Ernest A. Gallo - Remember the Liberty! Almost Sunk by Treason on the High Seas

Remember the Liberty!: Almost Sunk By Treason on the High Seas

Copyright 2017 Phillip F. Nelson

Published by:

Trine Day LLC

PO Box 577

Walterville, OR 97489

1-800-556-2012

www.TrineDay.com

publisher@TrineDay.net

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936713

Nelson, Phillip F.; with Gallo, Ernest A.; Kukal, Ronald G.; Tourney, Phillip F.

1st ed.

p. cm.

Epud (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-109-0

Mobi (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-110-6

Print (ISBN-13) 978-1-63424-108-3

1. Liberty (Ship). 2. Israel-Arab War, 1967 -- Naval operations. 3. Israel-Arab War, 1967 -- Aerial operations, Israeli. 4. Israel-Arab War, 1967 -- Personal narratives, American. 5. Espionage, American -- Middle East -- History -- 20th century. 6. Johnson, Lyndon B. I. Nelson, Phillip F. II. Title

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the USA

Distribution to the Trade by:

Independent Publishers Group (IPG)

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

312.337.0747

www.ipgbook.com

Foreword

What Is So Rare As A Day In June?

How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes but we cannot help knowing
The murder of sailors who that day fell.
The saps cover-up is no longer going
TO HIDE U.S. GOVERNMENT COWARDICE

A pologies to James Russell Lowell for the sobering addendum. The poet had no way of knowing how rare a day June 8, 1967 would be. Indeed, even today, scandalously few Americans have heard of the deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that day, because the cowardly U.S. political, military, and media establishment have managed to hide what happened. No one important wanted to challenge Israels 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 McNamaras instructive reply to Geis, who had protested the order to recall the U.S. 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 U.S. 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;

(2) The U.S. cover-up taught the Israelis that they could literally get away with murder; they killed 34 U.S. sailors (and wounded more than 170 others); and

(3) As part of an unconscionable government cover-up, the Navy threatened to court martial and imprison any survivor who so much as told his wife what had actually happened. (This, incidentally, put steroids to the PTSD suffered by many of the survivors.)

The only investigation worth the name was led by Adm. Moorer, who had been Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He led a blue ribbon, independent commission to examine what happened to the Liberty. Among the findings announced by the commission on October 22, 2003:

Unmarked Israeli aircraft dropped napalm canisters on the USS Liberty bridge, and fired 30mm cannon and rockets into the ship; survivors estimate 30 or more sorties were flown over the ship by a minimum of 12 attacking Israeli planes.

The torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but machine-gunning of Libertys firefighters and stretcher-bearers. The Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Libertys life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded.

Shortly before he died in February 2004, Adm. Moorer strongly appealed for the truth to be brought out and pointed directly at what he saw as the main obstacle:

Ive never seen a President stand up to Israel. If the American people understood what a grip these people have on our government, they would rise up in arms.

Echoing Moorer, former U.S. Ambassador Edward Peck, who served many years in the Middle East, condemned Washingtons attitude toward Israel as obsequious, unctuous subservience at the cost of the lives and morale of our own service members and their families.

And the Six-Day War? Most Americans believe the Israelis were forced to defend against a military threat from Egypt. Not so, admitted former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin 35 years ago:

In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that [Egyptian President] Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.

Adm. Moorer kept asking why our government continues to subordinate American interests to those of Israel. It is THE question.

Fast forward to the catastrophe that is now Syria. U.S. policy support for illusory moderate rebels there including false-flag chemical attacks blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can only be fully understood against the mirror of U.S. acquiescence to Israeli objectives.

New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief in 2013, Jodi Rudoren, received an unusually candid response when she asked senior Israeli officials about Israels preferred outcome in Syria. In a New York Times article on September 6, 2013, titled Israel Backs Limited Strike Against Syria, Rudoren reported the Israeli view that the best outcome for Syrias civil war wasno outcome:

For Jerusalem, the status quo, horrific as it may be from a humanitarian perspective, seems preferable to either a victory by Mr. Assads government and his Iranian backers or a strengthening of rebel groups, increasingly dominated by Sunni jihadis.

This is a playoff situation in which you need both teams to lose, but at least you dont want one to win well settle for a tie, said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York. Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death: thats the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, theres no real threat from Syria.

Obama may have read or been briefed on Rudorens New York Time article. In any event, last year he told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg how proud he is at having resisted strong pressure from virtually all his advisors to fire cruise missiles on Syria in September 2013. Instead, Obama chose to take advantage of Russian President Vladimir Putins offer to get the Syrians to surrender their chemical weapons for destruction, verified by the UN, aboard a U.S. ship configured for such destruction. In contrast, President Trump chose to go with his mad-dog advisors. It is not yet clear whether he was successfully mousetrapped, or whether he saw the April 4 chemical incident in Syria as an opportunity to retaliate, and get a bump in popularity.

There are wider ramifications of rank dishonesty and cover-up, at which Establishment Washington excels. Have we not seen this movie before? Think Iraq. Once again, the intelligence is being fixed.