The U.S.S. Liberty and the culture of impunity
Harsh words…. Release the EC-121 airborne recording during the actual attack which have never been released and still classified.-jd
AFTER THE ATTACK A RESCUE HELICOPTER IS LANDING
By Jim Kirwan,
www.rense.com
3 June 2010
It has been over forty years since the 1967 War in which Israel blatantly and viciously attacked the USS Liberty in the International Waters of the Mediterranean. At the time Lyndon Baines Johnson was the President who allowed this attack to proceed while blocking the US Navy from coming to the defense of this unarmed US ship that was under attack by coordinated Israeli military forces from the air and from the sea. I’ve written about this several times since 2006, and so have many others but the public response has produced only continued silence. (1)
June 8, 1967, was the day of the Attack upon the USS Liberty that has never been investigated. In four days time June 8, 2010, it will be 43 years to the day since we allowed Israel to murder to maim and to wound American seamen in a vicious attack upon the USS Liberty; which was an act of War. Thirty-four American troops were killed and 171 were wounded: The American president not only blocked the rescue of the ship and its men, but LBJ then tried to make the entire event vanish from history. America did nothing! (2)
It is time to lift the treasonous veils of national-secrecy that can no longer be allowed to shield the treason or the war crimes that that LBJ and his underlings committed on that day; against not just the crew of the USS Liberty but against the people of this nation: To serve the criminal-purposes of the fledgling but still unfinished state of Israel. No provision that protects traitors should be allowed to continue to prevent the world from knowing what transpired between LBJ and the leadership of the still rogue state of Israel.
COMMENTARY
“I found only 5% of the book was the actual eyewitness account. What there was of it was honest and compelling. As are all eyewitness accounts, it was also disjointed, myopic and told by an uninformed survivor. There is no correlation with other witness accounts or with documented evidence.”
That “uninformed survivor” was the three time President of the Liberty Veterans Association and an eyewitness to the attack who was not allowed to speak or present his side of the story, testify at any of the 13 imaginary investigations and ordered never to speak of it by his superiors after the attack. He was decorated for his actions and to say “all eyewitness accounts” are “disjointed, myopic” is just apologist nonsense. History is hugely filled by credible eyewitnesses BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE. Phil is entitled to say whatever he wishes and the reviewer is entitled to disagree. A fellow USS Liberty survivor replied and added a little known page to the attack story on a very personal and moving way of the consequence of that attack in defense of his shipmate and his book. The Liberty/pro-Israel apologists are full of crap and are the only myopic ones. There has never been any open honest first time investigation of that USS Liberty attack devoid of politics necessitated by cover up. Never. (‘attack’ being the operative word here) Only 14 Liberty crew ever testified. The remaining were ordered to remain silent.
Ron Kukal, Petty Officer, Communications Technician, USS Liberty survivor and Chaplain for the USS Liberty Veteran’s Association wrote:
“I find it strange that a review of an eyewitness Pearl Harbor survivor is accepted so easily while the Liberty survivors statements are questioned at every turn and of course the old stand by anti-semitism will usually rear it’s ugly head somewhere along the line. What is the difference between what the survivors of the USS Liberty saw and the victims of Pearl Harbor?”
“I find it laughable that your review speaks of Phil as an uninformed survivor. After all he was only in the thick of it all, and received the Bronze Star for his heroism.
Did you even read the book?”
“As one of the survivors and the enlisted man in charge of the body recovery and identification, I often marvel at the reviews that an eyewitness receives when telling the story of what he actually saw that day. I know a bit about what Phil saw on June 8, 1967 and of course there may be some ranting at times. The anger this has caused when one really knows the truth would cause anyone to rant, and I would probably be the first. The slaughter that I was exposed to after the ship was put in drydock, and we could really see the carnage has for the most part been blotted from my brain.”
“I do know I was there, I do know I picked up arms, legs, torsos, and even a head now and then to try and put it all on the right person. A jigsaw puzzle of huge proportions. To say I was a complete mess when I returned home would be an understatement.The attack was horrible, but the aftermath should go on record, and the aftermath still goes on as our government keeps a tight lid on the real story.
As this great nation that we all love changes from what seems to be bad to worse, I often wonder if the very fact that we have allowed this terrible thing to happen to our military people could be the reason for the pain we are all suffering at this very moment. Please understand that the aftermath has not gone away for many of us who love this country and who would do anything to keep it intact.”
“I have seen these men fight back, I have seen men at our reunions that were still suffering from shrapnel wounds to the head, and one who had a seizure at the reunion. The first reunions were more like a funeral where one just couldn’t get their dead buried. It was like you just couldn’t keep them in the ground as they came back to the survivors in nightmares and terrible thoughts that would linger in broad daylight.”
“Phil is an ordinary guy put in extraordinary circumstances and he came though it about as well as anyone could. He saved the lives of many CT’s who were trapped in the torpedoed spaces, and that would include mine. So when you read the book don’t think of Phil as anything but an ordinary man who performed as the U.S. Navy taught him, and I am here to tell my own story today because of his actions.”
“My own children were turned against me by my former wife who probably told them stories that were meant to scare them from their own father. I have not seen my oldest son for about fifteen years, and about the same for my daughter. My middle son tried to keep in contact with his dad and my youngest for some reason never lost contact. The aftermath goes on and on from a cover up. Thank God we are getting a chance to tell our story now before the lights go out.”
Why are these brave Liberty survivors on the upcoming 43rd anniversary of the attack (June 8th) where 34 of their shipmates were murdered and 173 wounded feel
required to tell their stories and justify themselves on the book review pages of Amazon.com instead of their elected government officials?? The fact that they are still waiting after 43 years is beyond disgraceful. They have every right to be angry. They have the right to be heard, Israel be damned. Remember the USS Liberty the dead and the living who were forsaken by their government for the benefit of Israel and political expediency.
What I Saw That Day
Why does U.S. send military aid to Israel?
June 02, 2010 2:00 AM
What sad news today that Israeli commandos attacked a flotilla trying to come to the aid of the impoverished Palestinians.
“We are coming upon the 43rd anniversary of the bombing of the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. The American flag was proudly flying on that fateful day.”
It appears to me that Israel seems to have immunity to attack at will. Congress just passed a bill to give Israel another $206 million in military aid, this in addition to the $3 billion that we give annually.
My question is why?
Please write President Obama, your representatives and senators and demand accountability. It is our taxpayer dollars that are killing innocent people.
Clare McHugh
South Yarmouth and Columbia, Md.
Copyright © Cape Cod Media Group
By Scott Horton On June 4, 2010
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here [1]. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Ray McGovern [2], former senior analyst at the CIA, discusses the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, LBJ’s personal intervention that stopped the Navy from responding to the Liberty distress call and the two most likely explanations for the attack: Israel’s desire to assault the Golan Heights without US foreknowledge and to cover up the execution of Egyptian prisoners of war.
Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the John F. Kennedy administration to that of George H. W. Bush. His articles appear on Consortium News [4] and Antiwar.com.
Thoughtful article worth your time. The only ones who seem to beleive the “official government versions” of the attack are the US and Israel Governments and the apologists. -jd
June 01, 2010
The latest atrocity by Israel
There is nothing that I can add to Glenn Greenwald’s
description of Israel’s descent into becoming a brutal nation that ignores international law and just plain human decency, as it continues its strangling of the people of Gaza with their blockade. This blockade, imposed after the deadly assault on Gaza in December 2008, destroyed a lot of its infrastructure such as water and power supplies and hospitals, and the aid flotilla was trying to both ameliorate the awful conditions as well as draw attention to the plight of Gazans.
Of course the US government and Congress and major media in the US, enablers of Israel’s out-of-control belligerence, will downplay this appalling crime by giving huge amounts of coverage to the Israel government’s justifications for its appalling actions which will consist of claiming that they are the true victims. Watch how Obama and Clinton will dance around this issue, just after
expressing anger at North Korea and threatening punishment for the sinking of a South Korea warship Cheonan that killed 46 sailors.
As Greenwald says, “Just ponder what we’d be hearing if Iran had raided a humanitarian ship in international waters and killed 15 or so civilians aboard.”
Recall how these same groups downplayed, covered up, and sent down the memory hole even the 1967 Israeli attack on an American warship the USS Liberty that killed 34 US servicemen and reduced that state-of-the-art intelligence gathering ship to scrap. This
2005 report, prepared on behalf of the survivors of the attack, gives with footnotes the details of what happened. Note that the Liberty was not equipped for fighting and so could not defend itself.
