Still Waiting for USS Liberty's Truth

It struck others, as well as me, not only that her presence betokened more interest on the part of the Navy in righting this wrong, but that the admiral seemed genuinely interested herself in digging into what happened and what might be done at this point to properly acknowledge what happened.

--The current chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, is one of the few politicians who knows -- and cares -- about the attack on the Liberty. Congressman Nunes took the initiative to facilitate the awarding of a Silver Star to Terry Halbardier, the seaman from Texas who did what was necessary to save what remained of the crew and ship. He had to slosh through a lake of napalm and dodge Israeli strafing of the deck to hook up the cable needed to broadcast the SOS.

Halbardier was finally honored on May 27, 2009 -- 42 years late but better late than never -- at the small award ceremony in Rep. Nunes's office in Visalia, California. The Republican congressman pinned the Silver Star next to the Purple Heart that Halbardier found in his home mailbox three years before.

Nunes said, "The government has kept this quiet I think for too long, and I felt as my constituent he [Halbardier] needed to get recognized for the services he made to his country."

Nunes got that right. Despite the many indignities the Liberty crew has been subjected to, the mood in Visalia was pronouncedly a joyous one of Better Late Than Never. And, it did take some time for the moment to sink in: Wow, a gutsy congressman not afraid to let the truth hang out on this delicate issue. I was able to be there that day; seldom have I experienced a more poignant moment.

Congressman Nunes, by virtue of the powerful position he now holds as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, is in position to extend recognition and gratitude to the rest of the Liberty crew, whether alive or dead. (Halbardier died last August.)

--Israel's seizure of the Swedish boat Marianne in international waters on June 29 en route to Gaza brought back bitter memories of the torpedo attack on the USS Liberty. The Marianne's passengers and crew were taken to the Israeli naval base of Ashdod -- the same base from which three Israeli torpedo boats sailed at noon (local time) on June 8, 1967 with explicit orders to join Israeli Air Force fighter-bombers already engaged in trying to sink the USS Liberty.

Most of the 34 Liberty crew killed that day died when one of the five torpedoes fired by the Ashdod-based torpedo boats hit the Liberty. Sgt. Lockwood, who was in the process of throwing sensitive material and equipment overboard, lost all the Marines under his command in that attack. According to Lockwood, the wheel from the torpedo boat that fired the killing torpedo has been on display at the Israeli Navy Museum in Haifa along with a life raft the Israeli boats picked up on their way back to Ashdod -- adding insult to injury.

Would it be too much to expect that, after the latest Israeli crime on the high seas on June 29, a Navy admiral might find his voice and pick up where Adm. Moorer left off? My candidate would be the unsung patriot who helped prevent the war on Iran that Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush were still planning for 2008, their last year in office, despite the unanimous conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community that Iran was not working on a nuclear weapon.

It took some guts to say, as Admiral William J. "Fox" Fallon did in early March 2008, an attack on Iran "isn't going to happen on my watch" as CENTCOM commander -- for which he was unceremoniously replaced by a far-more-malleable general named David Petraeus, a former insubordinate subordinate for whom Fallon had a personal as well as a policy dislike. After his first meeting with Petraeus a year earlier in Baghdad, Fallon reportedly sized him up as an "ass-kissing little chickenshit."

Assuming there is no Omerta code for Navy admirals (at least not for retirees) why should we hesitate to encourage Adm. Fallon to push for a proper investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty? Perhaps while Israel's most recent act of piracy is fresh in some minds, Fallon could reboot the process of righting the wrong done to the USS Liberty crew.