[Maru]

Has anyone here ever heard of the USS Liberty?

My husband's grandfather died on this ship, which was an NSA "spook" ship, in an incident during the Six Day War. Our family attend gatherings annually at Arlington Cemetery (in DC) where survivors and family members honor those who died and also to relive the incident. The point being never to let their lives be in vain and to remember their sacrifice/the incident.

To send home how much it has affected our family, I remember several years back when were husband and I were walking around Baltimore Harbor having a date (after a long period of no dates), I saw a survivor with the liberty hat getting ready to board one of the submarine exhibits... I let my husband know and he spoke to him and not only did he know his grandfather, but was good friends with his father for a while. He was visiting from NY. Long story short, I told him to go off with this man and go on the exhibit to take advantage of that situation as chance meetings like that only happen once... didn't get my date, but I did get to sit at the top of Barnes Noble near a Starbucks at the top of a tower and sketch some wonderful skyscrapers.

Ultimately, the US covered it up the incident and neglected the crew likely to avoid issues with Israel... although there has never been an official explanation that is supported by the evidence. There are lots of documents to support some very reasonable motives. There is a monument in the NSA but of course regular people aren't able to see it and like most things NSA related--remains hush-hush...

The dismissal and denial by the US govt hit and hurt these people very deeply. Many of them still relive the attacks through flashbacks, awful PTSD and even after all these years, are so hurt by a lack of an an investigation behind the unfolding of events... it's just a shame that the US doesn't do more to do right by the survivors to honor them more publicly.

This is something certainly to be aware of when you think about how we/ the US handles relations with these countries current day. Naturally, we share this with others so that their sacrifice will always be remembered... and thankfully we have this great medium called the "internet" that we are even able to continue to share this on.

http://www.gtr5.com/

I will quote from the memorial website... but do visit the website, as they have lots of information there. There are significant (and highly sourced) recall of the events... there is also a synopsis on Wikipedia.

USS Liberty Memorial

On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it. Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public. The USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.

The Attack

After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft overflights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning. USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft nine hours before the attack and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter. Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.

The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us. Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded. The ship, a $40-million dollar state-of-the-art signals intelligence platform, was later declared unsalvageable and sold for scrap.

The Cover Up

Despite a near-universal consensus that the Israeli attack was made with full knowledge that USS Liberty was a US Navy ship, the Johnson administration began an immediate cover-up of this fact. Though administration officers continued individually to characterize the attack as deliberate, the Johnson administration never sought the prosecution of the guilty parties or otherwise attempted to seek justice for the victims. They concealed and altered evidence in their effort to downplay the attack. Though they never formally accepted the Israeli explanation that it was an accident, they never pressed for a full investigation either. They simply allowed those responsible literally to get away with murder.

In an ongoing effort to reveal the truth about the attack, the USS Liberty Veterans Association has filed with the Secretary of the Army in the manner prescribed by law a detailed, fully documented Report of War Crimes describing the circumstances of the attack on our ship and evidence that it was a crime under international law. In accordance with international law and treaties, the United States is obligated to investigate the allegations. So far, the United States has declined even to acknowledge that the report has been filed. The full text of the report can be found at http://www.gtr5.com/evidence/warcrimes.pdf...

Anti-Semitism and the Anti-American Apologists

The USS Liberty Memorial web site abhors the racist and extreme positions taken by antiSemitic, Holocaust denial, conspiracy theorist and other such groups which often seek to identify with us and to usurp our story as their own. We have no connection with and do not support or encourage support from any of these groups including National Alliance, National Vanguard, The New Order, National Socialists, The French Connection, Liberty Lobby, American Free Press, Republic Broadcasting, USS Liberty Radio Hour, Storm Front or other such groups. We wish harm to no one and encourage social justice and equality for everyone; we seek only accountability for the criminal acts perpetrated against us and can do that without help from hate-mongers.

On the Israeli side, the group of pro-Israel, anti-American critics of our story, while small, persists in launching loud, vicious ad hominem attacks on anyone who attempts to discuss the deliberateness of the attack. These anti-American apologists refuse to discuss the facts of the case. Instead, they rely on propaganda and charge anyone who questions the Israeli position with being antiSemitic.

For detailed and authoritative accounts of the power and influence of the pro-Israel lobby, please see The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by Mearsheimer and Walt and The Pro-Israel Lobby by Edward Herman.

The Betrayal of American Veterans

Americans who volunteer for military service effectively write a blank check, payable to the United States of America for an amount "up to and including my life." The United States, in turn, promises to spend these checks responsibly. That bargain implicitly includes a promise by the United States to protect them and to seek retribution against anyone who harms them. In the case of USS Liberty, the United States has failed to keep its end of the bargain.