On June 8, 1967 while patrolling in international waters[2] in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.[3]
Of a crew of 294 officers and men[4] (including three civilians)[5], the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action.[6] The ship itself, a Forty Million ($40,000,000) Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap[7] .
Israel acknowledged the following facts without qualification:
a. USS Liberty was an American ship, hence a neutral vis-à-vis the June 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors.[8]
b. USS Liberty remained in international waters at all times on June 8, 1967[9] .
c. The attacking Israeli forces never made a positive identification of the nationality of USS Liberty before unleashing deadly force in their attack on the ship.[10]
At approximately 0600 hours (all times local) on the morning of June 8, 1967 an Israeli maritime reconnaissance aircraft observer reported seeing “a US Navy cargo type ship,” just outside the coverage of the Israeli coastal radar defense net, bearing the hull markings “GTR-5″.[11] This report, made to Israeli naval HQ, was also forwarded immediately to the Israeli navy intelligence directorate.[12]
Throughout the remainder of the day prior to the attack, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft regularly flew out to USS Liberty’s position and orbited the ship before returning to their bases in Israel. A total of no fewer than eight (8) such flights were made.[13]
At approximately 1050 hours, the naval observer from the early morning reconnaissance flight arrived at Israeli air force HQ and sat down with the air-naval liaison officer there. The two officers consulted Janes’ Fighting Ships and learned that the ship reported earlier in the day was USS Liberty, a United States Navy technical research ship.[14]
From 0900 hours on June 8, 1967, until the time of the attack five hours later, USS Liberty maintained a speed of approximately five knots and a generally westerly-northwesterly course.[15]
At 1400 hours, while approximately 17 miles off the Gaza coast, USS Liberty’s crew observed three surface radar contacts closing with their position at high speed. A few moments later, the bridge radar crew observed high speed aircraft passing over the surface returns on the same heading.[16]
Within a few short moments, and without any warning, Israeli fighter aircraft launched a rocket attack on USS Liberty. The aircraft made repeated firing passes, attacking USS Liberty with rockets and their internal cannons. After the first flight of fighter aircraft had exhausted their ordnance, subsequent flights of Israeli fighter aircraft continued to prosecute the attack with rockets, cannon fire, and napalm. [17]
During the air attack, USS Liberty’s crew had difficulty contacting Sixth Fleet to request assistance due to intense communications jamming[18]
The initial targets on the ship were the command bridge, communications antennas, and the four .50 caliber machine guns, placed on the ship to repel boarders.[19]
After the Israeli fighter aircraft completed their attacks, three Israeli torpedo boats arrived and began a surface attack about 35 minutes after the start of the air attack. The torpedo boats launched a total of five torpedoes, one of which struck the side of USS Liberty, opposite the ship’s research spaces. [20] Twenty-six Americans in addition to the eight who had been killed in the earlier air attacks, were killed as a result of this explosion.
Following their torpedo attack, the torpedo boats moved up and down the length of the ship (both the port and starboard sides), continuing their attack, raking the ship with cannon and machine gun fire.[21] In Malta, crewmen were later assigned the task of counting all of the holes in the ship that were the size of a man’s hand or larger. They found a total of 861 such holes, in addition to “thousands” of .50 caliber machine gun holes.
Survivors report that the torpedo boat crews swept the decks of USS Liberty with continuous machine gun fire, targeting communications equipment and any crewmembers who ventured above decks.[22]
Damage control firefighters, who had already risked their lives merely by appearing on deck, had to abandon their efforts because their fire hoses had been shredded by machine gun fire.[23]
Survivors also report that the torpedo boat crews fired on the inflated life boats launched by the crew after the captain gave the order “prepare to abandon ship.”[24] This order had to be rescinded because the crew was unable to stand on the main deck without being fired upon and the life rafts were destroyed as they were launched.[25]
The defenseless crew, initially unable to report their plight or summon assistance and with only themselves to rely upon, fought heroically to save themselves and their ship. In recognition of their effort in this single action, they were ultimately awarded collectively one Medal of Honor, two Navy Crosses, eleven Silver Stars, twenty Bronze Stars (with “V” device), nine Navy Commendation Medals, and two hundred and four Purple Hearts. In addition, the ship was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
Many countries have been retaliated against and even invaded by the US for far less provocation, but this attack, so brazen and outrageous, did not provoke any serious reaction.
If such a deadly and unprovoked attack by Israel on a US ship did not result in any repercussions, should we be surprised that Israel takes the view that it can do anything it likes to anyone anywhere and that the US will support it?
Mano Singham
Mano Singham is a theoretical physicist and currently Director of
UCITE (University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education) at
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. I am the author of three books: God vs. Darwin: The War Between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom (2009), The Achievement Gap in US education: Canaries in the Mine (2005), and Quest for Truth: Scientific Progress and Religious Beliefs (2000).
This internet story has more information than the one presented by the mainstream Israel First US corporate media. It’s no accident or “editing” but is a “choice” It does IMO clearly demonstrate the reason the MSM is losing readership and viewers. Agendas, bias, dishonesty are no substitute for truth in news reporting and people aren’t stupid and know soap is being sold. -jd
1967 USS Liberty survivor was onboard flotilla ship
04 June, 2010, 04:49
In June 1967, the Israel military attacked the USS Liberty. A survivor of that attack was onboard the Gaza aid flotilla and has survived yet again to tell the story.
Joe Meadors is a pro-Palestinian activist and a survivor of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. That attack by the Israeli Air Force killed 34 Americans. Meadors was onboard one of the Gaza aid flotilla ships.
“They [Israeli military] are very inept, to tell you the truth,” said Meadors.
Israeli forces were unable to sink an unarmed US Naval ship and were unable to adequately engage the Turkish liner.
“It was an illegal attack. We were on the high seas conducting legal activities. They admitted that they closed the area for military purposes but they, we tried to find out the boundaries of that area and they wouldn’t tell us,” said Meadors.
Meadors said that they violated international waters both in the recent flotilla attack and in 1967 at the attack of the USS Liberty, stating that Israel also violated international law by using unmarked aircraft.
“They’re just a bunch of rag-tag people who think they can do no wrong. Every time they speak they say they don’t break any laws, they always abide by international laws. But, they break them with impunity and the US Government is not going to hold them accountable, nobody is,” said Meadors.
Meadors expects an investigation will show that Israel violated international law and should be held accountable for its actions. He holds the same hope for the USS Liberty case, which has yet to be settled.
“We filed a war crimes report with the Department of Defense in 2005. They claim they already investigated the allegation we made, but they can’t show us where they have,” said Meadors.
Meadors said that Israel was the aggressor in the flotilla attack and that the only story being portrayed is Israel’s version, because the Israeli forces confiscated all video and recording equipment from the flotilla passengers.
By request
Phil Tourney discusses the USS Liberty attack with guests on the Ugly Truth Podcast. Listen and draw your own conclusions. -jd
Also don’t forget
03Jun10
Phil Tourney joins the program as co host where we talk with Jeff Gates of
www.criminalstate.com author of Guilt By Association and Gordon Duff, Chief Editor at
www.veteranstoday.com as we discuss recent events dealing with the “lost nukes” Israel is using to blackmail the US into fighting her wars for her.
“That kind of thing hasn’t happened since the sinking of the
USS Liberty – and it may be a sign of what’s to come that a survivor of that heinous assault was traveling with the flotilla, too.
In
the case of the USS Liberty, the whole thing was covered up in a shameful act of official suppression: against the testimony of the sailors on that ship, 34 of whom were killed, the US government ruled that the savage Israeli assault was a tragic “accident.” Yet US government officials knew the truth. As then secretary of state Dean Rusk later
put it:
“I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn’t believe them then, and I don’t believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.“ -Dean Rusk
So is this attack outrageous, but if the US government can whitewash the Israeli murder of 34 American sailors, it can overlook the murder of a single American in nearly identical circumstances.
Of course, this is not 1967: the news of an American’s death at the hands of the IDF is being transmitted
around the world, even as I write this, and all the details are coming out: the pitilessness of the Israelis, young Furkan’s idealism, and the horrific circumstances of his death.”
