that Robert Dallek wrote for the August 2013 special edition on JFK that describes the attitude of the senior people at the Pentagon at the time of JFK’s Assassination. I think readers will better understand the tension and delusion that was a daily feature of military life at that time and that the general public was unaware of.
In my mind, this was the critical time period that America became Empire without public approval or even awareness…
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/08/jfk-vs-the-military/309496/
Terry Halbardier undoubtedly deserves rich accolades from some legitimate authority for his role in saving the lives of so many of his fellow crew members on the USS Liberty. However, the US Navy and the US government long ago demonstrated that they are NOT agents of truth, justice or legitimate authority. Their medals are worthless, representative of nothing but lies heaped upon war atrocities. A framed letter of thanks from Code Pink for Mr. Halbardier’s individual heroic acts in a long worldwide struggle against needless and futile bloodshed foisted upon our servicemen should be worth more than the latest entire production run of silver stars purchased by the US Navy. John Kerry received the same lump of metal for gratuitously gunning down a fleeing teenager in a few moments of “action” along the banks of the Mekong River. In a rare moment of lucidity, it is said he threw that trinket away.
I guess the robot moderator does not like my harsh words taking our military to task, because this comment never appears unless I first enter a “test” post.
I know this is a time of the year when the American military is glorified practically every week with some holiday, some give-away or some display at the ballpark. Things were so whack yesterday that one of the huge home maintenance centers gave me a 10% military discount on my purchase… probably just because I keep my hair trimmed close, wear a grey stubble beard and conservative dress. Didn’t ask for it, would never misrepresent myself so. Also didn’t want to cause a ruckus by turning it down. I also get mistaken for a plain-clothes cop, or a high school coach, every now and then. I should have applied for a position with the MIB, because all these other institutions of authority are failing this society mightily.
Actually am (or was) a professor… but not the blue jean and baseball shirt-wearing variety. Always preferred the white Arrow shirt style favored by Richard Feynman. Whatever, all that’s just superficial. Like Colonel David Hackworth used to say, most of those starched-shirted perfumed-princes ensconced in the Pentagon need a good dressing down for mainly practicing careerism and playing political games rather than looking after the vital interests of their men. That’s been especially true since the new “Forever War” began just about the time Hackworth passed away.
The motivation for Israel’s attack on the Liberty have always been murky, and the explanations offered – trying to hide from the Americans that Israel had attacked Syria first, or trying to hide mass executions of Egyptian prisoners in the Sinai – really don’t add up, as far as I’m concerned. While Israel would be motivated to avoid these revelations, the implications, the risk of knifing your most important ally in the back, if the Israeli action had been unmasked, would have been too huge. And Dayan might have been an SOB, but he wasn’t psychotic.
But a writer who has worked for the BBC has offered an explanation that makes sense. Israel was not free-lancing. Their attack was pre-planned with the connivance of LBJ’s officials. The object was to sink the Liberty and slaughter everyone on board – so that no one could report who had made the attack. The US would then blame Egypt for the attack, which would give the US the excuse it needed to join the war on Israel’s side. The attack on the US Liberty was an intentional false flag.
This also explains why, when an SOS from the Liberty got back to US forces thanks to the incredible bravery of Terry Halbardier – and also because smart radiomen about the ship figured out that there were brief periods of time when the attacking jets were unable to jam the Liberty’s transmissions – the jets that scrambled to come to the vessel’s aid were ORDERED BACK by LBJ.
This operation was code-named Operation Cyanide, and here’s the book by Peter Hounam that describes it:
https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Cyanide-Bombing-Liberty-Nearly/dp/1904132197/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Operation+Cyanide&qid=1558060378&s=books&sr=1-1
Although I haven’t done enough due diligence to be confident that this accounting is correct, I’m inclined to believe it because it makes sense of a situation that otherwise seems inexplicable. And bear in mind that LBJ also initiated the Viet Nam War on the basis of lies regarding the Gulf of Tonkin. And if the slaughter of several hundred innocent Americans seems impossibly barbaric to you, just remember that LBJ and Nixon were willing to countenance over 58K dead Americans in Viet Nam – and over 2 million dead Vietnamese – in pursuit of their strategic goal.
