I am fully aware of the history of the Jews from reading the Bible, and the history of the world, but I have failed to understand why we have been in bed with Israel for so long. They have taken advantage of us at every opportunity, they have spyed on us, stole our military secrets, and on occassion fired upon US military ships and planes. I firmly believe our problemes in the middle east are the direct result of our association with Israel. I don't trust them and think incidents like the following are far more common than we know.
Subject: Attack On The USS Liberty
'The USS Liberty': America's Most Shameful Secret
May 2, 2001
by Eric S. Margolis
The Toronto Sun
NEW YORK: On the fourth day of the 1967 Arab
Israeli War, the intelligence ship 'USS Liberty' was
steaming slowly in international waters, 14 miles off
the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli armored forces were
racing deep into Sinai in hot pursuit of the
retreating Egyptian army.
'Liberty,' a World War II freighter, had been
converted into an intelligence vessel by the
top-secret US National Security Agency, and packed
with the latest signals and electronic interception
equipment. The ship bristled with antennas and
electronic 'ears' including TRSSCOMM, a system that
delivered real-time intercepts to Washington by
bouncing a stream of microwaves off the moon.
'Liberty' had been rushed to Sinai to monitor
communications of the belligerents in the Third Arab
Israeli War: Israel and her foes, Egypt, Syria, and
Jordan.
At 0800 hrs, 8 June, 1967, eight Israeli recon flights
flew over 'Liberty,' which was flying a large American
flag. At 1400 hrs, waves of low-flying Israeli Mystere
and Mirage-III fighter-bombers repeatedly attacked the
American vessel with rockets, napalm, and cannon. The
air attacks lasted 20 minutes, concentrating on the
ship's electronic antennas and dishes. The 'Liberty'
was left afire, listing sharply. Eight of her crew lay
dead, a hundred seriously wounded, including the
captain, Commander William McGonagle.
At 1424 hrs, three Israeli torpedo boats attacked,
raking the burning 'Liberty' with 20mm and 40mm
shells. At 1431hrs an Israeli torpedo hit the
'Liberty' midship, precisely where the signals
intelligence systems were located. Twenty-five more
Americans died.
Israeli gunboats circled the wounded 'Liberty,' firing
at crewmen trying to fight the fires. At 1515, the
crew were ordered to abandon ship. The Israeli
warships closed and poured machine gun fire into the
crowded life rafts, sinking two. As American sailors
were being massacred in cold blood, a rescue mission
by US Sixth Fleet carrier aircraft was mysteriously
aborted on orders from the White House.
An hour after the attack, Israeli warships and planes
returned. Commander McGonagle gave the order. 'prepare
to repel borders.' But the Israelis, probably fearful
of intervention by the US Sixth Fleet, departed.
'Liberty' was left shattered but still defiant, her
flag flying.
The Israeli attacks killed 34 US seamen and wounded
171 out of a crew of 297, the worst loss of American
naval personnel from hostile action since World War
II.
Less than an hour after the attack, Israel told
Washington its forces had committed a 'tragic error.'
Later, Israel claimed it had mistaken 'Liberty' for an
ancient Egyptian horse transport. US Secretary of
State, Dean Rusk, and Joint Chiefs of Staff head,
Admiral Thomas Moorer, insisted the Israeli attack was
deliberate and designed to sink 'Liberty.' So did
three CIA reports; one asserted Israel's Defense
Minister, Gen. Moshe Dayan, had personally ordered the
attack.
In contrast to American outrage over North Korea's
assault on the intelligence ship 'Pueblo,' Iraq's
mistaken missile strike on the USS 'Stark,' last
fall's bombing of the USS 'Cole' in Aden, and the
recent US-China air incident, the savaging of
'Liberty' was quickly hushed up by President Lyndon
Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
The White House and Congress immediately accepted
Israel's explanation and let the matter drop. Israel
later paid a token reparation of US $6 million. There
were reports two Israeli pilots who had refused to
attack 'Liberty' were jailed for 18 years.
Surviving 'Liberty' crew members would not be
silenced. They kept demanding an open inquiry and
tried to tell their story of deliberate attack to the
media. Israel's government worked behind the scenes to
thwart these efforts, going so far as having American
pro-Israel groups accuse 'Liberty's' survivors of
being 'anti-Semites' and 'Israel-haters.' Major TV
networks cancelled interviews with the crew. A book
about the 'Liberty' by crewman James Ennes' was
dropped from distribution. The Israel lobby branded
him 'an Arab propagandist.'
The attack on 'Liberty' was fading into obscurity
until last week, when intelligence expert James
Bamford came out with Body of Secrets, his latest book
about the National Security Agency. In a stunning
revelation, Bamford writes that unknown to Israel, a
US Navy EC-121 intelligence aircraft was flying high
overhead the 'Liberty,' electronically recorded the
attack. The US aircraft crew provides evidence that
the Israeli pilots knew full well that they were
attacking a US Navy ship flying the American flag.
Why did Israel try to sink a naval vessel of its
benefactor and ally? Most likely because 'Liberty's'
intercepts flatly contradicted Israel's claim, made at
the war's beginning on 5 June, that Egypt had attacked
Israel, and that Israel's massive air assault on three
Arab nations was in retaliation. In fact, Israel began
the war by a devastating, Pearl-Harbor style surprise
attack that caught the Arabs in bed and destroyed
their entire air forces.
Israel was also preparing to attack Syria to seize its
strategic Golan Heights. Washington warned Israel not
to invade Syria, which had remained inactive while
Israel fought Egypt. Bamford says Israel's offensive
against Syria was abruptly postponed when 'Liberty'
appeared off Sinai, then launched once it was knocked
out of action. Israel's claim that Syria had attacked
it could have been disproved by 'Liberty.'
Most significant, 'Liberty's' intercepts may have
shown that Israel seized upon sharply rising
Arab-Israeli tensions in May-June 1967 to launch a
long-planned war to invade and annex the West Bank,
Jerusalem, Golan and Sinai.
Far more shocking was Washington's response. Writes
Bamford: 'Despite the overwhelming evidence that
Israel attacked the ship and killed American
servicemen deliberately, the Johnson Administration
and Congress covered up the entire incident.' Why?
Domestic politics. Johnson, a man never noted for high
moral values, preferred to cover up the attack rather
than anger a key constituency and major financial
backer of the Democratic Party. Congress was even less
eager to touch this 'third rail' issue.
Commander McGonagle was quietly awarded the Medal of
Honor for his and his men's heroism â?" not in the
White House, as is usual, but in an obscure ceremony
at the Washington Navy Yard. Crew member's graves were
inscribed, 'died in the Eastern Mediterranean..' as if
they had be killed by disease, rather than hostile
action.
A member of President Johnson's staff believed there
was a more complex reason for the cover-up: Johnson
offered Jewish liberals unconditional backing of
Israel, and a cover-up of the 'Liberty' attack, in
exchange for the liberal toning down their strident
criticism of his policies in the then raging Vietnam
War.
Israel, which claims it fought a war of self defense
in 1967 and had no prior territorial ambitions, will
be much displeased by Bamford's revelations. Those who
believe Israel illegally occupies the West Bank and
Golan will be emboldened.
Much more important, the US government's long,
disgraceful cover-up of the premeditated attack on
'Liberty' has now burst into the open and demands
full-scale investigation. After 34 years, the voices
of 'Liberty's' dead and wounded seamen must finally be
heard.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2001
