DOD Says truth on Niger more important than USS Liberty
“DoD Owes Families, Nation Information on Niger Action” but NOT on USS Liberty Attack
by Joe Meadors, USS Liberty Survivor
Joe Meadors
Four Green Berets were Killed in Action in Niger. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, held a prolonged, public press conference which was covered by every news outlet in the US.
In a DoD Press Release Gen. Dunford tells us “The Defense Department owes the families of the soldiers lost in Niger and the American people an explanation of what the soldiers were doing in Niger and why it was important.”
Given its refusal to conduct an investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty the DoD obviously doesn’t feel the same about our families, the families of our fallen shipmates and those of us who survived the attack.
Not that we haven’t asked.
June 8, 1967, USS LIBERTY mess deck becomes a hospital. Photo courtesy the USS Liberty Association
For over 50 years USS Liberty survivors have been begging the Department of Defense to conduct an investigation of the attack on our ship.
The Department of Defense obviously doesn’t think the American people deserve to hear from American servicemen who:
- saw the unmarked aircraft as they attacked our ship;
- heard the jamming of our radios on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies;
- witnessed the deliberate machine gunning of life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship;
- witnessed the slow circling of our ship by Israeli torpedo boats as they fired from close range at crewmen who were either trapped topside or who ventured topside to help their wounded shipmates;
- saw the Israeli helicopters filled with armed assault troops hover very close to our ship in an apparent attempt to find a place to allow those troops to rappel down to the ship; and,
- witnessed the torpedo boats immediate departure from the scene of the attack after cessation of hostilities instead of offering assistance as is their obligation under international law.
What questions have we been asking? I’ll share with you questions a USS Liberty widow asked then-Senator John Warner. Not surprising that he refused to respond to her questions:
- Why didn’t the Sixth Fleet come to the aid of the Liberty?
- Why were the rescue aircraft called back by the President of the United States?
- What involvement did the 303 Committee have in the Liberty‘s deployment and mission?
- What did Project Cyanide have to do with the Liberty, directly or indirectly?
- What did Frontlet 615 have to do with the Liberty directly or indirectly?
- Why wasn’t the USS Amberjack allowed to come to the aid of the Liberty?
- Where is the film of the attack taken by the Amberjack?
- Why weren’t violations of the UCMJ investigated?
- Why were warning and operational messages to the Liberty intentionally mis-routed?
- Why was the crew told to keep silent regarding the attack?
- What secret is so volatile that cannot be revealed by our government after 50 years?
- Why haven’t clear violations of international law been investigated?
- Why was Admiral Tobin awarded the Bronze Star when he wasn’t even there?
- Why hasn’t our former ambassador to Lebanon, Dwight Porter, ever been questioned by Congress, when it is known he listened to the attack at our embassy in Lebanon?
- Why was Commander McGonagle awarded his Medal of Honor, our country’s highest honor, in the Navy Yard instead of in a ceremony conducted by the President at the White House?
These are just a sampling of the many questions that remain unanswered about the attack on our ship.
Questions that the Department of Defense will continue to ignore.
We are reaching out to everyone who believes that the attack on the USS Liberty should be treated exactly the same as the attacks on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark, USS Cole, as well as the 1982 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut and the death of the four Green Berets in Niger.
Help us persuade the US government to investigate the attack on our ship – including the War Crimes that were committed by and against the United States during that attack.
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