Letter to the Editor Re: "Exploiting the USS Liberty"

Exploiting the USS Liberty

I very much appreciated your essay. It's wonderful to have an honest analysis of a tragic event that has been grossly abused for propaganda purposes.

Sincerely,

Andrea Widburg

American Thinker

Final Thoughts on the USS Liberty Incident

 

On October 30th, 2024, I debated Nick Taurus of Laguna Hills, CA about the Arab-Israeli conflict:

Here's the entire video of the debate:

I brought up one of the key points of contention of anti-Zionists: The USS Liberty Incident on June 8th, 1967 during the 6-Day War. I knew that anti-Zionists in the debate would bring up this event, as if one military tragedy justifies demonizing an entire country, and making the United States government somehow complicit in killing our veterans.

The more that I have heard anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist, and yes anti-Semitic types spout off about the USS Liberty, the more that I wanted to learn about the matter myself.

I reviewed the matter on the Jewish Virtual Library.

The research and evidence all point to the whole affair coming down to a massive clusterfark of miscommunications is unmistakable.

For the record, the anti-Israeli types all believe that Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Israeli government colluded together to sink the ship in order to blame the Egyptians and other Arab states in order to further a larger hot war against the Arab states in the region.

This motivation makes no sense, since the Israelis had decimated the Arabs, especially Egypt, before June 8th! Also, there were Israeli pilots who flew over, but we are talking about 8,000 feet about the water! It's not like anyone could have seen definitively that it was an American ship. Also, the United States government had announced prior to the incidentn that they had no presence in the region.

But more on that later.

Despite all the logical and evidentiary problems with the anti-Zionist conspiracy theories, that has not stopped them from complaining about the incident and accusing Israel of war crimes.

So, let's establish the fact that the US Government did not set up the USS Liberty to be destroyed.

James Scott, who wrote The Attack on the Liberty, documents that the United States Navy and NSA tried to contact the USS Liberty five times to get away from the Egyptian coastline, at least by 100 miles. The ship did not get the message. Most people don't understand that even the advanced technology possessed by the United States government at that time was still quite rudimentary compared to what everyday Americans possess today via email, smartphones, etc.

The fact is that the federal government tried to contact the USS Liberty to abandon its spy operations in the region and get away from the coastline. Commander McGonagle didn't get the message. In my view, one reason for all the logistics and communications issues was that two agencies were supervising this ship: the US Navy and the NSA. Right away, there are going to be problems. One direct authority should have been supervising and directing the ship the entire time.

Bear in mind that James Scott, a son of one of the veterans, is especially critical of Israel, and repeatedly asks the question "How could they mistake the American ship for an Egyptian ship?" We will address the confusion issue shortly, but for now, I just want to assert that the United States government did not set up the USS Liberty for destruction.

Not only do we have evidence that the United States tried to contact the ship, after the event the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Avraham Harman, furiously wrote to the Israeli prime minister, Levi Eshkol, telling him that Israel needed to:

1. Apologize for the event

2. Pay reparations to the United States and the veterans

3. Jail any of the Israeli leaders responsible for this huge mistake

Reckless endangerment is a criminal offense in common law. Harman's assertions clearly show that the Israeli government was not involved in some plot to take down an American ship.

There was no deliberate effort from American or Israeli forces, including the leaders, for the Israeli military to destroy an American ship.

Now, let's talk about "How could the Israelis have mistaken an American ship for an Egyptian ship?"

Let's start with Cam Higby's research on the incident:

The United States government announced to the UN General Assembly that they had no presence in the region during the Six Day War. Why? They believed that the USS Liberty had gotten the message! 

So, when Israelis spot a ship in the region, even if there was an American flag on the ship, the Israeli military brass understandably concluded that it was an enemy ship posing as an American ship. This kind of deception happens all the time in war. On top of that, we have listened to radio communications from the Israeli fighter planes, and they mistook the identification GTR on the side of the ship to read CTR.

They misread the ship, and then they went along with the official statement of the United States. Keep in mind that they were in the midst of a hot war with five Arab states, including Egypt!

In early 2024, one of the members of the New Hampshire General Court reminded his colleagues, when they were debating a bill to host their own investigation into the USS Liberty incident, that the American flag actually fell off during the strafing!

Here's that entire hearing from last year:

It's also important to point out that the Israelis did not sink the ship. Cam Higby makes a mistake in his analysis when he claimed that the Israelis actually sunk the ship. He also got the number of dead wrong--it was 34 sailors, not 24, but the rest of Higby's analysis still withstands scrutiny.

Let me repeat: Israel did not sink the ship. If the goal was to maliciously destroy an American vessel, why not just finish the job? Because the Israelis realized, as the lifeboats came into their view, that it was an AMERICAN ship!

Here's another video affirming this account:

They realized that they made a mistake, a horrible mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

Also, anyone can look at the transcripts of the inquiry into the incident, which took place on the island of Malta a week later. McGonagle asserts that was an attack of mistaken identity. 

