Today in 2018, is memorial day.  Today 22 Vet lives will end in suicide. The current daily average for US vets.

Every memorial day I remember the great fighters for freedom with some gratitude. Like my father, who fought the Nazi fascists for six years in WW2 as a British Army captain. Without him, without every one of those anti fascists who fought fascism for the freedom we enjoy today, I would not be able to write this way at this time.

Today’s Andrew story for blogging is another courageous anti fascist.   Captain William McGonagle and his crew on the USS Liberty,  those 34 American crewmen who died under Israeli attacks in one of the most controversial moments of American Zionist support placing Zionist interest above the lives of servicemen asked to give their lives for America. Not for Zionism.

The Israeli assault on the USS Liberty was among the worst attacks in history against a noncombatant U.S. naval vessel, yet still the incident remains shrouded in secrecy. The obfuscatory issue of if-and-when Israeli forces became aware they were killing Americans has enabled and ensured no accountability for this terrorist aggression to continue to this day.  Israel has the right to defend itself. If that means killing 34 US Sailors, then so be it. Many believe the objective was to sink the LIBERTY with all hands, blame the Egyptians, and then watch the US revenge attack Egypt.

The Navy Court of Inquiry’s investigation proceedings following the incident were held in closed sessions. The survivors received gag orders forbidding them to talk about that day. The story and all it represents for US/Zionist relations remains outside of mainstream reporting to this day.

There is still no justice for the US service men who died that day. And for the pilots of the Carrier based jets who scrambled after hearing Captain McGonagle’s SOS, only to be turned around. Under U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara jets that had been dispatched to assist the Liberty were turned around. “Leave no man behind?”  

McGonagle was severely wounded during the first air attack and although the bridge had sustained heavy damage he stayed and directed the defense of the ship, refusing to leave his post for medical attention. As the Israeli fighters continued their attack he maneuvered his ship, directed its defense, supervised the control of flooding and fire, and saw to the care of the casualties.

Captain McGonagle remained at his battle station and continued to command his ship for more than 17 hours. It was only after rendezvous with a U.S. destroyer that he relinquished personal control of the Liberty and permitted himself to be removed from the bridge. The combined air and sea attack by Israel killed 34 crew members including naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and a civilian. There were 171 non fatal casualties on the Liberty.

Israel Air Force warplanes and Israel Navy warships attacked the USS Liberty with cannon fire, machine guns and torpedoes on June 8, 1967, at the height of the Six-Day War.

The attack begand when Israel dispatched a flight of two Mirage III fighter jets codenamed Kursa flight. The planes arrived at Liberty at about 2:00 p.m. The formation leader, Captain Iftach Spector, then claims he attempted to identify the ship. He radioed to one of the torpedo boats. He said the ship looked like a military ship with one smokestack and one mast. He also communicated, in effect, that the ship appeared to him like a destroyer or another type of small ship.In a post-attack statement, the pilots said they saw no distinguishable markings or flag on the ship.

Captain Iftach Spector has a long pedigree as a Zionist. His parents were both part of the Palmach, the elite strike force of the Haganah. His father, Zvi Spector, was the commander of Operation Boatswain, a failed 1941 Palmach mission in Lebanon that resulted in the deaths of all participants, and his mother, Shoshana Spector, was among the founding members of the Palmach and served as its adjutant officer. During his years as an Israeli pilot, Spector shot down 12 Arab-enemy aircraft, eight while flying the French Mirage III and four while flying the American F-4 Phantom II.

Interestingly, since 2001, Spector has been active in the Movement for Disengagement from the Palestinians. In 2003, Spector was one of 27 reserve pilots and former pilots exempt from reserve duty to sign “The pilots’ letter” refusing to fly missions against targets in the West Bank and Gaza.