Release the classified recording of the USS Liberty attack tapes -jd
***
This Says It All
By Justin Raimondo On June 3, 2010
What is US foreign policy in the Middle East all about – and for whose benefit is it being conducted? In two short paragraphs,
this news story says it all:
“The U.S. confirmed that an American citizen, identified as 19-year-old Furkan Dogan, was killed by multiple gunshots during the Israeli raid on a flotilla carrying activists attempting to run a blockade of the Gaza Strip.
“State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said the U.S. has made no decision on a response to Dogan’s death.”
Apparently official Washington is torn between issuing a mild protest, and thanking them.
“Protecting the welfare of American citizens is a fundamental responsibility of our government,”
Hillary Clinton assured the media, “and one that we take very seriously” – but not seriously enough to issue an official protest. “We are in constant contact with the Israeli government attempting to obtain more information about our citizens.” Do they want to know how many
holes the IDF put in Furkan Dogan’s head before they make a decision on a response?
In reality, the US already made a response in the form of Vice President Joe “Loose Cannon” Biden, who, when asked about the attack on the flotilla,
said: “So what’s the big deal here?”
At the time he said it, the odds were fair that an American citizen –
out of nine with the flotilla — was among the dead. Now that it’s been confirmed, I wonder if it’s dawned on our dim-witted Vice President that it is indeed a very big deal.
In a brazen act of
international piracy, the Israelis boarded a ship in international waters and killed an American citizen – so what is the American government going to do about it?
The answer is: nothing, zero, nada, zilch. Israel
refuses to let an international investigation look into the matter, and Biden is cool with that, as he
told Charlie Rose:
“Biden: We passed a resolution in the UN saying we need a transparent and open investigation of what happened. It looks like things are…
“Rose: International investigation?
“Biden: Well, an investigation run by the Israelis, but we’re open to international participation.”
That’s certainly impartial, fair, and transparent – let the Israelis investigate themselves! No, Biden isn’t stupid: he’s
smart enough to know the Israelis will never be held accountable by our government, and that any attempt to do so would be aborted before it ever became known.
The reason for this peculiar passivity is because, contra Hillary, protecting the welfare of American citizens is not considered a fundamental responsibility of our government insofar as it means protecting their welfare against the government of Israel. In any conflict between American and Israeli interests, Washington’s
instinctive response is to uphold the latter and ignore the former. Under the Bush administration, such a conflict of interests was considered
impossible: the very idea that there could be daylight between Washington and Tel Aviv on any given issue was considered
heretical. Even under the Bushies, however, there was still some
vague stirrings of American independence, especially toward the end of the second term. And they never had to face a situation like this, in which an American citizen in transit was murdered by our faithful “allies.” That kind of thing hasn’t happened since the sinking of the
USS Liberty – and it may be a sign of what’s to come that a survivor of that heinous assault was traveling with the flotilla, too.
In
the case of the USS Liberty, the whole thing was covered up in a shameful act of official suppression: against the testimony of the sailors on that ship, 34 of whom were killed, the US government ruled that the savage Israeli assault was a tragic “accident.” Yet US government officials knew the truth. As then secretary of state Dean Rusk later
put it:
“I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn’t believe them then, and I don’t believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous.”
So is this attack outrageous, but if the US government can whitewash the Israeli murder of 34 American sailors, it can overlook the murder of a single American in nearly identical circumstances.
Of course, this is not 1967: the news of an American’s death at the hands of the IDF is being transmitted
around the world, even as I write this, and all the details are coming out: the pitilessness of the Israelis, young Furkan’s idealism, and the horrific circumstances of his death.
What is being transmitted, above all, is the braying arrogance of
the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and
his media shills, as they deride the dead as “terrorists looking for trouble.” Bizarrely, the Vice President of the United States is
joining right in, declaring that Israel had a “right” to board the ships and detain the passengers because it has a “right” to ensure its own “security” – yet the ships were
inspected by the Turkish government in Cyprus before they left, and found to contain only items such as building material and children’s toys. The Israelis, as part of their
serio-comic propaganda offensive, are triumphantly
showing off a cache of “weapons” found on the ship – which looks like nothing more than a collection of old kitchen knives and a couple of metal poles.
Imagine if Iran had done this. Washington would have reverberated with the sound of thunder emanating from the White House, and the attack fleet would already be steaming toward the Gulf, taking up position. That the culprit was Israel, however, puts a whole different face on the matter, at least as far as our government is concerned: they’re content to let the Israelis “investigate,” and let the matter drop.
For years,
some of us have been saying that the government of Israel and its partisans in this country exercise a decisive – and unhealthy – influence on the making and execution of US foreign policy. We’ve been accused of everything from anti-Semitism to pushing “conspiracy theories,” and yet the Mediterranean Massacre – and our government’s non-response – underscores that, if anything, we’ve been underestimating the extent to which the US takes its orders directly from Tel Aviv.
The Israel Lobby controls official Washington: Congress is, as Pat Buchanan trenchantly observed, “Israeli-occupied territory.” Yet one would think that, in spite of these circumstances, the wanton murder of an American on the high seas by Israeli commandos would provoke an angry response from Washington. Unfortunately, one would be wrong.
Instead, what we have is the grotesque spectacle of our Vice President commending the Israelis, and the US and Israel scrambling to come up with a “
joint response.” What more proof do we need that the US government is the political equivalent of occupied Palestine, where truth and justice are under blockade?
For years, they’ve been spying on us, collaborating with our enemies, stealing our secrets, manipulating our politicians, and now they’ve gone so far as to murder one of our citizens on neutral ground – and still our government cannot manage even a peep of protest. A more disgusting display of cowardice would be hard to imagine.
We attacked Iraq in large part due to the influence of the Lobby, and we are
gearing up for an armed conflict with Iran in response to the same sort of pressure: will we now countenance the execution of one of our own citizens in order to appease Tel Aviv?
This was no “accident.” The Israeli government knew precisely what it was doing, it knew there were Americans on those ships, and chose to go in guns blazing: it was the equivalent of spitting in Uncle Sam’s face.
After all, how dare those Americans try to freeze the building of settlements in what is “Greater Israel”? How dare Obama tell us what we can and cannot do?! We’ll show them! Let’s kill a few. Don’t worry – they won’t retaliate. We own them: and they know it.
In view of the Obama administration’s shameful crawling, one can hardly disagree. Which raises a question: how many American lives are to be sacrificed on the altar of the “special relationship”? It’s a question to which one doesn’t really want to know the answer.
USS Liberty vet Joe Meadors and Retired diplomat Ed Peck reach home, speak out; other US detainees reportedly leaving Israel
June 3, 2010
El Cerrito, CA Dr. Paul Larudee, a passenger on the Freedom Flotilla that was attacked by Israel before it could deliver its cargo of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, was badly beaten and tasered during the Memorial Day commando raid, but according to latest reports he was released from detention late Wednesday night and is now in flight to Greece.
Larudee, a resident of Richmond, CA, participated in the international flotilla as part of a delegation from the Free Palestine Movement (FPM), a California-based non-profit.
Two other members of the FPM group – Ambassador Ed Peck of Chevy Chase, MD, a retired US diplomat, and Joe Meadors of Corpus Christi, TX, a USS Liberty veteran (hence now a survivor of two unprovoked Israeli attacks on the high seas) – have returned home safely and are now speaking out about their ordeal. As of Wednesday afternoon California time, two other members of the group – Gene St. Onge and Janet Kobren, both of Oakland, CA – have been held up for the last 12 hours at Israel’s international airport near Tel Aviv. but are expected to board a flight to Istanbul soon, before proceeding home to the US.
Gayle McLaughlin, Mayor of Richmond, said “I have worked with Paul on local housing issues in Richmond, and I know he has a track record of commitment to nonviolence in standing up against the oppression of Palestinians. I condemn the Israeli assault on this humanitarian flotilla and join others in calling for an end to the blockade of Gaza.”
Ambassador Peck this morning described the Israeli commando raid on the Sfendoni, the Freedom Flotilla ship he and other FPM delegates were aboard: “The first thing we knew was the sound of footsteps, and my eyelids flicked open, and there they were, heavily armed. The Israeli government keeps referring to the paint guns, but the paint guns were attached to the automatic weapons and the stun grenades and the pepper spray and the tasers and everything else that these guys carry. … And it was all over in the inside of the ship, where I was. But up on the upper deck, where some people had been sitting and sleeping, they made an effort to peacefully prevent the Israelis from taking over the wheelhouse, and we had a number of people injured in that. Nothing of a critical nature, but we had people on crutches and people with bandages and peoples with their arms in slings, and the captain had his neck in a brace.”