Note that this book was written 16 YEARS AGO. Naturally no one in the MSM will touch it, just as they won’t touch the Dancing Israelis of 9/11 story. If hundreds or thousands of Americans have to die for Israel’s benefit – so be it.
The 294 sailors on the Liberty – 70% of whom were killed or wounded in the attack – were only a drop in the bucket. And Seth was an even smaller drop.
An excellent addition to Ray’s fine piece.
Thanks Mark Comment helps me understand “Why LBJ?” Add2 this: Devin?
So blus rep OurGov elements allowing such abuse while only red sugg acknowl hero Terry… Wow!
As CN seems E.U$ pub… So DNC? Im sposed 2 understand now that its Rightwing Biden or the hiway forcing me2 Not Vote Agin “Yer Fired” 2020?
It’s the only explaination that makes sense to me. A 1967 Israel in the middle of the Six Day war would not chance such an outlandish, dangerous hail-Mary play to try and trick the US into the war. They would only do it with full approval from Washington IMHO.
Ironic that Mark talks about psychosis (misusing it in place of “foolish” or “stupid”), then goes on to push an extreme fringe theory that many would call the product of such a condition.
You either have an remarkably weak grasp of the concepts you’re talking about or alarmingly weak amount of self awareness.
the Judeo-Zionist influence became overriding after they succeeded in the assassination of JFK, with the complicity of CIA+Johnson+the Mafia+the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami+terrified Judiciary & Congress. that state of things sticks around today, but much huge & pervasive.
The overriding message I get from this timely presentation of Rays is “WATCH OUT FOR A FALSE FLAG ATTACK”. This has been mooted quite a bit lately, justifiably.
I worked in an intelligence operation in Germany at the time. I was young and naive, believing the Israelis to be the ‘good guys’ as I began reading dispatches from the Liberty in real-time. I no longer held that view, but was horrified, when the Israelis attempted to kill the ship and its crew. I am glad that many survived and am especially happy they are being honored today.
Remind me again… Why do we consider those theocratic a**holes our allies?
They are allies of political parties by which reward judges and politicians to get their bribes.
Because our criminals in CONgress continue the falsity that they are. None will say a word, mainly because the vast majority are indeed criminals/perverts that would never have been allowed to govern if they didn’t have dirt that could be exploited to control everything they say and do. Just witness the ‘anti-semitism’/BDS laws being passed all over the US. Do a search on anti-semtism laws. Practically the entire old south has passed such laws. Good old GW started the program to ‘track’ anti-semtism. The worst offenders are the Christian right…evangelists.
An obscure USS Liberty memorial park on an obscure and secure AFB base in West Texas acknowledges Israel involvment: http://www.goodfellow.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070719-F-3082L-002.jpg
http://www.goodfellow.af.mil/photos/media_search.asp?q=liberty&btnG.x=17&btnG.y=6
Shortly after reading the book “Body of Secrets”, I mentioned the story of the USS Liberty to a former Israeli soldier. In one second he was filled with so much anger and hatred that it seemed to fill the room. (He had just been talking to his brother who was in the midst of a tank battle). Needless to say, i didn’t have a discussion, but learned just how powerful the anger is in that area.
I hope LBJ felt really bad about calling off the carrier defense.
Russ Draper, The war was started by Israel, they knew they would win by taking out Egypt’s air-force. By their own wireless intercepts they knew Nasser didn’t want war, and anyway Egypt couldn’t handle war having lost much in a civil war to its south. They knew when to take out the Egyptian air-force, right when the forward defence radars were switched off. They then wanted to go at Syria, but Johnson had told them only Egypt so they had to take out the Liberty to keep their troop reversal quiet.
