By Eileen Fleming
Forty-eight years after Israel’s attack, survivor and President of the USS LIBERTY Veterans Association, Ernie Gallo is no longer waiting for an act of congress; but is leading others to get Congress to act.
On Monday Gallo’s following Letter was hand-delivered to the Orlando offices of Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio.
On Tuesday Gallo emailed his Representative Ron DeSantis (FL-06), who is also the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and a Naval Reserve Officer.
Today this reporter begins contacting members of the Senate and House seeking a YES or NO response to:
Will you support the establishment of every June 8 as USS LIBERTY Remembrance Day?
All congressional responses -or lack of- will be published HERE on June 4.
May 18, 2015
To All Members of the Congress of the United States,
I have written a book entitled, “Liberty Injustices – A Survivor’s Account of American Bigotry”. My passion to write this book comes from experiencing the brutal deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, AGTR-5, killing 34 and wounding 174 of my shipmates and events that occurred over the years. The crew of Liberty refuses to join the U.S. and Israeli governments in lying about the events of June 8, 1967 as an accident that happens in the fog of war. News media of both countries have also indicated the attack was deliberate.
As a former Communications Technician Petty Officer, I was chosen for this field supporting NSA because of my honesty. This is also true of all military supporting NSA Security Groups. Therefor, I cannot accept this situation as my government indicates some other truth making me out to be dishonest. But more importantly the government deceit enables Israeli supporters to label us as anti-Semitic and Jew haters. I wish you could feel the frustration we feel because the Liberty crew is very proud of the fact that the USS Liberty is the most decorated Navy ship for single engagement. Two hundred and eight Purple Hearts alone were awarded from a crew of 294. However, the USS Liberty is now classified as very controversial and one must be careful in Pentagon circles. The US Navy cannot name a new ship “USS Liberty” for fear of who it might offend. This madness must stop.
The official document that the US government refers to about the attack is the Navy Court of Inquiry and we now know that effort was bogus and a fraud. The Navy lawyer for the court has provided the crew with a sworn affidavit indicating same. Accordingly, the details in the document do not jive with the facts the crew experienced. The Court was ordered by the White House to come to an accidental attack conclusion. Please remember the crew gave testimony under oath. That is disgraceful especially considering the impact on the crew in later years. The Navy JAG should be ashamed of itself for being involved in this miscarriage of justice. Is this the Navy that stands for justice? Whatever happened to the Code of Military Justice we swore to uphold.
Congress HAS NOT INVESTIGATED the USS Liberty incident.
In 2003, an independent commission of experts convened including Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN, Ret. Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, General of Marines Raymond G. Davis, Rear Admiral Merlin Starling and Ambassador James Adkins. They concluded there was compelling evidence that Israel’s attack was deliberate and “Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States.”
The esteemed experts expressed their “Duty to the brave crew of USS LIBERTY and all Americans who are asked to serve in our Armed Forces, hereby call upon the Department of the Navy, the Congress of the United States and the American people to immediately take the following actions”:
The first called for a new and true Court of Inquiry to be convened.
The second for every appropriate committee of the Congress of the United States to investigate the actions of the White House and Defense Department that prevented the rescue of the USS LIBERTY including the NSA, CIA and military intelligence.
The third called for the establishment of every June 8 to be of known as USS LIBERTY REMEMBRANCE DAY.
Will you support the Liberty Troops and stand up for the most decorated Naval crew?
Thank you for your swift response,
Ernest A. Gallo, President, USS Liberty Veterans Association
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LEARN MORE:
USS LIBERTY Spook Exposes Liberty Injustices
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" who founded WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall in Palestine Israel.
In 2012, Eileen ran for US House of Representatives District 5, in Fl.
Read her FREE eBooks and more at:http://www.eileenfleming.org/
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