Site of
the Attack--12 Miles off the Egyptian Coast
September 8,
2011
We are here to commemorate the lives of those who died at this
spot on June 8, 1967 in an attack by Israeli air and naval forces. As backdrop,
the following over-view of the event, taken from the back cover of Jim Ennes'
book Assault on the Liberty, is presented:
"In June 1967, jet aircraft
and motor torpedo boats of Israel brutally assaulted an American naval vessel,
the USS Liberty, in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula in the
Mediterranean Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense
low-level surveillance by Israeli photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed
the intelligence ship thirteen times, sometimes flying as low as 200 feet
directly overhead. The carefully orchestrated assault that followed was
initiated by high-performance jet aircraft, was followed up by slower and more
maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over to lethal torpedo
boats, which blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship's side.
Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed that her forces mistook the liberty for an Egyptian ship, and our government quietly accepted that excuse despite evidence to the contrary. Then our government downplayed the intensity of the surveillance and the severity of the attack, and imposed a news blackout to keep the story under control. The official version is that the Liberty was reconnoitered only three times and then only from great distance. The American people were told that the air attack lasted only five minutes and that it was followed by a single torpedo and an immediate apology and offer of assistance."
(Taken from the back cover of Assault on the Liberty, James M. Ennes, Jr., Reintree Press--third edition 2007)
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The
following Americans were killed or mortally wounded during that
attack:
William Allenbaugh
Philip Armstrong
Gary Blanchard
Allen
Blue
Francis Brown
Ronnie Campbell
Jerry Converse
Robert
Eisenberg
Jerry Goss
Curtis Graves
Lawrence Hayden
Warren
Hersey
Alan Higgins
Carl Hoar
Richard Keene
James Lenau
Raymond
Linn
James Lupton
Duane Marggraf
David Marlborough
Anthony
Mendle
Carl Nygren
James Pierce
Jack Raper
Edward Rehmeyer
David
Skolak
John Smith, Jr.
Melvin Smith
John Spicher
Alexander
Thompson
Thomas Thornton
Phillipe Tiedtke
Stephen Toth
Frederick
Walton
Comments by Larry Toenjes, skipper, sailing vessel
Liberty:
I did not personally know the 34 men who died aboard the US
Liberty in 1967. I don't even remember hearing about the attack on the Liberty
at the time it happened. It was lost in the dramatic news of Israel's stunning
victories in the 6-day war. But just as the consequences of that war are still
being felt, so, too, are the consequences of the Israeli's air and sea attack on
the Liberty.
It may never be determined exactly why Israeli fighter jets
and torpedo boats attacked the Liberty. If it were indeed a tragic case of
mistaken identity, as the Israeli government has always claimed, it would
nevertheless have been an embarrassment to that nation. If it were a deliberate
attack on an identified U.S. ship, as survivors and high US officials maintain,
it would also have been an embarrassment because the courageous men of the USS
Liberty refused to let their ship sink. It remained afloat, stark testimony to
the brutal attack that had occurred.
Therefore, no matter the cause, the
incident was an embarrassment to Israel and showed it to be, at minimum, an
unreliable ally. For US domestic political reasons, the President of the United
States, his administration, and subsequently Congress did everything possible to
hush it up, indeed to cover it up. There may be legitimate debate about the
reason for the attack, but there is no debate about the cover-up that
followed.
The cover-up had enormous consequences. For the men who
survived the attack, the cover-up signaled to them that their government did not
value them. It told them that their own observations made during the Israeli
attack on their ship were irrelevant, that the truth of the matter was less
important than the next presidential and congressional elections.
For the
Israelis, the cover-up sent the message that they could act in any way they
pleased and the US would support them. All they had to do was to continue to
intimidate US presidents and members of congress by threatening retaliation, by
pulling support in their next elections, or by supporting their opponents. Such
tactics have been applied numerous times in recent US history. Some of the
finest members of Congress and the US Senate have been victims of this political
treachery by the pro-Israeli Lobby and its network of Political Action
Committees. I have in mind Congressman Paul Findley of Illinois and Senator J.
William Fullbright of Arkansas. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia also
supported the cause of the victims of the USS Liberty, and paid the
price.
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