“I was deported for having violated Israeli law,” Peck added. “I asked [the Israeli official processing his deportation], ‘What law have I violated?’ He said, ‘You have illegally entered Israel.’ I said, ‘Well, now, wait. Our ship was taken over by armed commandos. I was brought here at gunpoint against my will, and you call that illegally entering Israel?’”
To Navy vet Joe Meadors, “There is no doubt that the Israelis were committing piracy on the high seas against the Freedom Flotilla and used deadly force against unarmed humanitarians whose only crime was defending themselves against a sea and airborne invasion by heavily armed aggressors.”
“As a survivor of the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty,” Meadors said, “I am fully aware of the tactics the Israelis are capable of and willing to use with impunity and without remorse. That time they fired machine guns, cannon, rockets, napalm, and torpedoes on us, then deliberately machine-gunned life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship. And the only response from the American government was to impose a gag order on the crew of the USS Liberty.”
“This time, too,” Meadors continued, “the Israelis have shown no remorse, and I fear that the US government is again granting them impunity.
As to the other FPM detainees, St. Onge suffered a gash on his head when kicked by an Israeli soldier as he tried to protect a fellow passenger whom the commandos were beating on the deck of the Sfendoni, he told his wife Jan St. Onge. Kobren was allowed to make a brief phone call to the US from a women’s prison unit in Beersheba, Israel, yesterday and reported that she is good health, but all the prisoners’ belongings had been taken from them.
Larudee, 64, is a longtime activist in the struggle for justice for Palestine: he and Kobren co-founded the FPM in 2009, and he previously co-founded the Free Gaza Movement, the organization that first broke the Israeli blockade of Gaza from the sea in 2008, and the International Solidarity Movement, a group that has sent hundred of Americans and other internationals to support non-violent Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation. Paul holds a Ph.D. in linguistics and makes his living as a piano tuner.
At least seven other US citizens took part in the Freedom Flotilla under the auspices of other organizations. One, Huwaida Arraf, chair of the Free Gaza Movement, was released Tuesday. The FPM has no confirmed information about the status of the other six: Iara Lee, a filmmaker from San Francisco; Kathy Sheetz, a retired nurse from Richmond, CA, and Woods Hole, MA; Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and a U.S. diplomat until she resigned in opposition to the Iraq war; David Schermerhorn, a film producer from Deer Harbor, WA; Fatima Mohammadi, a longtime activist from Chicago; and Khalid Turaani, who was founder and executive director of the former American Muslims for Jerusalem and now lives in Dubai.
1. What happened to the USS Liberty?
The USS Liberty was a virtually unarmed American navy ship that was attacked by Israeli planes and torpedo boats on June 8, 1967.
2. What were the American casualties?
34 American sailors were killed and 172 injured that day, a casualty rate of 70%. This is among the highest casualty rates ever inflicted upon a U.S. naval vessel.
3. What was Israel’s explanation for the attack?
Israel claimed the attack was “a case of mistaken identity”; that they didn’t know it was an American ship.
4. Why do people question that explanation 40 years later?
The ship’s survivors were afraid to speak out in the early years because of threats of “court martial, imprisonment or worse” if they did not remain silent. However, as time passed, they have stepped forward to say the attack was deliberate.
Recently, high government and military officials have suggested that not only was the attack deliberate, but that the US government covered up the incident. In 2003, an Independent Commission of Inquiry found that Israel committed “an act of war” against the United States (see
Findings of Independent Commission).
In addition, the Navy’s chief attorney to the original 1967 military Court of Inquiry has issued a statement that orders to cover-up the incident were issued by President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara [see
Statement of Captain Ward Boston, USN, JAG (Ret.) (PDF)].
5. Did Israel have reason to believe the USS Liberty was an Egyptian ship?
Israel says its pilots and torpedo boat commanders confused the USS Liberty with the al-Quseir, an Egyptian ship allegedly firing upon its forces in the Sinai. But there was no Egyptian naval bombardment that day; nor did the al-Quseir (an unarmed 1920s-era horse carrier in dry-dock in Alexandria) bear any resemblance to the Liberty.
6. Isn’t it difficult to identify a ship if you’re in an airplane?
In 1967, the USS Liberty was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world, with dozens of large antennas, including a large moon-bounce “satellite-dish” mounted on a tall structure near the stern. It may have been one of the most easily identifiable ships of any navy in the world. With a displacement of 10,000 tons, it was four times the size of the antique Egyptian transport it is claimed to have resembled. Freshly painted, the Liberty carried 10′ high white identification numbers on its bow. Egyptian hull markings are painted black.
7. Doesn’t Israel say that the Liberty flew no flag?
According to American survivors, a 5′ by 8′ American flag was hoisted early that morning and was flying all day until it was shot away by attacking aircraft. Within several minutes, it was replaced by the giant 9′ by 13″ holiday ensign, which flew for the duration of the attack.
8. Could Israel have thought the ship was in a war zone, acting suspiciously?
According to surviving crewmembers, Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty for more than six hours prior to the attack, one flying within two hundred feet of the ship. At all times the Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, proceeding at a speed of only 5 knots.
9. What was the weather like the day of the attack?
Weather reports confirm that it was a clear day with unlimited visibility. The Israeli reconnaissance planes could have seen the Liberty’s crew sunbathing on the upper decks just before the attack. The flag was flying in a 12-knot breeze for most of the afternoon.
10. Doesn’t Israel say they ended the attack the minute they saw someone hoist an American flag?
The Israeli attack by combined air, naval and army forces spanned two hours – as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor. The air attack alone lasted approximately 25 minutes: consisting of more than 30 sorties by approximately 12 separate planes using napalm, cannon, and rockets which left 821 holes in the Liberty’s hull. Following the air attack, three Israeli motor torpedo boats torpedoed the ship, causing a 40′ x 40′ wide hole in her hull, and machine-gunned firefighters and stretcher-bearers attempting to save their ship and crew. More than 3,000 machine-gun bullet holes were later counted on the Liberty’s hull. After the attack was thought to have ended, three life rafts were lowered into the water to rescue the most seriously wounded. The Israeli torpedo boats returned and machine-gunned these life rafts at close range. This was followed by the approach of two large Israeli Army assault helicopters filled with armed commandos carrying what appeared to be explosive satchels. After hovering over the ship for several minutes, making no attempt to communicate, they flew away.
11. Did the Liberty send out a distress signal when it was under attack?
Throughout the air attack, the Liberty’s crew found it difficult to transmit a distress signal because the attacking Israeli aircraft jammed all five of the Liberty’s American, not Egyptian, emergency radio channels. However, a message did reach the U.S. Navy command in the Mediterranean.
12. What was the American response time?
Although American carrier-based air support was only 40 minutes away, help did not reach the USS Liberty for seventeen hours. Navy fighters were launched from the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga while the Liberty was under attack. However, they were quickly recalled by the White House. This is the only instance in American naval history where a rescue mission was cancelled when an American ship was under attack.
13. Why would Israel have deliberately attacked an American ship?
Israel’s motive for launching the attack has never been determined with certainty. One hypothesis is that Israel intended to sink the ship (with no survivors) and blame Egypt because this might have brought the United States into the 1967 war. Another hypothesis is that the Liberty was gathering intelligence about activities that Israel did not want revealed. Examples might include the massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war that was then occurring in the Sinai, as well as Israel’s impending invasion of Syria.
14. Has the incident been investigated in the past?
Some people say that there have been thirteen official investigations all concluding the attack was a case of mistaken identity. Several were conducted by Israel. Upon examination, however, every single one is based upon the conclusions of the original 1967 US Navy Court of Inquiry, which accepted the Israeli version, but which has now been exposed by its chief attorney as a cover-up.
15. Did the surviving crewmembers testify in the investigations?
In not one of these investigations were any of the Liberty’s surviving crewmembers permitted to publicly testify.
16. Why would the White House prevent the rescue of an American ship?
It is not known why the White House ordered the recall of the planes that had been sent to rescue the Liberty, nor why they ordered that the survivors remain silent. This is why many are calling for a new Court of Inquiry by the Department of the Navy, with congressional oversight, to take public testimony from surviving crewmembers and otherwise thoroughly examine the circumstances of the attack.
17. Why is this significant for the American people 40 years later?
Any policies that paralyze the elected leadership of the United States to the extent they become unable or unwilling to protect Americans and American interests, endangers not only the safety of all Americans but also the national security of the United States.