The 1973 Yom Kippur war was different and caught Israel in its overconfident egotistic mood. Things went down hill quickly for Israel, and two Israeli nuclear missiles were threatened to be used if America didn’t come to its aid. Nuclear blackmail.
The war was a chance to build the Greater Israel that Ben-Gurion had said they could grab after 1948 (that includes the Golan Heights + southern Lebanon from the Litani river +other land).
Why does everyone always dismiss what I consider the real reason behind the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty: Nuclear War. The Israelis had nuclear weapons, yes? The U.S. supplied them (I believe) with nuclear materials to construct such a weapon (Lots of Broken Arrows out there to disguise the gift). The Liberty was an intelligence gathering vessel capable of listening to Israel’s war plans. Should they start to lose a war does anyone seriously believe that the bombs wouldn’t be delivered? Thus, the message to the U.S., don’t interfere with our grand designs.
As you are probably aware that is Israel’s “Sampson Option”. If Israel can’t win no one will. An opportunity to settle old scores as well.
For more on the USS Liberty and the 1967 War (6 Day War), (“Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jewsâ€, Vol 3 pg 79-112.) I highly recommend Allan Hart’s 3 volume series available through Amazon.
As for the start of the war, the Egyptian forward radars connected to their anti-aircraft missiles and batteries had been switched off so senior military staff and politicians could visit the defensive (not offensive formation) of troops in the Sinai. Israel knew this through wireless intercepts and chose that time to attack. They went in low so the regular radars wouldn’t pick them up until it was too late. (In Search of Identity, Anwar el_Sadat’s autobiography pg 174). The Israelis had cracked all the Arab military codes and were privy to all that was going on.
Concerning comments by high ranking Israelis to the effect they knew Egypt didn’t want war and it was Israel’s choice, (“Politicide†by Baruch Kimmerling, pg.57-59) & Hart’s series Vol 3 Pg 16- 17 + much more.
Regarding the present day situation, ‘blowback’ from earlier times, one could read Stephen Zunes’s “Tinderbox†where on pg 190 he says:
“In the early 1980s, the Israelis actually encouraged Islamic groups in the occupied territories in an effort to split the Palestinian movement. While supporters of the secular PLO were denied their own media or any right to hold political gatherings, Israeli occupation authorities allowed radical Islamic groups to hold rallies, publish uncensored newspapers and even have their own radio station. For example, in the occupied Palestinian city of Gaza in 1981, Israeli soldiers – who had shown no hesitation in brutally suppressing peaceful pro-PLO demonstrations – stood by when a group of Islamic extremists attacked and burned a PLO-affiliated health clinic in Gaza. In 1988, Israel detained, tortured, and forcibly exiled Palestinian activist Mubarak Awad, a Christian pacifist who advocated peace with Israel and the use of Gandhian-style resistance to the Israeli occupation. At the same time, however, Israeli occupation authorities were allowing Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin to circulate anti-Jewish hate literature and publicly call for the destruction of Israel by force of arms.†It’s a good read but sometimes I get the feeling that he isn’t quite as balanced as I thought.
Thank you for an excellent, detailed expose of an Israeli war crime against the U.S. and a moving tribute to Terry Halbardier, whose courage and ingenuity prevented the slaughter from becoming total. Halbardier’s action may have saved Israel, too, as far as future U.S. support goes. Had the Israelis sunk the ship and killed every crew member, I find it hard to imagine we would or could have covered up the crime. But who knows?