After being cleared to attack, the Mirages dove on the ship and attacked with 30-mm cannons and rockets. The LIBERTY’S defense included  four .50 caliber machine guns. In that first attack the two Pilots successfully killed Eight crewmen, and wounded 75. Among the wounded was McGonagle, who was hit in the right thigh and arm. During the attack, antennas were severed, gas drums caught fire, and the ship’s flag was knocked down. McGonagle sent an urgent request for help to the Sixth Fleet, “Under attack by unidentified jet aircraft, require immediate assistance”.

The Mirages left after expending their ammunition, and were replaced by a flight of two Dassault Super Mystères codenamed Royal flight. The Mysteres were armed with napalm bombs, and were flown by Captain Yossi Zuk and his wingman, Yaakov Hamermish. The Mysteres released their payloads over the ship and strafed it with their cannons. Much of the ship’s superstructure caught fire.

At this point Rabin ordered the torpedo boats to remain at a safe distance from the ship. He ordered two Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon helicopters to search for survivors. These radio communications were recorded by Israel. The order was also recorded in the torpedo boat’s log, although Commander Oren claimed not to have received it. The order to cease fire was given at 2:20 p.m., twenty-four minutes before the torpedo boats arrived at the Liberty‘s position, according to the Israeli record.

During the interval, crewmen aboard Liberty hoisted a large American flag. During the early part of the air attack and before the torpedo boats were sighted, Liberty sent a distress message that was received by Sixth Fleet aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. Aircraft carrier USS America dispatched eight aircraft. The carrier had been in the middle of strategic exercises. Vice-Admiral William I. Martin was instructed by his command to recall the aircraft minutes after take off.

McGonagle testified at the naval court of inquiry that during the latter moments of the air attack, it was noted that three high speed boats were approaching the ship from the northeast on a relative bearing of approximately 135 [degrees] at a distance of about 15 [nautical] miles. The ship at the time was still on [westward] course 283 [degrees] true, speed unknown, but believed to be in excess of five knots. McGonagle testified that he “believed that the time of initial sighting of the torpedo boats … was about 14:20”, and that the “boats appeared to be in a wedge type formation with the center boat the lead point of the wedge. Estimated speed of the boats was about 27 to 30 knots [50 to 56 km/h]”, and that it “appeared that they were approaching the ship in a torpedo launch attitude”

The torpedo boats attacked. First firing with their cannons, killing Liberty‘s helmsman. Then launching five torpedoes at the Liberty. At 1235Z (2:35 local time)one torpedo hit Liberty on the starboard side forward of the superstructure, creating a 39 ft (12 m) wide hole, killing 25 servicemen, almost all of them from the intelligence section, and wounding dozens.  The other four torpedoes missed the ship.

The torpedo boats then closed in and strafed the ship’s hull with their cannons and machine guns. According to some crewmen, the torpedo boats fired at damage control parties and sailors preparing life rafts for launch.  A life raft which floated from the ship was picked up by T-203 and found to bear U.S. Navy markings. T-204 then circled Liberty, and Oren spotted the designation GTR-5, but saw no flag. It took until 3:30 p.m. to establish the ship’s identity. Shortly before the Liberty‘s identity was confirmed, the Saratoga launched eight aircraft armed with conventional weapons towards Liberty.

After Israel claimed the ship’s identity was confirmed, the General Staff was notified and an apology was sent by Israel to naval attaché Castle. For whatever reason, the aircraft responding to the Liberty SOS were recalled.

At about 4 p.m., two hours after the attack began, after the SOS had been sent and rescue planes launched, Israel informed the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv that its military forces had mistakenly attacked a U.S. Navy ship. The torpedo boats returned at about 4:40 p.m. to offer help that was, unsuprisingly, refused by the Liberty. Later, Israel provided a helicopter to fly U.S. naval attaché Commander Castle to the ship.

In Washington, President Lyndon B. Johnson received word from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Liberty had been torpedoed by an unknown vessel at 9:50 a.m. eastern time. Johnson assumed that the Soviets were involved, and informed Moscow of the attack and the dispatch of jets from Saratoga.