18. Doesn’t America have a special relationship with Israel?
No nation or people should be above the law; nor should American interests be subordinated to the interests of any foreign nation. Those responsible for ordering the attack and the resulting killings of American sailors should be held accountable for their actions.
Phil Tourney, USS Liberty survivor and Merlin Miller, of Americana Pictures will be speaking at the
VFW Hall,
2953 Charles Denby Post
1800 Pollack Ave.
Evansville, IN 47708
on Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 6PM EDST. VFW color guard will be present.
The admission is FREE, and is open to the public.
*
(paperback and audio CD) (2010)
- Liberty Publications; 1ST edition (2010)
- ISBN-10: 1450715540
- ISBN-13: 978-1450715546
*
The Israeli military has attacked a flotilla of international peace activists, killing as many as 19 innocent civilians while they were carrying ten tons of aid to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. This is not the first time the Israeli military has attacked a nonthreatening entity in international waters.
On June 8, 1967, while sailing in international waters, the US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked by air and naval forces of the state of Israel. Of the Liberty’s crew of 294, more than half were killed or wounded. More than 40 years later, survivors are still seeking justice.
The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that the Liberty was an American ship, yet survivors have been forbidden to tell their story under oath to the American public.
Joe Meadors was on the Liberty during the attack.
“I watched some jets pass us then turn left after they passed our ship, then they started strafing [attacking repeatedly with bombs or machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft] us,” Meadors told Truthout.
“The attack lasted 90 minutes, during which we got a message off to the 6th fleet asking for assistance, and we learned later, Joe Tully, commanding officer of the USS Saratoga, launched aircraft within minutes of the attack, but he told us later they were recalled before they reached the horizon. We found this out 20 years after the attack.”
Meadors said he and his group, the USS Liberty Veterans Association, believe that Rear Adm. Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander at the time of the attack, was following orders from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who called off the Navy’s rescue mission for the USS Liberty.
Meadors, along with other survivors of the attack, have been engaged in what has evolved into a more than 40-year struggle to find justice.
“The most frustrating thing has been a lack of reaction from the US government,” Meadors explained, “On June 8, 2005 we filed a war crimes report, and they [the US Government] are required to investigate these allegations. They’ve created reports about our mission, but they never did conduct an actual investigation of the attack itself.”
Meadors and the other veterans he works with to bring about a governmental investigation of the attack take the position that they should not have to force the government to do this.
In 2003, an independent commission of highly regarded experts was created to look into the matter. The Moorer Commission, named after its chairman, included Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, United States Navy (Ret.), former chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Raymond G. Davis, United States Marine Corps and former assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.
Findings of this commission included: “Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty … Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty’s life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded … Israel’s attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.”
Ray McGovern is a senior CIA analyst who served under seven presidents – from John Kennedy to George H. W. Bush.
McGovern is clear about why he believes the US government continues to refuse to launch an investigation. “For the same reason that President Johnson called back the fighter/bombers; i.e., so as not to embarrass our friend Israel,” McGovern explained to Truthout, “It is my view that the killing of 34 USS Liberty crew and wounded more than 170 others and the fact that the US Navy, Congress, executive branch not only prohibited the survivors to speak about it, but also launched faux ‘inquiries,’ is the poster child for what is wrong with the US relationship with Israel, showing the penchant of senior US officials to sacrifice honesty, justice, and US servicemen on the sacral altar of “compassionate attachment” to Israel.”
McGovern added that, in his view, the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty is “the archetypical example of how Israel was given convincing affirmation of its belief that it can get away with murder, literally, and the US Gulliver would be bound to ignore it … or even mount ‘official’ inquiries to explain it away.”
Bryce Lockwood survived the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty and was awarded the Silver Star for his heroic actions during the attack, when he saved at least one wounded sailor’s life.
Lockwood, like McGovern, feels there is no doubt whatsoever that the attack was no accident.
“It was deliberate,” Lockwood told Truthout. He went on to explain why he thinks Moshe Dayan, who was appointed as Israel’s Defense Minister in 1967, ordered the attack.
“I only learned recently, via a document released by the CIA, that Dayan ordered the attack, despite objections from his staff members,” Lockwood explained, “Our ship had the capability of monitoring virtually everything … all communications. The Israelis had nuclear capability, and it was extremely important to the Johnson administration that the Israelis not use the nuclear option. We could monitor all of this, even when it was done by the Israelis. The Israelis wanted unbridled use of the nuclear option, and they didn’t want us to know about it … that’s why they attacked us.”
Another reason why Lockwood is so certain that the attack was deliberate is because he watched Joe Meadors hoist three US flags up a pole in an attempt to insure the Israeli pilots knew they were firing on a US ship.
“The Israelis claim they didn’t see a US flag, but they shot down two, and Joe raised three of them, since they kept firing on them,” Lockwood explained, “They riddled the third with bullet holes, but it stayed up.”
In addition, writing in his memoirs, Richard Helms, the director of Central Intelligence at the time of the attack, explained that the CIA undertook a “final” investigation after more evidence became available, and he offered the following information concerning the CIA’s final finding:
“Israeli authorities subsequently apologized for the incident, but few in Washington could believe that the ship had not been identified as an American naval vessel. Later, an interim intelligence memorandum concluded the attack was a mistake and not made in malice against the US…. I had no role in the board of inquiry that followed, or the board’s finding that there could be no doubt that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing in attacking the Liberty. I have yet to understand why it was felt necessary to attack this ship or who ordered the attack.”
Meadors’ and Lockwood’s struggle to find justice spans decades, and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.
Meadors is measured in his explanation of how he perceives the politics behind the lack of an investigation. “Politicians feel the Israeli lobby is so powerful, that if they do anything about this it will cost them votes. Nobody thinks it was a mistake, everybody knows it was deliberate. But they won’t investigate it because they feel it would damage the relationship between the US and Israel.”
“I’m disgusted with our country and our representatives,” Lockwood concluded, “My country doesn’t give a damn about me or the people on the Liberty. I’m terribly disappointed in the way our country has dealt with us.”
While both Meadors and Lockwood urge people to contact their Congressional representatives and demand an investigation, Meadors is moving ahead with looking for an attorney who will help the USS Liberty Veterans group to which he belongs determine if they have a course of action through federal courts.
Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist, is the author of “The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan,” (Haymarket Books, 2009), and “Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches From an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq,” (Haymarket Books, 2007). Jamail reported from occupied Iraq for nine months as well as from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over the last five years.
IMO, We are becoming, if not have become just an adjunct extension of Israel’s Zionist apartheid government. The USA is Israel’s water boy and silent taxpayer. All costs and no real benefits. Move along…nothing to see… -jd
by Philip Weiss on May 31, 2010
The attack on the USS Liberty is one of the great enigmas of US-Israel relations. On June 8, 1967, in the middle of the Six-Day War, Israeli planes attacked an American spy ship, the Liberty, that was in international waters off the coast of Egypt, listening in on secret communications. The attacks appeared to be deliberate, involving numerous passes on a clearly-marked American boat, strafing and napalming. The attack killed 34 Americans and produced very little by way of investigation. It was deemed an accident from the start, although many American officials doubted this conclusion.
[With the Liberty] the United States had the capability to intercept and decipher VHF and UHF radio frequencies, common frequencies used for government and military communications…
In the case of the Liberty, the White House, afraid of offending Israel’s domestic backers at a time when it needed support for its Vietnam policy, looked the other way….
Hints of disbelief did emerge, often from small newspapers outside the Beltway. Many puzzled over how Israel’s exceptional military could make such a blunder…
[T]he overall lack of criticism of Israel baffled some senior government leaders. The dogged press corps consistently challenged the administration on its Vietnam policy and ambitious social programs. In the case of the Liberty, the press aimed most of its critical questions at the American government. Israel in contrast enjoyed a reprieve. Reporters soon adopted the phrase ‘accidental attack,’ a description that frustrated Pentagon officials, who felt it minimized the ferocity of the sustained assault that had killed or injured two out of every three men on board…
“We were quite convinced the Israelis knew what they were doing,” [Thomas Hughes, director of the State Department's Intelligence office] later said. “It was hard to come to any other conclusion.” Other senior staffers agreed, believing that Israel did not want the United States reading its wartime message traffic….