One caveat: The Israel lobby does not have the power you and so many others attribute to it. Not today and certainly not in 1967. Invoking the Israel lobby protects the myth of American innocence at the risk of perpetuating the myth of evil Jewish power. Why not admit, as your reference to Admiral Mullen’s 2008 mission to Israel even implies, that the Israel lobby derives its power from the U.S. government itself, which shares with Israel a policy of permanent war, exploiting overwhelming military superiority, encouraging reactionary religious zealotry, and keeping citizens focused on martial glory and security threats? The U.S. was fighting a little war of its own in 1967. The year of Mullen’s “reading the riot act” to Israel ended with Operation Cast Lead, which the U.S. supported, along with its self-defense justification. The U.S. and Israel are enablers for each other. “A Global Force for Good” (as the Navy now calls itself), whether the U.S. or Israel, can do no wrong. The worst either of us can do is make “mistakes.”
Mr Neisse, you are so right, the U.S. should be accountable to it’s citizens on many levels. Like Flip Wilson use to say, ‘the Devil made me do it’. Blaming Israel only could be away of passing the buck, as you profoundly stated.
When it comes to the USS Liberty we should know everything about that incident. What, and when, did McNamara, and LBJ learn of this attack. Before, or after the Israeli’s use their brutal force attempting to sink our naval vessel. I, and only I, have a strong hunch that the USS Liberty was being used as a false flag. There I go again with my nut ball conspiracy theories.
Have a great day…life! J.T.
The overriding mechanism in determination of all USG actions is money fed to political parties. For Mideast policy that is primarily on behalf of Israel, secondly for KSA, and for wars anywhere it is on behalf of the MIC. The Gulf of Tonkin false flag just before the 1964 election (precipitating the immediate long-arranged saturation bombing of NV) was for the MIC, as LBJ remarked to the JCS, “You can have your war if I can have the election.”
The US has long supported Islamic militancy in the Mideast, destroying all moderate, socialist, and secular governments there, but this began in the 1950s after Israel was set up. So whether the primary motive was Israel or oil could be clarified, but certainly the immediate motive was political bribes, not anti-communism, as the USSR was never found to be involved there. See Dreyfuss’ Devil’s Game for details (but due to his own loyalties he carefully avoids all mention of Israel, or he would not have been published).
PBS Frontline on May 16, 1989:
“In June, 1967, Israel went to war with Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, capturing all of Jerusalem and what are now the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. (And Syria’s Golan Heights). Officially, the U.S. was neutral. Secretly, it gave Israel full diplomatic support. The final decision to go to war was not taken, say the Israelis, until their intelligence Chief Meir Amit had met secretly with CIA Director Richard Helms. The first ones to fire were the Israelis, and the Americans were persuaded by the head of the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, who met with the head of the CIA, and through this secret channel got the green light of the U.S. administration to start the war.”
Remember how the mass media reported that Egypt started the war?
Egyptian air force planes were all destroyed on the ground! Did the U.S. spy ship, Liberty, off the coast of Sinai block Egypt’s radar? Why did President Lyndon Johnson recall U.S. planes sent to rescue the Liberty under ISRAELI ATTACK, saying: “I don’t care if they (Israel) sink the ship-I will not embarrass our ally, Israel.” Israel used bombs, napalm, machine guns, & torpedoes to try to leave no survivors. (James Bamford: BODY OF SECRETS)
No survivors would mean no proof that Israel started the war and that the U.S. was in collusion.
Menachem Begin, Quote –(New York Times, August 21, 1982).
“In June l967, we had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”
. General Yitzhak Rabin, Chief of Staff, Israeli Defence Forces quote :
“I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions which he sent into Sinai on May 14 would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.”
(Le Monde, February 28, 1968 )
.
General Meir Amit, the former head of Military Intelligence who was head of Mossad in 1967:
“There is going to be a war. Our army is now fully mobilized. But we cannot remain in that condition for long. Because we have a civilian army our economy is shuddering to a stop. We don’t have the manpower right now even to bring in the crops. Sugar beets are rotting in the earth. We have to make quick decisions… If we can get the first blow in our casualties will be comparatively light…”
(Dennis Eisenberg, Uri Dan and Eli Landau, The Mossad: Israel’s Secret Intelligence Service, New York: New American Library, 1978 , pp. 160-161.)
