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It’s Official! No Congressional Investigation of USS Liberty Attack!
by Joe Meadors
Let’s face it.
Without the publication of Jay Cristol’s apologia “The Liberty Incident,” the fact that the attack on the USS Liberty has never been investigated by the US government would be known only to relatively few.
Along came Jay Cristol and his myth that “After ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations), there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a US ship.”
To prove his point, Cristol even lists those documents that he claims are investigations of the attack on our ship.
Eager to prove we are simply a bunch of Israel-hating anti-Semites, who were only interested in evidence that proves our claim that there never has been an investigation of the attack, the Cristolmyth took on a life of its own.
It has been repeated by the Jewish Virtual Library and by anonymous authors of a Wikipedia article to mention a few.
It has also made its way into boilerplate used by Members of Congress when responding to queries from their constituency.
All for naught, I’m afraid.
In a response to a request I made to the Center for Legislative Archives of the National Archives, we learned:
“I have been unable to identify any files in the records of House and Senate committees related to an investigation of the 1967 USS Liberty incident. As far as I can tell, the investigation held by the Naval Board of Inquiry seems to be the primary government investigation into the incident.“
As a matter of routine, and directly opposite the tactics of Israel-Firsters, we never ask people to take what we say without question.
Contact the US government sources yourselves.
Contact the Historians of both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. Ask them to provide you with a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty.
They will not be able to.
Contact your Congressional Delegation and ask them to send you a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty.
They will not be able to.
Contact your Congressional Delegation and ask them to have the Congressional Research Service send you a copy of the US government investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty.
The Congressional Research Service will not be able to.
The email address of the Legislative Archives is [email protected].
Write to them — if you dare.
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USS Liberty: More Congressional BS
The response I received from Senator John Cornyn is so outrageous that it deserves far more than the meek and mild “BS,” it warrants a more emphatic, spelled out description of what it is: BS.
by Joe Meadors
For decades USS Liberty survivors have been waiting for Congress to tell us they are beginning an investigation of the attack on our ship. Not an unexpected event given the fact that Congress has investigated every attack on a US Navy ship since the end of World War II.
You can understand our surprise when in the late 1990’s we learned from our Congressional Delegations that “there have been ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations)” of the attack.
Actually, more confusion than surprise.
You see, despite so many investigations of the attack, not a single USS Liberty survivor was questioned. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a US Navy Court of Inquiry that was conducted. A few USS Liberty survivors were interviewed by that Court. But we know that some testimony has been removed from the record of the Court.
The removed testimony that we know about is Lloyd Painter’s.
He testified about his witnessing the attacking torpedo boats deliberately machine gun the life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship.
Why the Court picked his testimony to remove from the record is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they didn’t want to embarrass our “best friend and only ally in the Middle East.”
Maybe that’s the reason the US Navy removed the written statements submitted to the Court at its request by 65 USS Liberty crewmen. Maybe something they wrote in those sworn statements would embarrass the people who attacked us.
Clearly that was paramount in their minds. Just like it was during the investigations of the attacks on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark and USS Cole as well as the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. <Sarcastic mode off>
Where does Senator John Cornyn enter the picture?
We all know that Congress has never investigated the attack on our ship. Despite this, Members of Congress routinely reply to constituent’s inquiries by insisting the US government (and Congress) has conducted numerous investigations of the attack. John Cornyn is no different. He lies about the USS Liberty investigation right along with the best of them.
I thought the best way to educate Members of Congress that there has been no Congressional investigation is to ask them to provide me with a copy of it. And not only me, but everyone who is sick and tired about Congress lying about the attack on our ship.
So, I created an easy way to email your Congressional Delegation to ask for a copy of their investigation and I encourage everyone to do so. Just click here to send an email to your Congressional Delegation asking for a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty.
I sent a request to my Texas delegation. John Cornyn responded by claiming:
“I have received your recent letter and regret the problem you describe does not appear to be one over which I have jurisdiction as a United States Senator. Consequently, I am unable to afford you the assistance you requested.”
So a United States Senator, second in the Senate only to Senator Mitch McConnell, cannot send me a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack on our ship nor can he contact the Congressional Research Service and have them send me a copy of any US government investigation of the attack because it is not in his jurisdiction!?
If you are as outraged at this turn of events as we are, please email your Congressional Delegation with a request that they send you a copy of the Congressional investigation of the attack on our ship. When they respond, please send a copy of their response to us at [email protected].
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US Online Military Newspaper Coddles Israeli War Criminals
by Joe Meadors
“Service members and their families rely on MilitaryTimes.com as a trusted, independent source for news and information on the most important issues affecting their careers and personal lives.” From Military.com About Us.
Really?
Then why do they coddle Israeli War Criminals?
Reading their article, “Valor Friday: This Navy captain received the Medal of Honor for heroism under friendly fire” you learn that the attack on our ship was simply a case of “friendly fire” for which the Israeli government “apologized for the mistake, claiming that it believed the Liberty to be an Egyptian vessel.”