Here's some of the documentation, provided on X:

You mentioned McGonagle. Have you ever read his sworn testimony to the US Navy Inquiry? pic.twitter.com/kTUrs0HwRO

— Alfred Solomons (@FalconApoda) September 4, 2024

Of course, Joe Meadors, one of the most discredited members of the USS Liberty Veterans Association, and someone who commented on another one of my earlier blog posts, shared a video with me that McGonagle changed his story. I find this change of mind more improbable to believe. Why didn't he come forward five years after the event? Why wait thirty years?

Because McGonagle didn't change his story:

The makers of this video made a jump-cut at 0:21. Ask yourself why they cut out this very key and integral portion of McGonagle's Arlington speech...https://t.co/OEQnAaLKEE pic.twitter.com/KI0uxVHmWY

— Alfred Solomons (@FalconApoda) September 4, 2024

To me clear, McGonagle attributes the attack to "gross incompetence" on the part of the IDF (a sentiment with which I agree), but the makers of the video intentionally leave cut at "not a pure case of mistaken identity" so as to manipulate the audience.

Again, ask yourself why.

— Alfred Solomons (@FalconApoda) September 4, 2024

Now, I want to share other outrages about this incident.

Some of the veterans keep insisting that there has been no investigation into the USS Liberty. That is simply not true. The Jewish Virtual Library documents ten American investigations, and the Israeli government conducted three investigations.

There was a more recent investigation afterward, following a 2003 lawsuit against the NSA, in which that agency released more classified information on the incident. What more do the veterans want at this point?

Perhaps some of them have more sinister motives.

Last month, USS Liberty veteran Phil Tourney gave a big presentation on Candace Owens' program:

She hyped it up as a big disclosure, a "major announcement" first without listing the USS Liberty. In reality, it was cheap marketing to gin up engagement on YouTube. In this video, Phil Tourney trots out all the talking points blasting the Israeli government for "deliberately" attacking an American ship.

Like progressive USS Liberty veteran Joe Meadors, though, Tourney has an ax to grind.

You can see it all over his X account.

He doesn't just blast Israel, but he blasts all Jews. He peddles all the anti-Semitic tropes one could imagine, and then some. If he wants justice and answers, why does he attack every Jew, and not reserve his criticism for the Israeli government in 1967?

The USS Liberty incident was a tragic war-time error due to miscommunications. These fog of war tragedies happen more often than people realize. (More on that shortly).

Anti-Zionists love to leave out the fact that the Israeli government apologized and paid considerable reparations to the families of the veterans who were killed and to the veterans who were wounded. Also, a period of diplomatic stasis emerged between the United States and Israel, which remained until 1987.

Frankly, I am disturbed and outraged that one group of veterans thinks they have a monopoly on tragedy and pain, and they expect us to ignore other veterans who were harmed by friendly fire or who were harmed because of American governmental ineptitude.

Let's consider other incidents.

Six months after the USS Liberty incident, another American spy ship, the USS Pueblo, was captured by the North Koreans. Why was the ship there in the first place? What benefit did the Johnson Administration think they would gain by spying on North Korea? This was another directive of terrible judgment. While almost the entire crew was returned safely to the United States that same year, the ship remains in North Korea as a humiliation trophy of triumph against the United States.

Now, anti-Zionists will counter that no lives were lost. Wrong. One American navy man died.

How about the USS Stark incident?

May 17, 1987 (almost twenty years after the USS Liberty incident), another American ship was attacked by friendly forces, this time Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Yes, there was a time when Hussein was an ally of the United States, and our government was supporting him during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Here's a summary from Wikipedia:

The USS Stark incident occurred during the Iran–Iraq War on 17 May 1987 in the Persian Gulf, when an Iraqi jet aircraft fired two Exocet missiles at the U.S. frigate USS Stark. A total of 37 United States Navy personnel were killed or later died as a result of the attack, and 21 were injured.

More American soldiers were killed in this friendly fire incident, and Hussein apologized because his fighters thought that the American ship was an Iranian ship (but no reparations). Why doesn't the USS Liberty crowd cry out about this?

How about the USS Cole?

October 12, 2000, Al-Qaeda sailed a boat loaded with explosives near this ship and detonated their bombs. Why don't the anti-Zionists care about this attack?

Just last month, an American ship shot down two navy pilots in another friendly-fire gaffe:

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, Centcom said. On 15 December Centcom acknowledged the Truman had entered the Middle East, but hadn’t specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S Truman carrier strike group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Centcom said in a statement. The incident was being investigated.

Why don't the people who complain about Israel raise hell about this gross incompetence?

Putting aside all of these terrible or tragic events, I find it unconscionable that the USS Liberty advocates bellow about what happened to them, when they ought to consider the example of their peers who were attacked--without warning--at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

2,403 Americans died under Japanese airfighter assaults. This was a horrific attack, which included the actual sinking of the USS Arizona. Why don't the anti-Zionists care about this? There is even some speculation that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew about the attack and allowed it to happen without preparing the US Navy. One would think that the Woke Dissident Right would be up in arms about what Japan did to our veterans.

Let's consider what Japan has done, compared to Israel:

1. They launched a deliberate attack.

2. They killed two thousand plus American servicemen.

3. To this day, Japan has not apologized for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

4. To this day, Japan has not paid a dime to any of the veterans or their families.

Why don't the anti-Israeli factions care about these veterans? 

