-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! "The Israeli government has insisted that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. And that has never passed the smell test of credibility...." Brigade, see the WND article below and a brief summary from the USS Liberty website. Joe Meadors was a signalman on the bridge of the USS Liberty during the attack. He subsequently served for four years as President and later served four years as Chairman of the USS Liberty Veterans Association. You can send Joe a note at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit his excellent U.S.S. Liberty website: http://www.halcyon.com/jim/ussliberty/liberty.htm Sign the Petition calling for a Congressional Investigation of USS Liberty Attack: http://www.petitiononline.com/liberty/petition.html PS - The History Channel plans to air a program on the USS Liberty Cover-up. It was scheduled for February 25 but now has been rescheduled for some time later this year. You can leave a comment at their website and encourage them to air the report asap: http://www.historychannel.com/feed_back/index.html There is a message board for the USS Liberty on the History Channel site as well: http://www.historychannel.com/discuss/index.html ------ February 9, 2001 A new agenda for Israel by Joseph Farah © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com New Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has much on his agenda. He's got to deal with the continuing violence of the Intifada. He's got to deal with unrealistic expectations of the Arab leaders established by his predecessor. He's got to deal with the omnipresent external military threats. He's got to deal with an over-regulated economy. And he's got to deal with all of this with a deeply divided Knesset. Of course, he's also got to deal with the pressures of the West -- particularly the United States. I would like to suggest one bold political stroke for Sharon's consideration -- one I'll bet hasn't been suggested by anyone else. I'm talking about a festering sore just under the surface affecting relations with Israel's friends in America. I'm talking about doing the right thing -- righting a wrong from Israel's past. On June 8, 1967, the Israeli military attacked a U.S. ship, the USS Liberty. This unarmed intelligence vessel was sailing in international waters 15 miles off the coast of Israel during the "Six Day War." French Mirage fighter jets strafed the Liberty with rocket fire and 50 caliber rounds. That initial attack left 10 U.S. sailors dead. When the air attack subsided, Israeli torpedo boats attacked. They fired five torpedoes at the Liberty, only one finding its mark. When U.S. sailors scrambled to the top deck of the listing ship, they were greeted by machine-gun fire from the torpedo boats. When the two-hour attack was over, the Liberty had a 40-by-40- foot hole in its side, it was on fire and it was riddled with more than 800 holes from machine guns, rockets and cannons. Worse, 34 of the ship's crew were dead and 171 wounded. Though severely wounded in the attack, Commander William L. Monagle stayed on the Liberty's bridge -– on his back -- and managed to navigate the crippled ship to safety. In 1968, having been promoted to captain, he wept openly when awarded the Medal of Honor for keeping the ship under control for 17 hours after the attack. The Israeli government has insisted that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. And that has never passed the smell test of credibility. The Liberty's U.S. flag and markings were in full view that day in perfect visibility. Israeli aircraft overflew the ship eight times over a period of nearly eight hours prior to the attack. It seems reasonable to assume 34 years later that Israel intentionally struck the ship because it knew that the Liberty was capable of intercepting radio messages. Israel was about to seize the Golan Heights from Syria, despite President Lyndon Johnson's known opposition to the move. It seems reasonable to assume that Israeli Gen. Moshe Dayan concluded that attacking the ship and knocking out its antennas was a calculated and deliberate act. President Johnson is dead. Moshe Dayan is dead. Many Israeli and U.S. leaders have come and gone since 1967. Isn't it time for some honesty -- some forthrightness and candor -- with regard to the tragedy of the USS Liberty? Ariel Sharon may not have the power to make peace in the Middle East. But he does have the power and authority as Israeli prime minister to tell the truth about the attack on the USS Liberty. Who knows what kind of healing that kind of honesty and an accompanying and long-overdue apology might have for the nation of Israel? Personally, I think it would help create a climate of greater understanding between the two nations. That kind of climate might result in the long-overdue release of Jonathan Pollard -- a pardon promised by Bill Clinton but apparently forgotten among the last-minute rush to clear other criminals with deeper pockets and more to offer the ex-president and his political party. Israel was just plain wrong to attack the USS Liberty. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. There was no excuse. There is no rational way of understanding this incident as a tragic mistake. Just as a Middle East peace can never be built on a foundation of lies, neither can better relations between the U.S. and Israel ever truly be achieved while such deception continues about an incident involving such a tragic loss of American life. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21 665 Joseph Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com and writes a daily column. ----- Assault on the Liberty A summary The following is based upon the dust cover summary from Assault on the Liberty by James M. Ennes, Jr. ------------------ In June 1967, jet aircraft and motor torpedo boats of Israel brutally assaulted an American naval vessel, the USS Liberty, in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level surveillance by Israeli photo- reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed the intelligence ship thirteen times, sometimes flying as low as 200 feet directly overhead. The reconnaissance pilots were heard by intercept operators in Germany and in Lebanon reporting to their headquarters that they could see an American flag and men sunbathing on deck. The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was initiated by high-performance jet aircraft, was followed up by slower and more maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over to lethal torpedo boats which fired five torpedoes. Four missed. The one torpedo that hit the ship blasted a forty- foot hole in the ship's side. The attack lasted more than two hours -- killing 34 Americans and wounding 171 others -- and inflicted 821 rocket and machine-gun holes. And when the Liberty stubbornly remained afloat despite her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts and sent troop-carrying helicopters in to finish the job. During the attack, radio intercept operators in Lebanon heard one Israeli pilot identifying the ship as American. He was told to ignore the flag and continue his attack. Before the ship arrived in the area, U.S. Sixth Fleet Commander Admiral William Martin promised to provide air support within ten minutes if an emergency arose. Yet when the ship did come under attack, the White House blocked any air rescue for more than 90 minutes. Officers on the bridge of the aircraft carrier Saratoga heard Liberty's radio operators calling for help while bombs burst in the background, but were forbidden to help. When Navy jet aircraft were finally authorized to come to the ship's aid, the Israeli government suddenly ended the attack and withdrew. Only then did the identity of the assailants become known. Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed that her forces mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, and our government publicly accepted that excuse despite evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, in top secret diplomatic mail, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk accused the Israelis of demonstrating "blatant disregard for human life" and said that the attack was no accident. Then our government downplayed the intensity of the surveillance and the severity of the attack, and imposed a news blackout to keep the official story under control. The official version is that the Liberty was reconnoitered only three times and then only from great distance. The American people were told that the air attack lasted only five minutes and that it was followed by a single torpedo and an immediate apology and offer of assistance. The story has continued to fester for nearly thirty years. During that time numerous senior members of the Lyndon Johnson administration, in office at the time, have come forward to say that the attack was no accident. These include former Secretary of State Dean Rusk; former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Tom Moorer; former NSA chief General Marshall Carter and his deputy, Dr. Lou Tordella; former White House Press Secretary George Christian; former US Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter who heard some of the radio conversations at the time, and others. Two former Israeli military officers have come forward to tell their inside stories confirming survivors' charges that the attack was no accident. Despite these reports, and despite charges by survivors that the official Israeli story is untrue, Congress has for thirty years refused to conduct a public investigation. The attack on the USS Liberty remains the only major maritime incident in all US history that has not been publicly investigated by the United States Congress. ---------------- Assault on the Liberty was published in six hard cover editions by Random House, in one paperback edition by the Ivy Books division of Ballantine, and in one overseas Arabic language edition by the Language Management Corporation of Nicosia, Cyprus. More than 100,000 copies were sold. The book is now out of print, but can be found in most public libraries and a few special suppliers. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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