During the 1967 “6 Day War”, another 300,000 Palestinians were expelled. 500 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed, and 14 cities were “cleansed” of Palestinians whose roots in the land went back to ancient times “before the Bible was written”
Was President Johnson a U.S. TRAITOR ?
TRAITOR – yes!
Next question.
Johnson was behind the assassination of President Kennedy.
Yes, and then some!
It seems to me that if Egypt began the 1967 war, their planes would be in action, not on the ground.
This was an outrageous attack and a war crime, no doubt. Only Israel could get away with it.
As to who struck first, there is no doubt that Israel decided to preemptively attack Egypt, starting the Six Days war. Of course, now that the United States has embraced preemptive war (the Bush Doctrine), let’s not be throwing stones from our glass house. Especially when Israel had far better reason to believe that an Egyptian attack was imminent: UN peacekeepers had been forced out of the Sinai, Egypt had positioned 80,000 men and 600 tanks in the Sinai, Egypt had blockaded Israel’s port through which 90% of its oil came, and Egyptian leaders had said on television and radio that they wanted to restore the situation to what existed before 1948 — before Israel was created.
As to whether the U.S. supported the Israeli attack on Egypt, what I have read is that Israel’s greatest fear was that the U.S. would take action to force Israel to stop the war before it had completed the destruction of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai (and the Egyptian air force everywhere).
Interesting stuff.
I just finished the Ennes book, ‘Assault on the Liberty’, and the questions I want answered are, who sent the unarmed spy ship into the warzone and why (to be sunk?), and how is it possible that all 6 of the messages sent to Liberty … a communicatons ship! – telling her to get out of there failed to reach her?
I always wondered where Israel got the chutzpah to pull this off in 1967 … today no problem, they’d have the US Navy sink the NSA’s ship – and kill the US Navy crew.
I think there was a lot of filthy action on the part of the NSA/CIA/USNAVY involved with this. The Israelis would never have acted then without a promise of cover from the highest levels in the US … and they sure got it!
Ray always mentions … everybody always mentions … the obvious : Israel’s role. Read the book, ‘Assault on the Liberty’: focus on the the order to drop everything and sail to where she was attacked; focus on the chain of command – the USS LIberty was under the direct control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; focus on the botched – they could only have purposefully been botched in my opinion – communications to get the Liberty out of there … they were never meant to be received by Liberty, they were meant to cover the asses of the JCS.
This is an eyeopener all right. But Israel seems less than half the story.
Please see my comment above. Six “messages” and the ship never received them? With a steel-hulled ship providing a perfect “ground” and a seventy-five foot high wire antenna, Navy “loose-coupler” crystal sets were capable of worldwide reception in the 1920’s; many remained in service well into the 1930’s as “backup” sets in merchant fleets. But we are expected to believe that with the same technology used to communicate with Apollo astronauts, the Liberty ‘missed the call’ six times. The notion that fledgling little Israel would have tried this without a ‘wink and a nod’ is preposterous.
Those old crystal sets were very powerful, indeed. Once, I remember a 3rd class PO Radioman fooled around with the crystal set and rerouted all the cabs in Norfolk, until the cab company dispatcher told all the cabs to stay set. Another time this same Radioman broke in on BOZO the clown show telling little Tommy to stand in the F’king corner…I am not making this up. Just had to tell this story, since you brought up the crystal set radio. Hope, this gave you all some comic relief!
Yeah, but Joe, I noticed from your earlier comment that you were in the Navy when the ships were made of wood…and the men were made of steel.
F.G. Yeah, I once got drunk with John Paul Jones…thanks always enjoy reading your most (as I do others as well). I don’t blame you for not commenting on my above post about false flags. Just learn a lot from what you have to say. I will quit kissing ass now, and you have a nice day. J.T.
That wasn’t the first time that Zionists not only got away with an act of terrorism but received support afterwards from the country it attacked. The Irgun bombed the British in the King David Hotel in 1946 killing 91 people, about half of them British. Ten years later the Brits and Israelis were comrades in arms trying to invade Egypt.