Despite Jerusalem’s close ties with Washington, many State Department officials–and others in the intelligence community–believed the Jewish state’s survival instinct was so strong that, if necessary, Israel would attack a close ally in the interest of self-preservation…. [According to William Wolle, former State Department:] “The feeling of those of us at the working level in NEA [State Department Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs] was that the Israelis had deliberately done this so that we couldn’t read all of their communications, etc. We are their ally but they are not going to trust us when it comes to a wartime situation in terms of what information might get out, what we might pass along to someone. We all felt it was no accident.”…
Soon after the Liberty attack, [National Security Agency director Lieutenant General Marshall] Carter appeared before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to discuss the Liberty. [Deputy Secretary of Defense] Cyrus Vance joined him… “Cy Vance just told me to keep my mouth shut,” [Gerard] Burke [Carter's chief of staff] recalled his boss telling him…. “There was absolutely no question in anybody’s mind that the Israelis had done it deliberately,” Burke said. “I was angrier because of the cover-up… The only mystery to me was why was the thing being covered up.”…
Some of President Johnson’s advisers later regretted the handling of the attack. “We failed to let it all come out publicly at the time,” said Lucius Battle, the assistant secretary of state for near eastern and south Asian affairs. “We really ignored it for all practical purposes, and we shouldn’t have.” George Ball, the former undersecretary of state prior to [Nicholas] Katzenbach, wrote that the Liberty ultimately had a greater effect on policy in Israel than in the United States. “Israel’s leaders concluded that nothing they migth do would offend Americans to the point of reprisal,” Ball wrote. “If America’s leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of American citizens, it seemed clear that their American friends would let them get away with anything.“
Talk about a latter day prophet- jd
“Fellow desert veteran Navy Capt. William McGonagle, who earned his medal in 1967 as commanding officer of the USS Liberty, is also recognized in the exhibit.
McGonagle is a graduate of Coachella Valley High School.
“This exhibit is special because we need to remember our Medal of Honor recipients,” said Jacque Schindewolf, museum curator and conservator. “You can’t say, ‘Thank you,’ enough to them.”
___________________________________________________
General Patton Museum plans veteran tribute
by Mariecar Mendoza •
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs , California • June 1, 2010
More than 1,000 World War II veterans die each day, but their stories live on — and the General Patton Memorial Museum is just one of the venues making sure they aren’t forgotten.
The General Patton Memorial Museum in Chiriaco Summit is scheduled to host a special tribute June 9 to rededicate three exhibits related to World War II.
The exhibits were unveiled in November, but museum officials said the tribute seeks to highlight some new additions.
No mention of Israel as the attackers just like his MoH Citation…one tradition the Israel First media never really breaks -jd
Good News!
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 13:03:38 -0400
From: Ernie Gallo, President of the Liberty Veterans Association
Subject: Update, Status of Joe Meadors
I have been informed that Joe is back on US soil and is winging
his way back home to Texas. Thanks for your prayers and well
wishes.
Cheers, Ernie
[[Many thanks for the report, Ernie!.../jg]]
(Thanks to John, Ernie, Marie and everybody as well who provided news and updates -jd)
——————————————————————-
Hello, shipmates!!!
I could not help but think when I heard the news this morning
(05/31/10) — Not even 10 days shy of the 43rd anniversary of the
attack on an unarmed ship in international waters (USS LIBERTY)
(AGTR-5) the Isreali military is at it again; this time against
civilian aid ships. Come November, maybe we can ‘clean house’ in
DC and get some of the newbies to give LIBERTY her chance to a
formal investigation after all these years!!!
Have a great day!!!
Pogo
—————————————————————————
THE UGLY TRUTH — Dogs will be dogs — Israel’s latest slaughter
of the innocents — just business as usual 6/1/10 Mark Glenn
I -– like a growing number of people -– have become immune to such
news for the simple reason that there is nothing “new” about it, in
much the same way I am not surprised when I hear about Pitbull
attacks, and for this simple reason — THIS IS WHAT ISRAEL DOES.
THIS IS WHAT SHE ALWAYS HAS DONE AND ALWAYS WILL DO AS LONG AS SHE REMAINS OUT OF HER CAGE AND ON THE LOOSE. (More:)
By: Linzi Sheldon | WHEC.com
Posted at: 05/31/2010 11:41 PM | Updated at: 05/31/2010 11:51 PM
John Hrankoswki, a Rochester veteran is anxiously waiting to hear about his friend’s safety.
His former shipmate on the USS Liberty 43 years ago was part of the flotilla raided early Monday morning and is now being detained.
“This is nuts,” John Hrankowski said. “It’s crazy. And I’m really heartbroken, I really am.”
Hrankowski is a proud veteran who served on the USS Liberty during the Six-Day War.
So to begin Memorial Day with news that the Israeli military stormed an aid convoy with Americans on board, was, he said, horrendous.
“We all have been reliving this, all us guys,” he said. “We’ve been on the phone, we’ve been emailing each other, trying to calm people down.”
The Liberty was attacked by Israeli military forces 43 years ago. Thirty-four men died.
The US and Israeli governments called it a mistake over the ship’s identity.
On Monday, one of Hrankowski shipmates was on his way back to where it all happened.
“He had the wreath with him to put the wreath on June 8th, 13 miles out where we got hit,” Hrankowski said. “Nobody’s ever got a chance to do that from the Liberty.”
Hrankowski’s friend, Joe Meadors, was on one of the ships in the flotilla when chaos broke onboard.
“We heard from his wife that he’s not dead,” Hrankowski said. “He’s incarcerated, he wasn’t wounded and that’s all we know right now.”
Activists say the ships were attacked by Israeli commandos. Israeli officials say they were acting in self defense.
But politics aside, on Monday night, all Hrankowski could think about was getting his friend home safely.
“I’m really, really, really shook about it and I’ll be waiting to see what happens…hour by hour,” he said.
What sloppy journalism, misspelled his name to challenge internet search engines. -jd
Man who served on ship bombed by Israel during 1967 war is missing in aftermath of flotilla clashes
US veteran on board ‘Liberty’ was flotilla passenger
Ynet.com News agencies Published: 06.01.10
A US Navy veteran who was on board the USS Liberty, which Israel attacked during the Six Day War, is now missing after taking part in the conflict-ridden flotilla, US news agencies reported Tuesday.
Sixty-three year-old Joe Miduras, [sic] Meadors of the Texas town of Corpus Christi, has not yet made contact with his wife, Jean. She has so far remained unconcerned, however, saying she didn’t think he had been hurt.
Miduras [sic] Meadors was a soldier on board the USS Liberty, which came under fire by Israeli warplanes and torpedoes on the fourth day of the 1967 war. As a result, 34 crew members were killed. “We have no luck with Israelis,” his wife joked.
[his wife was never reported as joking in any other similar report or email. Not hearing from your husband is joking? Israeli spin never stops. - jd].
One other American man, a former diplomat, was also on board the flotilla. Eighty-one year-old Edward Peck, of Maryland, was the US ambassador to Mauritania and also served in the State Department during the Reagan presidency.
He is currently on his way home. His wife says she received an email from the Foreign Ministry saying Peck was in good condition, and estimated that he would be home on Tuesday.
On board the Marmara were also two Australian journalists, Paul McGeough and photographer Kate Geraghty. Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Alan Oakley, said the two had been taken to Ela Prison in Beersheba.
He said he had had no contact with the two since Monday’s incidents. Oakley added that the Irish and Australian embassies in Israel would take care of the two, who are also Irish citizens.
Oakley said the journalists had participated in the flotilla as part of their jobs as reporters. “I hope the authorities respect their rights,” he said.
The Immigration Authority said Tuesday that there had been 679 passengers from 40 different countries on board the boats, most of them Turkish and Greek. The youngest passenger was a two-year old child. Nine were killed and more than 40 injured during the clashes, seven of them IDF soldiers.
________________________________________________________
Rich Siegel News items: USS Liberty survivor Joe Meadors has
survived his second attack at sea by Israel and is now being held
in an Israeli prison. An international named Emily- last name
unknown- was injured in demonstration in Ramallah, Palestine, hit
in head by tear-gas canister, condition unknown. Demonstrations
around the world today. I participated in a huge demo in NYC,
another planned tomorrow, 5 PM, 42 & 2nd.
——————————————————————-
From: madams12
Jean Meadors, wife of Joe Meadors, 63, of Corpus Christi, Texas, a
Navy veteran also on board a seized ship, said Monday evening that
she believed he was safe, “but I’d like to hear that from him.”
