Highly Praised US Navy Historian Ignores 50+ Years of USS Liberty History
The US Naval Institute Press heaps praise on Naval Historian Robert J. Cressman:
“Naval historian Robert J. Cressman lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. His The Official Chronology of the United States Navy in World War II received a John Lyman Book Award (1999) and his body of work on U.S. naval aviation history was recognized by the Admiral Arthur W. Radford Award (2008).”
by Joe Meadors
The US Naval Institute Press has a history of publishing authors who write accounts of the USS Liberty attack without interviewing any USS Liberty survivors.
They first did it when they published Jay Cristol’s screed, The Liberty Incident Revealed.
In the advertising for that book, The US Naval Institute Press claims that Cristol wrote it “After . . . interviewing all then-living individuals directly involved in the incident.”
There is no way to characterize that claim other than what it is.
It is a lie.
Jay Cristol didn’t interview a single USS Liberty survivor in the preparation of his doctoral thesis, his first book, The Liberty Incident, or his latest screed, The Liberty Incident Revealed.
Now, another US Naval Institute Press author has written a history of the USS Liberty without interviewing a single USS Liberty survivor. To add insult to injury, he has ignored all the evidence that has come to light in the 52 years since the attack.
On June 12, 2017, Robert J. Cressman published the Official US Navy’s History of the USS Liberty (AGTR-5).
Absent from the official US Navy history of the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) are the apparently mundane facts that the Israelis used unmarked aircraft, they jammed our radios on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies, their torpedo boats deliberately machine-gunned serviceable life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship, their torpedo boats slowly circled the torpedoed ship while firing from close range at USS Liberty crewmen who either were trapped topside or who ventured topside to help our wounded shipmates, and the immediate departure of the torpedo boats after they ceased hostilities only to return 90 minutes later in an obvious attempt to lay the groundwork to claim they were coming to our assistance.
These facts are readably available to anyone writing a history of the USS Liberty.
Why do authors who are held in such high regard by The Naval Institute Press ignore these facts?
Joe Meadors
He was aboard the USS Liberty when the ship was attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces in 1967 and has been in the forefront of the effort to ensure the US government finally investigates the attack.He also participated in Freedom Flotilla I in 2010 whose goal was to break the blockade of Gaza only to be brutally attacked by the IDF who killed 9 human rights activists on the MV Mavi Marmara.
The death of one American citizen on the Mavi Marmara elicited nary a peep of outrage or condemnation from the State Department.This follows the outrageous precedent the State Department initiated when 34 Americans were killed on the USS Liberty which was followed by silence from the State Department.Meadors is an eye-witness to and a victim of this policy.
Meadors has also participated in Freedom Flotillas II, III and IV in the effort to break the immoral blockade of Gaza.
His background gives him a unique perspective as an American citizen when it comes to issues involving the Middle East.
He will be sharing that perspective in his articles for The Arab Daily News.
He can be reached at joe@ussliberty.com.
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- USS Liberty Survivor Ron Trader.Rest in Peace Shipmate - October 25, 2019