The warm reception by the U.S. government of Israel's claim that its assassination of the World Central Kitchen aid workers, traveling in clearly marked cars after coordinating their trip and route with the Israeli military authorities, was the result of an unfortunate "misidentification" of their cars recalls the U.S. government's warm reception of Israel's claim that its 1967 assault on and attempted sinking of the aptly named USS Liberty, which was flying a huge American flag on a clear, sunny day, was the result of "mistaken identity".
In this context, I strongly recommend reading both the article in the current issue of the WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS transmitted below and Joan Mellen's book Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty.
The consequences of that dramatic manifestation of cowardice, venality and, in an effective if not a strictly legal sense, treason on the part of American politicians, military officers and mainstream media, which have continued until today, are addressed in my COUNTERPUNCH article at the link transmitted immediately below:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/12/its-not-american-aid-to-israel-its-tribute
It is difficult to believe that U.S. government "leaders" are truly as terminally naïve and gullible as they pretend to be.
https://www.wrmea.org/north-america/uss-liberty-veterans-testify-in-the-live-free-or-die-state.html
Liberty Veterans Testify in the “Live Free or Die” State
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March/April 2024, pp. 32-33
Special Report
By Delinda C. Hanley
“LIVE FREE OR DIE” is the official motto of the State of New Hampshire. That motto was brought up repeatedly on Jan. 12, 2024, during the dramatic testimony of USS Liberty survivors in support of the State of New Hampshire’s House Bill 1041, which calls for the establishment of a commission to investigate the Israeli shelling of the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967 and its aftermath. Sponsored by Republican Representatives Jason Gerhard and Michael Granger, this legislation would help the survivors and families of the 34 killed shipmates to get meaningful answers to their many questions about this attack. Of the original crew of 294 officers and civilians, 34 men were killed and another 174 wounded in action that day. “These sailors have sacrificed so much, some of them even lost their lives in this attack. I feel that the least we can do is finally give them some closure with an investigation that is satisfactory,” Gerhard told the New Hampshire’s State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Commander David Edwin Lewis, who was born, raised and died free on Oct. 16, 2021, in Colebrook, NH, was a senior cryptologist who earned a Purple Heart onboard the Liberty. Gerhard read from his obituary: “For the rest of his life, Eddie bore the scars of that day, and he was deeply involved with the group of survivors, proving that the state of Israel and the Johnson administration deliberately staged the attack to try and draw the U.S. into the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War in 1967.”
Larry Bowen, who also received the Purple Heart for his service on the Liberty, told the committee: “I’ve never had the opportunity to tell the American public what happened. Our government failed to come to our rescue. Our government put a gag order on us to not speak about this and threatened us with imprisonment and fines if we did. Our government failed to do a thorough investigation of the attack. The Navy held a formal court of inquiry and took testimony from several of my shipmates but then were given guidance to modify the testimony that they received so that it would comply with the mistaken identity claim Israel made when it apologized for the attack.
“We’ve waited 56 and a half years for the opportunity to speak before a government body…I believe this bill will put in motion the commission that will do what Congress should have done over 56 years ago. There are still many questions to be answered related to the attack and its aftermath. Please support this effort to help get closure for the crew and the families of my fellow shipmates. God bless you and help you to make the right decision.”
A helicopter sent from the USS America finally assists the USS Liberty, a Navy electronic reconnaissance gathering ship, 17 hours after Israel’s attack on June 8, 1967. (UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER-U.S. NAVY PHOTO)
When asked what a commission could accomplish so many years after the incident, Bowen explained that the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency are holding onto classified information they won’t release. Their ship was overflown half a dozen times by Israeli aircraft doing reconnaissance, Bowen recalled, but “we felt safe because they were allies who had our backs.” The attackers used unmarked planes to strafe and drop napalm so the crew didn’t know who was attacking them until the torpedo ships with the Star of David emblem came to finish them off. “There were voice intercepts between the Israeli pilots and their ground controllers who did identify us as an American ship,” Bowen said. The crew believes Israel hoped Egypt would be blamed for sinking their ship. A lot of facts have come together in the years since the attack that have never been put together, Bowen concluded.
Bryce Lockwood, then a gunnery sergeant, now a retired Baptist minister, passed around photos taken the morning after the attack by crew from the USS America; in one of them, he was only 10 feet away from the torpedo hole. “Every protocol designed to protect against accidents was broken,” Lockwood said. “They used unmarked aircraft. They jammed our distress frequency. They machine-gunned our life rafts. We were not in a combat zone, we were in international waters, 13 and a half miles off the Sinai Peninsula.
“There has been no investigation by Congress, as required by Article 1, Section 8, Clause 10 of the U.S. Constitution to investigate acts of piracy on the high seas. When the USS Cole was attacked and 17 Americans were killed, there was a 9-month investigation.” Twice as many were killed on the Liberty and that flawed investigation was concluded in five days, Lockwood said. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered Admiral Isaac Kidd and Ward Boston, who took testimony from shaken survivors right after the attack, to report that the attack on the ship was a case of mistaken identity.
In 2005 James R. Gotcher, general legal counsel for the USS Liberty Veterans Association, submitted a “Report of War Crimes” brief, documenting crimes committed by Israel against U.S. military personnel to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was obligated to initiate an official inquiry. There was no investigation.
Philip Tourney, president of the USS Liberty Veterans Association, who traveled from Cedaredge, CO, to attend the hearing, said he would have walked to New Hampshire to testify because “I’ve never had the chance to sit before a committee willing to listen to us....This is the most important thing you’ll have ever done in your whole life...to represent 34 men killed that day, 25 of them blown to bits by a torpedo. This attack lasted as long as the attack on Pearl Harbor and yet LBJ and McNamara recalled aircraft from the USS Saratoga and USS America sent out to help us. We were left out there to die for 17 hours when help was only 40 minutes away. We shed our blood for our country and we would do it again. We’re not here in anger,” Tourney emphasized. “We love our country, our fellow shipmates and all of you. We’re all Americans. If we don’t look out for each other—we’re done. We’re in the ‘Live Free or Die’ state. No one else has had the courage to do this...God saved our ship...but our government took away our rights. Don’t throw us down the road...”
Jason Gerhard asked Tourney to clarify what exactly happened after the Israeli attack. Tourney said that 17 hours after the attack the seriously wounded were taken off the ship and the remaining sailors were ordered to sail to Malta—probably hoping that the evidence would sink—when the closest port was Crete.
For four decades the Washington Report has published articles about the USS Liberty, and Middle East Books has carried numerous books documenting the crew’s struggle for justice. Watching this hearing confirmed this reporter’s belief that local U.S. government can work, even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to support Israel’s version of facts in the past and present. While this measure was proposed before the recent Gaza attacks, it is an attempt to kick the federal government into gear to start doing its job, Gerhard affirmed. Unsurprisingly, the promised press conference after the session never materialized, and there have been no subsequent media reports. But as long as there are legislators like Jason Gerhard and Michael Granger, there is hope for justice for these veterans. Please watch these historic proceedings.
Delinda C. Hanley is executive editor of the Washington Report.