- Almost four decades after Israel's premeditated attack
on the USS Liberty, on June 8, 1967, an agency of the federal government
is going to give the controversy some air time. The State Department is
sponsoring a conference entitled, " The United States, the Middle
East, and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." It will be held on Jan. 12-13,
2004, in Washington, DC.
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- Incredibly, A. Jay Cristol, the leading protagonist
for Zionist Israel's version of what happened on that fateful day will
be one of the affair's prime presenters on the 12th. Because of the context
of the "War, Intelligence & the USS Liberty" segment of the
designed program, he will be permitted to put on the record, without the
benefit of any cross examination, his prejudiced views. Fortunately, the
distinguished author, and supporter of the Liberty cause, James Bamford,
will also be on the two hour agenda to add some needed balance. It is wrong
for Cristol to get equal billing with Bamford.
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- According to Cristol's press release, he intends to
hype the supposed relevance of the recorded conversation of "two helicopter
pilots" of the Israelis, that has "been kept secret for 37 years."
He claims the "recordings proved that Israel had mistaken the USS
Liberty for an Egyptian ship." They will do nothing of the kind. The
attack was deliberate and no after-the-fact dissembling by Cristol, the
author of the hearsay-dominated book, "The Liberty Incident,"
will alter that inescapable fact.
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- The Liberty was one of the most sophisticated electronic
intelligence ships in the world at the time it was murderously attacked.
It was stationed in international waters, 13 miles off the Sinai Peninsula
in the eastern Mediterranean, proudly flying the American flag. The Arab-Israeli
War, which Tel Aviv had started, was shutting down. At 10: 55 AM, on June
8th, the Israelis had correctly identified the Liberty (AGTR-5), as an
American vessel. By 2 PM, however, on that same day, it was trying to
sink it, and, without any mercy and in violation of international law,
kill every living soul on board (See, Bamford's book, "Body of Secrets,"
pp. 185-239).
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- Cristol has acknowledged that the Israelis had properly
identified the Liberty on the morning of the attack, but he alleges that
"an error cycle" kicked in leading to its marking on the plotting
table in Tel Aviv to be moved. What hogwash! Who moved it? Could it have
been that one-eyed adulterer of a general, Moshe Dayan?
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- As for the rusting Egyptian vessel, the El Quseir, it
was a 1920s-vintage horse calvary transport. It was actually docked on
June 8th, in Alexandria, and being readied for scrapping. It also was only
one-quarter of the tonnage of the Liberty and about half her size. In addition,
the Liberty was flying a 5' by 8' American flag, and had a huge satellite
dish, 16 ft. high, on her topside, along with large microwave dish and
video capturing antennas and other highly visible communication-related
equipment The notion that the all-too-clever Israelis, who had access
to "Jane's Fighting Ships" mistakenly took the Liberty for the
El Quseir, is ludicrous.
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- Talk about a kick in the face! Why is Cristol, an Israeli
sympathizer, being given such a prominent place, at the scheduled conference
to spout out his pro-Zionist spiel, as though it is a favored opinion,
substantiated and corroborated by American eyewitnesses to the event?
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- Thirty four Americans died on the Liberty and 172 others
were seriously wounded. The Israelis attacked the ship for over an hour
with unmarked jet planes, using missiles, napalm, rockets, and torpedo
boats, too. The Zionist thugs even machined gunned its life rafts (James
M. Ennes, Jr., "Assault on the Liberty.") The Israelis also jammed
the Liberty's emergency frequencies, which were "peculiar to the US
Navy" (Naval History, "Friendly Fire," June, 2003, David
C. Walsh).
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- Cristol is expected to state at the conference that
the Israelis felt compelled to attack the vessel because they suspected
it had been lobbing artillery shells 13-plus miles onto the Sinai shore.
Keep in mind that the Liberty had been under constant surveillance for
over two days and was subject to at least 12 over flights by the Israelis
and "six hours of close surveillance." They knew it was physically
incapable of such action and only had machine guns on it for its defense.
And, even if it was capable of such offensive action, the Laws of War required
the Israelis to take other non-hostile i.d. measures before launching a
lethal attack.
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- Author Bamford revealed that on the tragic day in question,
the ruthless Israelis were "systematically butchering" Egyptian
POWs, as many as "1,000 Egyptian prisoners in the Sinai, including
some 400 in the sand dunes of El Arish." This might have been one
of the reasons why the attack on the Liberty was authorized. Another might
have been to hide Israel's covert plans to seize the Syrian-held Golan
Heights. Bamford added that the Israelis had carefully constructed a "curtain
of lies. Lies about the Egyptian threat, lies about who started the war,
lies to the American president, lies to the UN Security Council, lies to
the press, lies to the public..." (p. 203).
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- During the blood-filled attack on the Liberty, one of
the Israeli pilots was overheard boasting, "Great wonderful, she's
burning, she's burning" (p. 211). Another Israeli made this coarse
crack, " Menachem is screwing her" (p. 212).
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- A National Security Administration report, fifteen years
after the fact, speculated that the Israeli motive may have been that the
"destruction of the ship and killing of the personnel would lead the
U.S. to blame Egypt for the incident and bring the U.S. into the war on
the side of Israel..." (p. 235). This sounds like a reprise of the
notorious "Lavon Affair," another dirty tricks operation of the
Israelis, back in the early 50s. It entailed Israeli sabotage of U.S. and
British facilities in Egypt for the purpose of undermining Egypt's relationship
with the UK and the U.S.
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- Considering all of the above, the State Department's
decision to host a program on the USS Liberty, featuring the Israeli promoter,
A. Jay Cristol, is insulting to the sacred memory of those 34 unsung heroes
who died on that vessel. The program should feature Bamford, or some other
comparable Liberty figure, like Lt. Ennes, with Cristol, if allowed at
all, participating only in a minor, dissenting, pro-Israeli role.
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- Finally, at the Jan. 12th conference, somebody should
demand that Cristol answer this question: Did Israeli General Moshe Dayan
order the attack on the Liberty, and if he didn't, who did?
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- © William Hughes 2004
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- William Hughes is the author of "Saying 'No' to
the War Party" (Iuniverse, Inc.), which is available from Amazon.com.
He can be reached at: liamhughes@mindspring.com.
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