Jon Simkins who wrote the apologia wants you to believe that an attack that includes the use of unmarked aircraft, the jamming our radios on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies, the deliberate machine gunning of life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship, the slow circling of our ship by Israeli torpedo boats as they fired from close range at crewmen who were either trapped topside or who ventured topside to help their wounded shipmates, Israeli helicopters filled with armed assault troops hover very close to our ship in an apparent attempt to find a place to allow those troops to rappel down to the ship; and, the torpedo boats immediate departure from the scene of the attack after cessation of hostilities instead of offering assistance as is their obligation under international law is simply a case of “friendly fire.”
In preparation of his article Mr. Simkins could have done a simple Google search and found many USS Liberty survivors to interview for his article.
But he didn’t.
Why not?
I don’t want to ascribe dark intentions to whatever motivates Mr. Simkins or the Military Times given the reputation they claim to subscribe to but it is difficult to ignore.
Should I feel sorry for a US military online newspaper whose reputation in our eyes is defined by such a poorly researched article that it serves as nothing more than apologia for those who are accused of committing War Crimes against the very people to whom the newspaper claims to be focused?
I think of our 34 shipmates who were killed in action by attackers using tactics otherwise described as barbaric but that have received the tacit approval of the US government – and apparently editors of Military Times.
And decide no, I shouldn’t.
Uncategorized
Members of Congress Still Lie to USS Liberty Survivors About the Attack on Their Ship
by Joe Meadors
It’s been what? Over 50 years? And Members of Congress are still lying about the attack on the USS Liberty.
Not only lying about the attack but lying about the attack to us — to our face. To the ones who were actually on the ship during the attack.
Where do these lies come from? A self-described expert on the USS Liberty who wrote a book telling our story without bothering to interview a single USS Liberty survivor.
Yes, it’s true. Members of Congress accept without question lies told by a retired US Navy Captain who wrote a book about the USS Liberty incident without interviewing a single USS Liberty survivor.
What brought on this latest episode of the Litany of Lies from Members of Congress and how can you get lied to by your Congressional Delegation?
Take us up on our offer to send out personalized email to your Congressional Delegation.
Click here and fill out the form.
It’ll send an email out for you.
Congressman Charles Albert “Dutch” Ruppersberger III (D-MD2)
And you’ll get a response like the one sent by Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-2nd District) to a USS Liberty Survivor:
I believe it may please you to know that a number of investigations, including by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, have already been undertaken. As you know, the incident was also investigated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency. As such, I do not believe that, at this time, Congress has any intention to initiate another investigation into the matter.
This from a Member of Congress who was formerly on the House Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
You should be ashamed of yourself, Mr. Ruppersberger.
Should be. But I suspect not.
How can he make up for it? He could contact the Congressional Research Service and ask them the simple question, “Has the US government ever conducted an investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty?”
The response he will receive is a resounding, “No!”
Which is why he won’t show the respect to a USS Liberty survivor let alone a military veteran and a constituent and simply ask the question.
That’s how Members of Congress honor the sacrifice of 34 Americans who were killed in action while serving honorably in the service of our country.
They lie about them.
Right, Dutch?
Uncategorized
US Navy Ship Named After Man Who Ordered the USS Liberty to be Abandoned While Still Under Attack and Calling for Help
by Joe Meadors, USS Liberty Survivor
In a DoD press release dated April 16, 2002, SECNAV Ray Mabus announced that the next Zumwalt-class destroyer will be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1007).
The USS LBJ is currently listed as “under construction” on the Naval Vessel Register.
Given that the US Navy has admitted to errors in the Naval Vessel Register (see the naming of LCS-2 the new USS Liberty) we hope that this is just another example of that fact.
Once the US government deems the attack on a US Navy ship warrants an investigation regardless of the identity of the force attacking the ship it will be officially acknowledged that the same President Lyndon Baines Johnson ordered recalled two flights of rescue aircraft that had been launched to assist the USS Liberty – which led directly to the death of 25 USS Liberty crewmen who were killed by the torpedo attack.
I submit that it is a gross insult to everyone who ever served in the US Navy – especially those who were aboard the USS Liberty when the ship was attacked without warning or provocation – to name a US Navy ship after someone who ordered a US Navy ship to be abandoned while that ship was still under attack and calling for help.
The US Navy doesn’t make it easy to contact them electronically on serious issues such as this. The easiest way to express your outrage at their effort to honor President LBJ is through their Facebook page.
If someone knows of an email address that can be used to contact them please email me at [email protected]
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USS Liberty Revisionism: It Started With a Lie
In June 1997 (the 30th anniversary of the attack), retired US Navy JAG officer A. Jay Cristol submitted his dissertation, The Liberty Incident, to the Faculty of the University of Miami in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Coral Gables, Florida.
In his dissertation, Jay Cristol lied.
by Joe Meadors
With the publication of his dissertation, The Liberty Incident, Jay Cristol became the Father of USS Liberty Revisionism.
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