She said his exact status, whether under arrest, detention or
otherwise, was unclear.
Joe Meadors was serving aboard the U.S. Navy intelligence ship
USS Liberty that was attacked by Israeli forces in 1967, killing
34 crew members.
“He hasn’t had much luck with the Israelis,” Jean Meadors said.
(More:)
——————————————————————-
EMAIL from survivor Phil Tourney to survivor Ernie Gallo:
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 6:30 PM Re: Status of Joe Meadors
Ernie,
I am very happy Joe is not one of the dead or wounded but I grief
for the ones who did not make it or were wounded by Israel.I hope
they treat all of the hostages with respect and do not harm anyone
and he gets home to Jean and his family safe and sound ASAP.
I also must add I respect Joe very much for taking on a cause
bigger than all of us trying to help the helpless he should take
great honer in his efforts I SALUTE him.
Thank you for the update if you get any more news would appreciate
an up date.
Best wishes,
Phil
Excerpt from Ray McGovern’s June 1, 2010 article in total below:
“Getting Away With Murder
The fatal incident off the Gaza coast was not the first time Israel had used lethal force against a nearly defenseless ship at sea. The attack on the “Freedom Flotilla” was reminiscent of the attack on the USS Liberty during Israel’s Six-Day War against three of its Arab neighbors.
The war started on June 5, 1967, when Israel carried out an unprovoked Blitzkrieg attack. What is my source for “unprovoked?” Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who 15 years later admitted publicly:
“In June 1967, we 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.”
Three days into the war, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats turned their firepower on the intelligence collection ship USS Liberty in international waters after the Israelis had identified it as a U.S. Navy ship.
The Israelis later insisted they had lost track of the ship and that the strafing was an accident in the fog of war. However, U.S. intelligence intercepted Israeli conversations at the time, indicating that the Israeli mission was to sink the ship and leave no survivors.
Israeli commandos clad in black were about to land from helicopters and finish off what remained of the Liberty crew when Seaman Terry Halbardier (later awarded the Silver Star) slid over the Liberty’s napalm-laden deck to jury-rig an antenna and get an SOS off to the Sixth Fleet.
To avoid exacerbating bilateral tensions, the U.S. Navy was ordered to cover up the deliberate nature of the attack, and the surviving crew was threatened with imprisonment, if they so much as told their wives. When some of the crew later called for an independent investigation, they were hit with charges of anti-Semitism.
One of the surviving crew of the USS Liberty, decorated Navy veteran Joe Meadors, was with the “Freedom Flotilla” when it was attacked. Meadors is past president of the USS Liberty Veterans Association.
The State Department tells us that Joe Meadors survived this latest Israeli attack. At last word, he sits in an Israeli jail.
Obama’s Timidity and Deaths at Sea
By Ray McGovern
June 1, 2010
A chief lesson to learn from President Barack Obama’s recent unwillingness to stand up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Lobby is that such timidity can get people killed.
Casualty figures are still arriving in the wake of Israel’s Sunday night-Monday morning commando attack on an unarmed flotilla trying to bring relief supplies to the 1.5 million Palestinians crowded into Gaza. Already, at least nine civilian passengers aboard the ships are reported killed, and dozens wounded.
Yet, seldom has an act of aggression been so well advertised in advance. Israel had made clear that it would use force to prevent the ships from reaching Gaza and heard no stern protest from President Obama, who apparently could not overcome his fear of Israel’s legendary political clout.
Earlier this year, Obama did criticize Israel’s continued settlement of Palestinian areas and Netanyahu’s resistance to hold meaningful peace talks, but the President has failed to follow up his words with firm action or resolve.
For that reason, Netanyahu was left convinced that Israel could do what it wished, including dropping commandos by helicopters onto crowded ships and after an apparent clash with civilians on one of the ships, ordering the use of lethal force.
Then, Netanyahu could expect that America’s Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) – with leading figures like Wolf Blitzer who built his journalistic career by working for the Jerusalem Post – would finesse the murderous assault into something reasonable and possibly even tilted sympathetically toward the Israeli troops.
Early on, CNN began repeating the Israeli “explanation” for its attack on the high seas, parroting the Jerusalem Post which reported that “militants were killed” after they set upon Israeli naval commandos who boarded one of the six ships Monday morning at two o’clock.
The commandos “were met with strong resistance from men armed with bladed weapons and the situation degenerated into a massacre when one of them grabbed the weapon of a soldier and opened fire,” said the Jerusalem Post, quoting Israeli military sources.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that the relief convoy organizers had a “radical Islamic anti-Western orientation,” and that Israeli “naval forces were attacked with metal clubs and knives, as well as live fire,” though there were no reports of Israeli deaths. The IDF statement continued:
“The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose,” adding that the Navy then used riot dispersal methods, which include live fire, according to JTA, the global news service of the Jewish people.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed the organizers of the convoy for the violent outcome, and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told a news conference why that was so: “The organizers’ intent was violent, their method was violent, and unfortunately, the results were violent.”
So, you see, the Israeli military resorted to violence only in self-defense. Right.
Quiet Conversation
On Monday, President Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone about the incident. Afterwards, the White House said Obama had expressed “deep regret” over the deaths, but declined further comment, citing “the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances” as quickly as possible.
However, don’t count on the timid Obama or his Likud-leaning advisers — much less the FCM — to question the Israeli version.
We are likely to get an “explanation” worthy of the late Alexander Haig as to why the slaughter may well have been “justified.” Haig’s death in February brought to mind comments he made about a brutal incident on the night of Dec. 2, 1980, shortly after Ronald Reagan’s election victory.
In rightist-ruled El Salvador, government security forces stopped four American churchwomen in their mini-van and were ordered to kill them. The soldiers first raped the women and then executed them with high-powered rifles.
Reagan’s foreign policy team decided to treat the rape-murder as a public relations problem, best handled by shifting blame onto the victims. And so, the women were deemed not nuns, but “political activists.”
After becoming Reagan’s first Secretary of State, Haig told Congress that “the nuns may have run through a roadblock or may have accidentally been perceived to have been doing so, and there may have been an exchange of fire.”
In just a few weeks, the American women had gone from being innocent victims to “political activists” to armed insurgents – although knowledgeable U.S. government officials conceded there was no evidence to support Haig’s shoot-out speculation. As an intelligence analyst at the time, I knew of Haig’s inclination to make up stuff.
Watch for the same thing to happen to the international “activists” who were killed and wounded in the incident off Gaza. I don’t watch the FCM anymore (it’s just too much for my Irish temper), but I’m told that Israel-friendly pundits are already spinning faster than the famous centrifuges in Iran.
Uncle Remus’s Wisdom
“He Don’t Say Nothin’,” as Uncle Remus put it, with improper grammar but with an accurate understanding that by not saying anything you can often convey a powerful or dangerous message.
As a presidential candidate, Obama was careful to say nothing about the brutal Israeli blockade against the 1.5 million people in Gaza, about to enter its fourth year. As president-elect he stayed mum as the Israelis attacked densely populated Gaza, killing some 1,400 Gazans.
As President, he has backed down at every significant moment when Netanyahu thumbed his nose at Obama or at Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama knew about the “Freedom Flotilla” and its plan to bring supplies to Gaza. And he had to be aware of Israel’s threats to attack the relief ships. But, like Uncle Remus’s B’rer Fox, Obama “don’t say nothin.’”
Quite the contrary, Obama’s pro-Zionist White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who recently vacationed in Israel and met with Netanyahu last Wednesday, extended an invitation for a working visit at the White House. Netanyahu was to visit Obama on Tuesday after a four-day visit to Canada.
On Monday morning, Netanyahu canceled out of a gala dinner to be held in his honor in Ottawa and nixed the visit to Washington. He said he hoped that both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Obama “understand that Israel has a great security problem.”
Getting Away With Murder
The fatal incident off the Gaza coast was not the first time Israel had used lethal force against a nearly defenseless ship at sea. The attack on the “Freedom Flotilla” was reminiscent of the attack on the USS Liberty during Israel’s Six-Day War against three of its Arab neighbors.
The war started on June 5, 1967, when Israel carried out an unprovoked Blitzkrieg attack. What is my source for “unprovoked?” Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who 15 years later admitted publicly:
“In June 1967, we 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.”
Three days into the war, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats turned their firepower on the intelligence collection ship USS Liberty in international waters after the Israelis had identified it as a U.S. Navy ship.
