Posted on 10/23/2003 1:35:15 PM PDT by hanuman
Cover-Up Alleged in Probe of USS Liberty Wed Oct 22, 8:47 PM ET
By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A former Navy attorney who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former President Lyndon Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.
In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired Capt. Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the Navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary."
Boston was senior legal counsel to the Navy's original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he's a military man, and "when orders come ... I follow them."
He said he felt compelled to "share the truth" following the publication of a recent book, "The Liberty Incident," which concluded the attack was unintentional.
The USS Liberty was an electronic intelligence-gathering ship that was cruising international waters off the Egyptian coast on June 8, 1967. Israeli planes and torpedo boats opened fire on the Liberty at what became known as the outbreak of the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War.
In addition to the 34 Americans killed, more than 170 were wounded.
Israel has long maintained that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, an explanation that the Johnson administration did not formally challenge. Israel claimed its forces thought the ship was an Egyptian vessel and apologized to the United States.
After the attack, a Navy court of inquiry concluded there was insufficient information to make a judgment about why Israel attacked the ship, stopping short of assigning blame or determining whether it was an accident.
It was "one of the classic all-American cover-ups," said Ret. Adm. Thomas Moorer, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who spent a year investigating the attack as part of an independent panel he formed with other former military officials. The panel also included a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, James Akins.
"Why would our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own?" Moorer asked from his wheelchair at the news conference. He was chief of naval operations at the time of the attack.
Moorer, who has long held that the attack was a deliberate act, wants Congress to investigate.
Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev disputed any notion that Israel knowingly went after American sailors.
"I can say unequivocally that the Liberty tragedy was a terrible accident, that the Israeli pilots involved believed they were attacking an enemy ship," Regev said. "This was in the middle of a war. This is something that we are not proud of."
Calls to the Navy seeking comment were not immediately returned.
In Boston's statement, he does not say why Johnson would have ordered a cover-up. Attempts were made to reach Boston at his home in Coronado, Calif., but he did not return calls seeking comment.
Moorer's panel suggested several possible reasons Israel might have wanted to attack a U.S. ship. Among them: Israel intended to sink the ship and blame Egypt because it might have brought the United States into the 1967 war.
Why indeed.
He may not be a troll, but I wouldn't bet the mortgage payment on it.
But that doesn't change the fact that the USS Liberty "incident" is far from settled.
The evidence says "accident." Specifically, the use of ordnance completed unsuited to antiship work (most notably napalm) and the complete lack of coordination between air and surface forces.
With all due respect... Bullsh!t.
There are at least 3 survivors that swore they WAVED to the pilots during their low flyovers PRIOR to the attack.
The Israelis didn't like the fact that the gentile Merkins had a surveillance ship overlooking their latest foray.
PRIOR. As in HOURS prior.
And there's never been a commo f***up in anyone's military, ever, right?
Israeli claims that this was a mistake were undermined by the disguised jets and testimony from a US intercept officer that the Israeli pilots had reported the ship was flying the US flag, and twice questioned their orders which were nonetheless confirmed.I can't believe ya'll are defending the treasonous action of a Democratic administration.The Israeli torpedo boat even attacked a lifeboat with machine gun fire. The US sailors defied Israeli fire to rig an emergency ariel to make a mayday message. Meanwhile US bombers were heading to Cairo with a nuclear bomb to avenge the attack which was blamed on the Egyptians.
When the mayday message was picked up the nuclear attack on Cairo was stopped by the personal intervention of Defence Secretary McNamara and President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson went along with the Israeli line in public, although presidential papers show that privately nobody believed it was an accident. The surviving crew of the Liberty were given medals in semi-secrecy, threatened with prison if they talked and systematically separated from each other by repostings.
Oh, so you'll keep posting the article repeatedly until "it stays?"
Funny thing--I thought Jim Robinson owned this forum.
Cover-Up Alleged in Probe of USS Liberty
By presenting an allegation as a fact, hanuman has stated a falsehood.
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