USS Liberty Veterans Association to End 50 year Cover-up and Obstruction of Justice case against USS Liberty Crew

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The USS Liberty Veterans Association/LVA was established in 1982 to end President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s treasonous Cover-up and Obstruction of Justice case that began on June 8 1967, when Israel attacked the USS LIBERTY as she navigated in international waters during The Six Day War

By Eileen Fleming

This American knew NOTHING about the USS Liberty until I flew from Florida to California in the early morning hours of October 13, 2007 to speak at a conference.

While there I heard USS Liberty Veteran Phillip F. Tourney, the first three times President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association share his eyewitness gut wrenching experiences say, “It was God that kept the LIBERTY afloat.”

In a flash I knew I would do more than just listen to him.

Tourney also explained how President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s treasonous cover-up and obstruction of justice case began by ordering the Liberty survivors to shut up and threatening them with “court-martial or worse” if they dared tell their wives, parents, pastor or doctor about the hellacious unprovoked attack perpetuated by Israel upon America’s then premier spy ship during the Six Day War.

Since 2007, Tourney has published two books on topic and is in the pre-production stage of producing a feature length film to bring the true story of the attack and it’s aftermath to the American people.

The USS Liberty Veterans Association Statement of Purpose Reads:

In June 1982, fifteen years after the assault, USS crewmembers reunited for the first time in Washington, D.C. It was a tearful, joyful reunion in which the men not only released their pent up emotions and decided that the USS Liberty Veterans Association would be formed with the firm goals of finding all crew members, holding reunions, proper recognition of Captain and crew (in particular those who lost their lives), obtaining a Congressional investigation into the attack, and…TO BRING THE TRUE STORY OF THE ATTACK ON THE U.S.S. LIBERTY AND HER HEROIC CREW TO THE AWARENESS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

Last Wednesday I flew from Florida to Arlington and during the flight read the June/July edition of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,

On pages 26-28, USS Liberty Veterans Association’s current three times President Ernest Gallo wrote 50 Years Later: Will the Crew of the USS Liberty Ever Receive Justice?

From which I excerpt:

FOR HALF A CENTURY, the USS Liberty Veterans Association (LVA) has tried to expose the true story of Israel’s deliberate attack on the USS Liberty through books, news media, movies, and letters to the president of the United States and members of Congress.

While we have encountered politicians and news media personnel who were willing to help, they have been unable to interest their superiors or others in supporting our cause. Many people believe it is just too risky to say anything negative about Israel—even though the USS Liberty is the most decorated U.S. Navy ship in the history of the Navy for a single action.

The Israelis and the U.S. government do not want the truth to be told. It is obvious that they fear how Americans would react if the truth were known.

Yet the deeds of Israel and the Johnson administration require an objective and thorough investigation. Congress has never officially investigated the attack, leaving in place a cover-up of the worst magnitude.

This despite the fact that the House of Representatives has a constitutional mandate to “define and punish Pirates and Felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the Law of Nations” (Article 1, section 8).

Regarding the 1967 Six-Day War, we have discovered that the USS Liberty was part of the joint operational plan known as Operation Cyanide.

This document should be declassified immediately and released to the American public for analytic and historical purposes.

The complicity of the Israelis and the Johnson administration in launching the Six-Day War alarmed the Soviet Union. When it suspected that the U.S. was planning to enter the war militarily, the Soviets threatened President Lyndon Johnson with a military confrontation and President Johnson wisely backed down from any further U.S. military activities, leaving Israel to fend for itself.

On June 8, 1967, Israel perceived the USS Liberty as a threat to its war agenda, which it did not plan to abandon until the Golan Heights was taken a few days later…

For the vast majority of Americans who are unaware of our story, on June 8, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces murdered 34 Americans on the high seas (31 sailors, 2 Marines, and an NSA civilian). Out of a total crew of 294 men, 70 percent became casualties, with 174 wounded in addition to the 34 killed. Israel’s torpedo attack on the USS Liberty constituted the willful attempted murder of 294 Americans on the high seas.

For 6 hours on the morning before the attack, the Liberty was subjected to intense scrutiny by Israeli photoreconnaissance aircraft, with 12 over flights flying as low as 200 feet.

The ship had traditional American markings on her bow (GTR-5) and stern (USS LIBERTY), and was flying a large American flag, which stood out prominently in the breeze.

The Liberty was sailing in international waters off the Egyptian coast on a clear and sunny day.

The ship was a WWII victory hull cargo ship, lightly armed with four 50-caliber machine guns for repel boarder purposes.

Her military mission was to monitor, intercept and record all radio transmissions in the ambient ether.

The attack occurred in three coordinated phases, by the Israeli air force, navy, and marines, respectively…

When hostilities finally ceased, helicopters were observed overhead with Israeli commandos at the ready to finish us off.

Fortunately, the Israelis intercepted a premature message that American help was on the way (they had no way of knowing that the U.S. aircraft had been recalled), and was reluctantly forced to terminate the last phase of its attack.

In fact, help did not arrive until 18 hours after the attack, when the Liberty was only 15 air minutes away from the USS Saratoga and its fighter jets.

In addition to the loss of American lives, Israel destroyed one of the most advanced U.S. intelligence ships.

There is proof that Israel positively knew it was attacking an American ship…

Israeli State Archives…reveal that U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Goldberg revealed to Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Avraham Harman, that the Americans had managed to record the Israeli pilots during the attack, and the recordings proved they knew their target was an American vessel.

There was only one-way out of the crisis, Goldberg told Harman: Israel had to put someone on trial. But Israel never did. A subsequent U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry “investigation” was a sham. It did not adhere to Naval judicial standards….

Certain details were either changed or omitted so as not to conflict with Israel’s stance that the attack was a tragic mistake. The orders to falsify came directly from President Johnson.

This is obstruction of justice at the highest levels….

The fact that 34 were murdered and 174 wounded, and that Israel attempted to murder all 294 Americans aboard the USS Liberty, we would be remiss as Americans if we did not speak out, as our 34 shipmates would have died for nothing…

On 8 June of 2017, I was one of over a hundred supporters who joined the USS Liberty Veterans and families at the graveside memorial service at Arlington Cemetery to honor the dead and hear the current three time USS Liberty Veterans Association President Ernest Gallo proclaim:

The Liberty crew is the most decorated navy ship for a single engagement and we are diminished and curtailed by the power structure from giving the USS Liberty the proper place and prestige warranted from this high honor in history…

Littoral Combat Ship was supposed to be named USS Liberty …

That lasted about two months and the Liberty name was dropped.

Soon the Navy will launch the USS Lyndon Banes Johnson Destroyer.

This is the same man that gave our attackers a free pass for killing 34 Americans and the attempted murder of 294…

We will NOT go quietly into the night!

HEAR US America….