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Not Remembering the USS Liberty

22-5-2017 < SGT Report 73 422 words
 

by Ray McGovern, Anti War:


It is safe to assume that when President Donald Trump lands in Israel Monday, he will not have been briefed on the irrefutable evidence that, nearly 50 years ago – on June 8, 1967 – Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in international waters, killing 34 U.S. sailors and wounding more than 170 other crew. All of Trump’s predecessors – Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama – have refused to address the ugly reality and/or covered up the attack on the Liberty.


It is not too late for someone to fill Trump in on this shameful episode, on the chance he may wish to show more courage than former presidents and warn the Israelis that this kind of thing will not be tolerated while he is president.


A new book by Philip Nelson titled: Remember

the Liberty: Almost Sunk by Treason on the High Seas
, is a must-read

for anyone wishing to understand what actually happened to the Liberty and to

contemplate the implications.



As I wrote in the book’s Foreword: Even today, scandalously few Americans

have heard of the deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, because the

cowardly US political, military, and media establishments have managed to hide

what happened. No one “important” wanted to challenge Israel’s lame “oops-mistake”

excuse. Intercepted Israeli communications show beyond doubt it was no “mistake.”


Chief Petty Officer J.Q. “Tony” Hart, who monitored conversations between then-Defense

Secretary Robert McNamara and Sixth Fleet Carrier Division Commander Rear Admiral

Lawrence Geis, reported McNamara’s instructive reply to Geis, who had protested

the order to recall the US warplanes on their way to engage those attacking

the Liberty. McNamara: “President Johnson is not going to go to war or embarrass

an American ally (sic) over a few sailors.”


The late Adm. Thomas Moorer after interviewing the commanders of the US aircraft

carriers America and Saratoga confirmed that McNamara ordered the aircraft back

to their carriers. Moorer called it “the most disgraceful act I witnessed in

my entire military career.”


Thanks to this book, those who care about such things can learn what actually

happened 50 years ago:


(1) On June 8, 1967, Israel attempted to sink the US Navy intelligence collection

ship USS Liberty and leave no survivors. The attack came by aircraft and torpedo

boat, in full daylight in international waters during the Six-Day Israeli-Arab

War;


Read More @ antiwar.com

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