He chose not to make any public statements and delegated this task to Phil G. Goulding, who was an assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at the time. Within hours Israel claimed they had mistakenly attacked the ship. The Johnson administration conveyed “strong dismay” to Israeli ambassador Avraham Harman. Meanwhile, apologies were soon sent by Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Foreign Minister Abba Eban, and chargé d’affaires Ephraim Evron. Having failed to sink the LIBERTY with all hands, within 48 hours, Israel offered to compensate the victims and their families.

Though Liberty was severely damaged, with a 39 ft wide by 24 ft high (12 m × 7.3 m) hole and a twisted keel, her crew kept her afloat. She was able to leave the area under her own power. Liberty was first met by Soviet guided missile destroyer (DDG 626/4), which offered help. Subsequently it was met by the destroyers USS Davis and USS Massey, and the cruiser USS Little Rock. Medical personnel were transferred to Liberty, and she was escorted to Malta, where she was given interim repairs. After these were completed in July 1967, Liberty returned to the U.S. She was decommissioned in June 1968 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Liberty was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) in December 1970 and sold for scrap in 1973.

George Lenczowski notes: “It was significant that, in contrast to his secretary of state, President Johnson fully accepted the Israeli version of the tragic incident.” He notes that Johnson himself included only one small paragraph about the Liberty in his autobiography, in which he accepted the Israeli explanation, minimized the affair and distorted the number of dead and wounded, by lowering them from 34 to 10 and 171 to 100, respectively. Lenczowski further states: “It seems Johnson was more interested in avoiding a possible confrontation with the Soviet Union, … than in restraining Israel.”

McGonagle received the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. medal, for his actions. The Medal of Honor is generally presented by the president of the United States in the White House, but this time it was awarded at the Washington Navy Yard by the Secretary of the Navy in an unpublicized ceremony. Other Liberty sailors received decorations for their actions during and after the attack, but most of the award citations omitted mention of Israel as the perpetrator.

In 2009, however, a Silver Star was awarded to crew member Terry Halbardier, who braved machine-gun and cannon fire to repair a damaged antenna that restored the ship’s communication; in his award citation Israel was named as the attacker. Whoops.

In US Government investigations that followed, the Court produced evidence that the Israeli armed forces had ample opportunity to identify LIBERTY correctly. The Court had insufficient information before it to make a judgment on the reasons for the decision by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats to attack … It was not the responsibility of the Court to rule on the culpability of the attackers, and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation.
U.S. Defense Department’s June 28, 1967, News Release concerning the Naval Court of Inquiry into the attack.

The U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry record contains testimony by Liberty crew members, exhibits of attack damage photographs, and various reports. The court concluded that the testimony record revealed “a shallow investigation, plagued by disagreements between the captain and his crew”. According to the Navy Court of Inquiry’s record of proceedings, four days were spent hearing testimony: two days for fourteen survivors of the attack and several U.S. Navy expert witnesses, and two partial days for two expert U.S. Navy witnesses. No testimony was heard from Israeli personnel involved.

The official U.S. records of the Liberty incident were designated top-secret and closed to the general public. The U.S. government and Israel jointly stated: “That the Israeli attack upon the USS Liberty had been the result of error, and nothing more.” Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of the Liberty incident, said that he, “cannot accept the claim by the Israelis that this was a case of mistaken identity”.

The CIA Memoranda consists of two documents: one dated June 13, 1967, and the other dated June 21, 1967. The June 13 memorandum is an “account of circumstances of the attack … compiled from all available sources”. The June 21 memorandum is a point-by-point analysis of the Israeli inquiry findings of fact. It concludes: “The attack was not made in malice toward the U.S. and was by mistake, but the failure of the IDF Headquarters and the attacking aircraft to identify the Liberty and the subsequent attack by torpedo boats were both incongruous and indicative of gross negligence.”

The Clark Clifford report concluded: “The unprovoked attack on the Liberty constitutes a flagrant act of gross negligence for which the Israeli Government should be held completely responsible, and the Israeli military personnel involved should be punished.”