What's more, Pearl Harbor veterans, what few still remain, don't complain about it every year demanding that the American government or the Japanese government pay big money. You don't see anti-Japanese rallies among their descendants, either. 

Why are certain veterans obsessed with demonizing Israel, when other countries deserve much greate opprobrium for what they did?

The answer is simple: like Phil Tourney, Joe Meadors, and other anti-Zionist obsessives who complain about the USS Liberty, they simply hate Jews and they hate Israel. It's shameful.

What's really disgusting about all of this? The USS Liberty fanatics play the "veteran" card to shut down anyone who challenges or criticize stheir take on the whole incident.

"Well, I believe the veterans!" 

This is more wokeness, where the focus is on feelings, identity politics, and conspiracy theories, all at the expense of the truth.

Deceased US Senator John McCain was a veteran, and he betrayed this country and his constituents repeatedly, when he campaigned to build a border wall, but then repeatedly fought for amnesty, and killed the repeal of Obamacare.

Congressman Seth Moulton is a veteran, and he is a regressive leftist who thinks that men can become women.

Former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was a veteran, and he took millions of dollars in bribes. He literally played the veteran card at his sentencing hearing, and the judge dismissed those pleas. Just because he was a veteran did not excuse his criminal conduct and his betrayal of the truth of his constituents and his country.

Being a veteran does not make anyone immune to criticism. Being a veteran does not mean that anyone of them can lie to the public with impunity and demonize entire countries or people groups. Truth is still truth, and fighting for the truth must remain the highest value.

Conclusion

The more that I have studied the USS Liberty incident, the more I am convinced that the event was a conflux of miscommunications and mistaken identities. At the worse, it was an act of gross negligence, but it no wise can one state that the Israeli government deliberately attacked an American ship, or that the American government was under the thumb of the Israelis to do whatever they wanted.

What has also come to light in this investigation is the more critical eye I have to take when it comes to veterans and their testimonies on any matter. Yes, we should be thankful for the veterans and their service to our country, but that does not give them carte blanche to say whatever they want and we have to believe everything they say.

It's time to end the lies about the USS Liberty, and it's time to take another weapon out of the Anti-Zionists' arsenal of lies against the United States and Israel.

Arthur Schaper Shames Hard-Core Leftist Councilman for Shaming Conservative Colleague

                    


Gary "Grindall61" Gileno recorded my entire public comment at the December 5th, 2017 West Covina City Council meeting.

I am so proud that I could speak on behalf of Mayor Mike Spence and honor God's goodness and grace, that in spite of his past failures, he gets to serve as the next speaker and representative for the city.

Councilman Corey Warshaw

I had wanted to dress James Toma for his hateful, unbecoming, unprofessional campaign of hurt and shame against Spence last year. In spite of his dedicated efforts, Toma could to stop Spence from becoming Mayor Pro Tem.

In spite of another attempt to stop his ascent, Toma had to sit back and witness Mayor Spence take the gavel and preside over West Covina's next term of city council meetings.

So much winning!

New LEGAL Immigrants, Armenian-American Citizens Voting for TRUMP!

I received the following message through one of the fan pages I operate.

I am publishing these comments with the permission of the author:

As a first generation immigrant, I was always for we fixing our existing laws and limiting the number of immigrants. We need to get rid of the quota based policy. Only based on merits.

New citizen--and Trump supporter

My daughter Anna became a citizen on Friday, June 17th of 2016. Registered to vote as a Republican.

Another Trump supporter

My daughter started to live here in the US since she was 6 years old. We lived in a very quiet city of Vero Beach, very traditional community with nice schools.

Anna was able to blend in right away. English became her first language only few year later.

She is a top student at her law school (it's her last year), works at a prominent law firm, a person of very strong convictions , a good Christian. I can assure you, that she is a success story and I feel I didn't waste my life and my career by immigrating to this wonderful country of ours

The immigration officer, that had the last interview with her was extremely surprised, that Anna went through "the whole process"... Yes, it took almost 14 years from the time when I applied for her adjustment of status from L2 visa (family member of a foreign business owner)... 3 times her papers were lost. In 2007 an immigration officer, a man of a Caribbean decent with a hard to understand English, was struggling for 25 minutes and still could not understand, that my son Robert and my daughter are siblings, and not husband and wife. At the end of the interview he was upset, embarrassed and angry and said he does not have time for us and he, of course,  eventually "lost" our papers for the last time. Even his supervisor could not help, said we will call us later. They never did. I had to apply again.

This is a world we live in. Meantime, our current leaders are bringing in millions of Muslims, allowing people that broke our basic laws to stay and enjoy benefits generated by the taxpayers... 

Very upsetting!

I am of an Armenian background, was a citizen of Russian federation, have a PhD in Political Science, spend many years working as a Soviet instructor in Cairo and Libya. I am sure you understand  how my blood is boiling, when I see what this disgrace in the White House is doing to the world and to our phenomenal country.

May God bless you and please keep fighting.

Vachagan Robert Yengibaryan

Vachagan Robert Yengibaryan