Eisenhower stopped that invasion, but a decade later there seemed to be a consensus amongst US politicians supporting Israeli militarism, thanks to lobbying groups like AIPAC.
The supposedly anti-war Robert Kennedy was just as supportive as Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy made a promise during his primary election campaign to send fifty fighter jets to Israel, which enraged the Palestinian Christian Sirhan Sirhan into shooting him. That’s another fact, like the attack on the USS Liberty, that hardly ever gets mentioned.
Afterwards Johnson did send fifty fighter jets and soon after that Nixon continued the military support for Israel even though it resulted in the oil crisis.
Plenty of evidence that it was not Sirhan Sirhan who shot and killed RFK.
He stood in front of him but no frontal injuries–see the pictures.
Johnson probably behind this and certainly wanted him dead.
Getting away with its attack on the USS Liberty gave Israel the confidence to do whatever it wished in its ethnic cleansing and war like behavior in the Middle East and elsewhere.
N.B. without the assassination of President Kennedy there would be no Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East.
https://www.google.cl/search?q=rabin+israel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp&gws_rd=cr&ei=h5oCU9KmLqPk0wHv14HoDA#channel=np&q=Yitzhak+Rabin+in+dallas%2C&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
Hillary you always seem to have great links for us to read. Thanks J.T.
Hillary you always seem to have great links for us to read. Thanks J.T.
Joe Tedesky on August 17, 2014 at 9:46 pm
..
J.T. I have complained previously that many of my comments and links have NOT been allowed..
Anything on 9/11 is NOT allowed ?
Hillary- you may just be up against the spam control which doesn’t necessarily interpret before rejecting a comment. I suggest you write it out first on a separate page and then paste it in as a comment, rather than revising it in the comment box.
Hillary as the person in front of me stated try copy and paste. I copy the text then if the comment does not go well. I get out then re-enter the article and paste the text. I also copy and paste the code number. Why is there a code number? Of course maybe you have tried this and are being censored…if that is so, then that is to sad. take care J.T.
“I know from personal conversations I had with Adm. Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of ‘mistaken identity’ despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.â€
An investigation was conducted which lasted only one week(!). It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to realize that such an “investigation” was tailored to find little or nothing of import. Anyone who has spent time in the military knows that investigations for things as trivial as “Unauthorized Absence” can take weeks.
The real question is how such a brazen attack could have been planned and conducted with the expectation of absolute impunity. This was a “combined forces” attack involving air, surface, communications, surveillance and ‘command and control’ elements. Such an attack can only be regarded as “spontaneous” in the Hollywood movie sense. The general public wouldn’t know any better. But any graduate of the War College who pretends this was a “mistaken identity” case should have the decency to return his diploma.
The real question is, “Who approved the plan”? Does anybody really believe it was fledgling little Israel?
I’ll throw this to you F.G..
“President Lyndon Johnson called back carrier aircraft dispatched to defend the Liberty lest Israel be embarrassed”
Ever since I learned of this USS Liberty attack a couple years ago, I have tried to learned as much as possible. Somewhere, I seem to recall a story about the U.S. having a AWAC in that area. That McNamara, and Johnson allowed this whole thing to go down. We are talking about an era of assassinations, coups, hell you name it they probably done it….anyway, I have a degree of belief this was a failed false flag. Sorry, got carried away, take care. J.T.
Thanks Ray for this reminder. Is it also true that Adm (?)McCain, the father of John McCain, was involved officially in the coverup?
So sad to think that this was the start of the really large increase in US funding to Israel, just as Israel showed it could do plenty of harm on is own.
The pretexts change, but the behaviour of Israel now, with its constant attacks on Palestinians, its refusal to follow any of the agreements it has made since 1993, its lies and propaganda as well as the deep hatred it harbours for any resistance to its violent acts and policies, would make any fair person fear for the future.