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee testimony contains, as an aside during hearings concerning a foreign aid authorization bill, questions and statements from several senators and responses from then Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, about the Liberty attack. For the most part, the senators were dismayed about the attack, as expressed by Senator Bourke B. Hickenlooper: “From what I have read I can’t tolerate for one minute that this attack was an accident.”

There was concern about obtaining more information on the attack, as expressed by Committee chairman J. William Fulbright: “We asked for [the attack investigation report] about two weeks ago and have not received it yet from Secretary Rusk. … By the time we get to it we will be on some other subject.” Secretary McNamara promised fast delivery of the investigation report, “… you will have it in four hours”, and concluded his remarks by saying: “I simply want to emphasize that the investigative report does not show any evidence of a conscious intent to attack a U.S. vessel.

And yet, the Liberty had a large US Flag that was clearly visible on that day at that time. Unmissable to any pilot flying low over the ship. Clearly the Israelis attacking the Liberty were aware that the vessel was an American spy ship, according to accredited testimony published in the Chicago Tribune. And as made clear by subsequent testimony by the participants in the attack, breaching the confidentiality they were made to agree to with regard to this attack on an American vessel.  

The report stated that the U.S. National Security Agency – to which the intelligence gathering ship USS Liberty belonged – was able to intercept IAF communications according to which, at some stage, the pilots identified the ship as American. Nonetheless, even if this doubt was true, knowing they were killing American servicemen, the pilots were instructed to push ahead with the attack.

Interested as I was in that Israeli attack on an American vessel, I jumped at the opportunity to speak to a politician involved in that theater of war at that time, 1981,  On condition of anonymity he told me his impression of what happened:  

Israel had that day committed a war crime in executing Egyptian prisoners of war. Radio transmissions for that war crime were picked up by the USS Liberty. The ship relayed this information to their command. It was soon after that the Israeli attack began. Then when the rescue planes were sent to assist the Liberty, they were stopped soon after the Captain relayed their take off. He was told to turn them back to their carrier.  Only the arrival of a friendly ship at the scene of the crime ended what was intended as a ‘kill them all’ attack. At no time did the White House support the Liberty crew against the Israelis. Before, during or after.

According to the Chicago Tribune report, some of the transcripts and intelligence information have disappeared, while the rest can be found in U.S. government archives. Oliver Kirby, the NSA’s deputy director for operations at the time of the Liberty attack, is quoted by the Tribune as confirming the existence of the transcripts, saying he personally read them.

“They said, ‘We’ve got him in the zero,'” Kirby was quoted as saying, “whatever that meant – I guess the sights or something. And then one of them said, ‘Can you see the flag?’ They said ‘Yes, it’s U.S, it’s U.S.’ They said it several times, so there wasn’t any doubt in anybody’s mind that they knew it.”

Kirby told the newspaper that the transcripts were “something that’s bothered me all my life. I’m willing to swear on a stack of Bibles that we knew they knew.”

The report also states that then U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara ordered jets that had been dispatched to assist the Liberty turned around.

The Tribune quotes J.Q. “Tony” Hart, then a chief petty officer assigned to a U.S. Navy relay station in Morocco that handled communications between Washington and the 6th Fleet, as saying that he listened in as McNamara said, “President [Lyndon] Johnson is not going to go to war or embarrass an American ally over a few sailors.“

McNamara, who is now 91, told the Tribune he has “absolutely no recollection of what I did that day,” except that “I have a memory that I didn’t know at the time what was going on.”

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev told the Tribune that the attack on the Liberty was “a tragic and terrible accident, a case of mistaken identity, for which Israel has officially apologized.” Israel paid the victims families many millions of Dollars, from aid money paid to them by the US.

Here’s the Wiki Page. Treat with a pinch of salt as its edited by various sources with varying agendas.

Here’s a video of the event.

That happened in 1967. This memorial day (2018) lets remember that 22 Vet lives end every day in suicide. While the President has a 25% off sale on his White House memorial day gift store. And American servicemen still give their lives for Zionism.

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/but-sir-its-an-american-ship-never-mind-hit-her-1.5492908

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