The Israelis later insisted they had lost track of the ship and that the strafing was an accident in the fog of war. However, U.S. intelligence intercepted Israeli conversations at the time, indicating that the Israeli mission was to sink the ship and leave no survivors.
Israeli commandos clad in black were about to land from helicopters and finish off what remained of the Liberty crew when Seaman Terry Halbardier (later awarded the Silver Star) slid over the Liberty’s napalm-laden deck to jury-rig an antenna and get an SOS off to the Sixth Fleet.
To avoid exacerbating bilateral tensions, the U.S. Navy was ordered to cover up the deliberate nature of the attack, and the surviving crew was threatened with imprisonment, if they so much as told their wives. When some of the crew later called for an independent investigation, they were hit with charges of anti-Semitism.
One of the surviving crew of the USS Liberty, decorated Navy veteran Joe Meadors, was with the “Freedom Flotilla” when it was attacked. Meadors is past president of the USS Liberty Veterans Association.
The State Department tells us that Joe Meadors survived this latest Israeli attack. At last word, he sits in an Israeli jail.
Rachel Corrie
Another incident occurred on March 16, 2003, when 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American volunteer serving in Gaza with the International Solidarity Movement was run over by an Israeli Army bulldozer after a prolonged face-off in full view of several of her volunteer colleagues.
Rachel was trying to prevent the bulldozing of a Palestinian home where she had been staying.
The apparent message the Israelis wanted to convey in killing Rachel Corrie was that international volunteers would no longer be exempt from the brutal treatment accorded young Israeli volunteers who tried to stand up, as Rachel did, for decent treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.
The FCM’s excitement over President George W. Bush’s eagerly anticipated “shock-and-awe” bombing of Iraq three days later pushed what limited coverage there was about Rachel’s murder to the back pages. The Israelis claimed the killing was an inadvertent mistake, like the shoot-up of the Liberty.
The courageous Rachel was very much with the Freedom Flotilla in spirit. One of the ships in the convoy bore the name “Rachel Corrie.”
Israel cannot hide behind “inadvertence” this time, although its spin-masters are already doing their best to smear the civilians on the ships with buzzwords, calling them “terrorists” who “ambushed” and tried to “lynch” the Israeli commandos.
These P.R. tactics may work with the American FCM and neocons in Washington – and by extension the TV-watchers in the United States – but patience with Israel in the international community is wearing paper-thin.
Much of this has to do with Gaza, including the Israeli attack from Dec. 17, 2008, to Jan. 18, 2009, as well as the three-year blockade that began when Hamas won Palestinian elections and became the governing party in Gaza.
Israel and the U.S. government deem Hamas to be a terrorist organization, though some other countries regard it more as a resistance movement fighting against Israeli occupation.
Yet, regardless of how one feels about Hamas, Israel’s harsh blockade of Gaza and last year’s military assault are widely seen as inflicting a humanitarian disaster on the Palestinian people.
Has Netanyahu Gone Too Far?
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has reacted strongly to the Israeli attack on the relief ships, the largest of which sailed from Turkey. According to one report, Turkey has served warning that Turkish Navy ships will escort future relief convoys to Gaza.
Erdogan has had it with Israeli mistreatment of Muslims in his eastern Mediterranean neighborhood. On Jan. 29, 2009, at the economic summit in Davos, he leveled harsh criticism to Israeli President Shimon Peres’s face, labeling Gaza “an open-air prison.”
Erdogan angrily cited “the sixth commandment — Thou Shalt Not Kill,” adding, “We are talking about killing” in Gaza. Erdogan’s one-and-a-half-minute tirade was captured
on camera by the BBC.
Five days before Erdogan’s outburst, the Brazilian government also condemned Israel’s bombing of Gaza and its effect on the civilian population as a “disproportionate response.”
It seems to have been the atrocity in Gaza that galvanized the successful joint effort by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to defy Israel by getting Iran to agree to transfer fully half of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey for further processing, rendering it unusable for a nuclear weapon.
Defy Israel? you ask. If Israel believes that low-enriched uranium is an essential part of an “existential threat” to Israel from eventual nuclear weapons in Iran, would the Israelis not be delighted at Iran’s agreement to send half to Turkey? Good question.
If the truth be told, Israel cares a lot less about Iran’s uranium that it does about forcing “regime change” in Tehran. Netanyahu does not want any agreement with Iran; he wants sanctions against Iran, and eventually a military conflict.
And this twin wish is shared by American neocons who remain influential in the Obama administration and in the FCM.
The pro-Israeli hardliners appear to be the ones running U.S. policy on the Middle East, not Obama, who appears only nominally in charge. Unusually clear proof of this came when the Brazilians released a letter revealing that Obama had personally encouraged the Brazilian and Turkish leaders to pursue the kind of deal they were able to work out with the Iranians.
Thus, the leaders of Brazil and Turkey were surprised when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other administration spokespeople trashed the tripartite Iran-Turkey-Brazil deal and pressed ahead with a new round of sanctions.
And the President? Did he step and acknowledge encouraging Brazil and Turkey to seek the uranium deal? Well, he don’t say nothin’.
Israeli Influence
While Americans continue to be starved of real information from the FCM, people around the world are able to view with disdain the degree to which Washington dogs are wagged by Israeli tails.
When I suggested five years ago before a Capitol Hill hearing chaired by Rep. John Conyers that Israel was right up there, together with oil and military bases, as comprising the real rationale for war on Iraq, I, too, was called anti-Semitic. But the evidence has always been as clear as it is abundant.
An inadvertent remark by former British Prime Minister Blair has provided insight — straight from the horse’s ass, I mean, mouth.
In early February 2010, the British press revealed that Blair, testifying to the Iraq war commission in the U.K., offered the following account of his discussions with Bush in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002. That’s when Bush said war was the only way to deal with Saddam Hussein, and Blair acquiesced.
But Blair’s remarks revealed that Israeli concerns were a major part of the equation and that Israeli officials were involved in the discussions. Thus, Blair:
“As I recall that discussion, it was less to do with specifics about what we were going to do on Iraq or, indeed, the Middle East, because the Israel issue was a big, big issue at the time. I think, in fact, I remember, actually, there may have been conversations that we had even with Israelis, the two of us, whilst we were there. So that was a major part of all this.”
It is a safe bet that Hillary Clinton’s Likud-friendly lieutenants and their new junior partners in London are busy conferring with Tel Aviv right now about how to handle the PR challenge caused by the upstart leaders of Turkey and Brazil with the temerity to work out a deal with Tehran. (Never mind that Obama personally asked them to do it.)
How does one make into a bad thing Iran’s agreement to ship half its uranium out of the country, even if additional steps might still be needed to assure the world that Iran is telling the truth when it says it isn’t building a nuclear bomb?
More and more people around the globe are seeing Obama as subservient to the Likud Lobby, perhaps not as enthusiastically as Bush was, but still unwilling to put action behind his occasional words of dissatisfaction.
Important players in the Middle East, as well as increasingly assertive countries like Turkey and Brazil, conclude that the policies and behavior of Tel Aviv and Washington are virtually identical.
And then there is the $3 billion or so that the United States gives Israel each year that enables the Israelis to arm themselves to the teeth. It is understandable, then, that many will blame Washington for what happened in the dark of night, on the eve of Memorial Day, on the high seas.
Hard Lessons
The likely results are three-fold:
–On Memorial Day next year, there may well be hundreds more “fallen heroes” to honor, killed by Muslim and other “militants” who make no distinction between what the U.S. had done in Iraq and Afghanistan and what Israel does in Gaza and the occupied West Bank — and add Lebanon and Syria, for good measure.
As Gen. David Petraeus pointed out earlier this year, the unresolved Arab-Israeli “conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel” and thus puts U.S. troops at greater risk.
“Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the [region] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world,” Petraeus said. “Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support.”
–The linking of U.S. support with Israeli actions enhances the incentive of terrorists to ply their dark arts in the United States.
While it is difficult to find a measure of objectivity in official U.S. government documents on this topic, every so often there is a slip between cup and lip. There was such a slip on Sept. 23, 2004, for example, when the Pentagon-sponsored U.S. Defense Science Board issued a formal report concluding:
“Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights.”
Somewhere between 7,500-4,000 years ago, a meteorite fragmented over Estonia's Saaremaa island. The meteorite hit with a force comparable to Hiroshima and left nine impact craters, including the 110-meter Kaali crater. Locals worshiped this hole as holy.