Speaking of keeping their word, here is a part of the Balfour decision that rottenchild agreed to.
” it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, “
The attack on the Liberty should be no mystery as Israel has attack friends and foes whenever it wanted to. On 25 July 2006, four unarmed United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) peacekeepers were killed during an Israeli air strike on a UN observation post in southern Lebanon. Israel said they made a mistake, he same kind of mistake made on the Liberty!! That post advised the Israelis numerous times that they were getting too close before they were killed by a direct hit. Many other examples of Israeli using deadly force to protect their reputation as the ‘good guys’.
Americans must never forget this war crime, what its consequences have been, or who were, and continue to be, responsible.
Most Americans have never heard of the attack. At your next family reunion or BS session at the bar, ask the people around to hold up their hands if they’ve even heard of a ship named USS Liberty.
For most of my life I was one of the idiots who believed the propaganda about Holy Israel. That event was what finally jerked me into the real world.
Hey, Zachary you really hit the nail on the head. I to having bs sessions with people find it so true how no one ever heard of the USS Liberty attack.
No only that, but I served between 1968 & 1972 as the same rate & rank as Terry Halbardier and never in all four years was there a word mentioned about this attack. I mean not even as a case in point to how to react to such a crisis. This thing was really covered up, big time.
We may call these dirt bags (LBJ, McNamara, Israel, etc) cement heads. Take care J.T.
Earlier today I had lunch with 4 out-of-town family members aged 13 to 64. Not a one of them had heard of a ship named the USS Liberty.
Hardly anybody is outraged because hardly anybody knows.
http://www.ussliberty.com/rksmith.htm
The original article has a lot of maps, but they’re not included here.
http://www.newislander.com/ports/2010/01/unveiling_the_attack_on_the_uss_liberty/diagram.jpg
The best the lying swine could do was to pretend they thought the Liberty was an antique (1929) horse transport quietly rusting in harbor. It was half the length and 1/4 the displacement of the USS Liberty. Not that they tried very hard. LBJ and the rest were going to fold no matter what BS tale was told. As has every US President ever since.
Finally, another analysis.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/08/17/237645/-Beholden-to-Israel-Case-study-the-USS-Liberty
Zachary- I’d suggest that the next time you have a bs session with your buddies you consider reading and discussing one or more of the books by survivors of the USS Liberty, and/or Ray’s or Crewdson’s or Weir’s articles, and, also watch the following documentaries:
Dead in the Water,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc7sOb7IsPY
Israel’s Assault on the USS Liberty,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF_6k1c_0ds
and/or
The Loss of Liberty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFQrsdj7BLs
Very, very important article, as was your June 9, 2014 article and its links to Crewdson’s and Weir’s article (and what happened to Crewdson after his was published). Americans must never forget this war crime, what its consequences have been, or who were, and continue to be, responsible.
Given that this attack was believed to be an attempt by the Israelis to sink the ship and kill all survivors and then blame it on the Egyptians, the next step is to make the connection or draw the analogy between this attack, and other such false flag, or attempted false flag attacks by alleged ‘friends’. Maybe 9/11? or, maybe, another more recent one with more certainty, namely, MH-17?
Something to think about.
I overlooked your post when this thread first appeared, and missed the reference to the Crewdson article. I’ve just now located and saved it.
The piece was friendlier to Israel than I liked. He cuts them a LOT of slack regarding the six reconnaissance flights. And his suggestion that the helicopters which appeared were there to “rescue” the Americans is beyond ridiculous. Those two machines were carrying troops to finish off the vessel.
The bastards got away with it, and will never pay. But to the end of my days I’ll never forgive the murderous swine.
I first learned about the attack on the USS Liberty about 1976 when an article about it was published in Penthouse or Esquire. This would be 9 years after the attack. It has been largely ignored since. Most of our media is unwilling to speak truth to power. Carroll Johnson