June 8, 1967: The Day Israel Attacked the USS
Liberty
The pattern set in 1967 -- covering
up for Israeli aggression, remains a major contributor to U.S. problems in the Middle
East
On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, was attacked by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft
and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats. At the time of the attack, the ship was in
international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 29 miles northwest from the
Egyptian city of Arish.
Yet many Americans have no idea this attack ever happened. If they do, they have heard
the prevailing myth that the attack was accidental.
Very few have heard the overwhelming evidence indicating that the attack was
intentional, and that Israel intended to sink the ship altogether, along with everyone
on board.
After getting away
with this "act of war against the United States" (according to Admiral Thomas Moorer,
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), many believe the Israeli government
concluded that it could get away with anything.
For 40 years, survivors of the USS Liberty have been forbidden "to tell their story
under oath to the American public." The cover-up of Israel's attack on the USS Liberty,
begun under the Johnson administration, continues to this day.
What have successive U.S. administrations been covering up?
On the morning of June 8, the USS Liberty was secretly listening in on the Israelis who
were then attacking Arab air bases from Damascus in Syria to Luxor in Egypt. The
Israelis had occupied the Jordanian section of Jerusalem, and captured Sharm al-Sheikh.
And while the USS Liberty eavesdropped (Bamford, Body
of Secrets): a scant dozen or so
miles away, Israeli soldiers were butchering civilians and bound prisoners by the
hundreds, a fact that the entire Israeli army leadership knew about and condoned,
according to the army's own historian. . . .
At the time, Israel was loudly proclaiming -- to the United States, to the United
Nations, and to the world -- that it was the victim of Egyptian aggression . . .
Israel's commanders would not have wanted tape recordings of evidence of the slaughters
to wind up on desks at the White House, the UN, or the Washington Post.
The pattern set in 1967 -- covering up for Israeli aggression, remains a major
contributor to U.S. problems in the Middle East.
[Despite the presence of more than 200 men eager to testify, the Navy Court of Inquiry
inexplicably did not ask about deliberateness, and did not allow survivors to testify
freely - nor did Congress or anyone else. Israel’s "Big Lie" was accepted at face value,
and no questions were ever asked about whether the attack was deliberate or whether the
Israeli story was true.--James Ennes, "Four Decades of Twisting Facts About Israel's Attack
on the USS Liberty," wrmea.org, May-June 2007, pages 26-27]
"Sen McCain Confronted About USS Liberty Cover-up," May 31, 2012
[Liberty is among the most decorated ships for a single engagement in the entire history
of the U.S. Navy. . . .
Legion bigwigs have torpedoed American Legion members' resolutions supporting the
Liberty; prevented dissemination of information about the attack; refused to allow a
booth by the Liberty Veterans Association at its 2013 national convention; and privately
attempted to convince the Veterans of Foreign Wars to similarly prohibit a Liberty booth
at its national convention.--Alison Weir, "American Legion Honchos Betray Liberty Veterans," counterpunch.org,
May 16, 2014]
The Day Israel Attacked America, Al Jazeera, November 3, 2014
[The inquiry's senior legal counsel Captain Ward Boston, who subsequently declared the
attack to be a "deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew,"
also described how "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."--Philip Giraldi, "Remembering the
U.S.S. Liberty: The 50 year cover-up of a mass murder of U.S. servicemen orchestrated by
Israel and its friends", unz.com, June 6, 2017]
[the U.S. Senate has also approved a resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of
Israel's conquest of East Jerusalem. . . .
there has been no Senate resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bravery
exhibited by the officers and crew of the USS Liberty as they were being slaughtered by
the Israelis at the same time as Jerusalem was being "liberated."--Philip Giraldi, "Israel's
Dirty Little Secret," unz.com, June 10, 2017]