General H.R. McMaster’s West Wing War and 50 yrs. of Dereliction of Duty to the USS LIBERTY

Dereliction of duty is defined as an intentional abandonment, the state of being abandoned; or intentional or conscious neglect

McMaster’s book, “Dereliction of Duty” neglects to note essential history such as LBJ’s intentional abandonment and conscious neglect of the USS LIBERTY crew

By Eileen Fleming

Far-right affiliates of Steve Bannon, such as Brietbart are accusing national security adviser H.R. McMaster as being both “controlled by Jews” and “hostile to Israel.”

Senior Israeli defense officials told Haaretz on Saturday that the allegations against McMaster concerning Israel are false and baseless:

McMaster and his staff keep regular contact with the top echelons of the IDF and Defense Ministry – particularly with the head of the Defense Ministry’s political-security department, Zohar Palti.

“All on our side who has met McMaster and keeps contact with him are constantly impressed by how pro-Israel he is. The relationship with him is excellent, and we really appreciate him,” said a senior defense official.

On Friday Mr. Trump addressed the attacks stating, “General McMaster and I are working very well together,” adding that McMaster is “a good man and very pro-Israel. I am grateful for the work he continues to do serving our country.”

In 1998, Herbert Raymond “H. R.” McMaster, published Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam, which began as part of his Ph.D. dissertation harshly criticizing high-ranking officers of the era on their Vietnam strategy.

McMaster’s book, “Dereliction of Duty” neglects to note essential history such as LBJ’s intentional abandonment and conscious neglect of the USS LIBERTY crew yet McMaster rightly concludes:

The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C.

McMaster’s “Dereliction Of Duty” focuses on President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, and other top aides who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Congress and the American public.

America’s war on Vietnam began on Nov 1, 1955 and officially ended on Apr 30, 1975.

In the throes of Vietnam, Israel attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967.

On the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War, U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster praised the way Israel “seized the initiative” by exploiting opportunities in his address to the American Jewish Committee/AJC Global Forum in Washington, D.C.

McMaster noted, ““History may not repeat itself but it rhymes. By understanding the past, we can ensure that we ask the right questions, make fundamentally sound approaches to today’s problems and opportunities…Threats to our security do not remain static-they evolve.”

The evolution of President LBJ’s Cover-up and obstruction of justice against the USS Liberty survivors began on 8 June 1967.

Admiral John S. McCain Jr. [the father of the current US senator], ordered Admiral Isaac C. Kidd and Captain Ward Boston to hold a court of inquiry into Israel’s attack on the LIBERTY and to complete the investigation in one week!

In a signed affidavit Captain Boston said President Johnson ordered a cover-up and that he and Admiral Kidd were prevented from actually investigating the unprovoked brutal attack on America’s then premier spy ship as she navigated in international waters during The Six Day War.

It is common knowledge among USS LIBERTY researchers that President Johnson intentionally covered up Israel’s attack on the LIBERTY and every administration since has colluded in the now 50-year obstruction of justice against the USS LIBERTY survivors who were ordered to never speak about the event under threat of “court-martial or worse.”

Fighting on the side of the truth, retired Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, convened an Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Israeli Attack on USS Liberty, the Recall of Military Rescue Support Aircraft while the Ship was Under Attack, and the Subsequent Cover-up by the United States Government.

From Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., on October 22, 2003 they wrote:

We, the undersigned, having undertaken an independent investigation of Israel’s attack on USS Liberty, including eyewitness testimony from surviving crewmembers, a review of naval and other official records, an examination of official statements by the Israeli and American governments, a study of the conclusions of all previous official inquiries, and a consideration of important new evidence and recent statements from individuals having direct knowledge of the attack or the cover up, hereby find the following:

1. That on June 8, 1967, after eight hours of aerial surveillance, Israel launched a two-hour air and naval attack against USS Liberty, the world’s most sophisticated intelligence ship, inflicting 34 dead and 173 wounded American servicemen (a casualty rate of seventy percent, in a crew of 294);
2. That the Israeli air attack lasted approximately 25 minutes, during which time unmarked Israeli aircraft dropped napalm canisters on USS Liberty’s bridge, and fired 30mm cannons and rockets into our ship, causing 821 holes, more than 100 of which were rocket-size; survivors estimate 30 or more sorties were flown over the ship by a minimum of 12 attacking Israeli planes which were jamming all five American emergency radio channels;
3. That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machine-gunning of Liberty’s firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty’s life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;
4. That there is compelling evidence that Israel’s attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew; evidence of such intent is supported by statements from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Undersecretary of State George Ball, former CIA director Richard Helms, former NSA directors Lieutenant General William Odom, USA (Ret.), Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, USN (Ret.), and Marshal Carter; former NSA deputy directors Oliver Kirby and Major General John Morrison, USAF (Ret.); and former Ambassador Dwight Porter, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon in 1967;
5. That in attacking USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against American servicemen and an act of war against the United States;
6. That fearing conflict with Israel, the White House deliberately prevented the U.S. Navy from coming to the defense of USS Liberty by recalling Sixth Fleet military rescue support while the ship was under attack; evidence of the recall of rescue aircraft is supported by statements of Captain Joe Tully, Commanding Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, and Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis, the Sixth Fleet carrier division commander, at the time of the attack; never before in American naval history has a rescue mission been cancelled when an American ship was under attack;
7. That although Liberty was saved from almost certain destruction through the heroic efforts of the ship’s Captain, William L. McGonagle (MOH), and his brave crew, surviving crewmembers were later threatened with “court-martial, imprisonment or worse” if they exposed the truth; and were abandoned by their own government;
8. That due to the influence of Israel’s powerful supporters in the United States, the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack from the American people;
9. That due to continuing pressure by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, this attack remains the only serious naval incident that has never been thoroughly investigated by Congress; to this day, no surviving crewmember has been permitted to officially and publicly testify about the attack;
10. That there has been an official cover-up without precedent in American naval history; the existence of such a cover-up is now supported by statements of Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, USN (Ret.), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy; and Captain Ward Boston, USN, (Ret.), the chief counsel to the Navy’s 1967 Court of Inquiry of Liberty attack;
11. That the truth about Israel’s attack and subsequent White House cover-up continues to be officially concealed from the American people to the present day and is a national disgrace;
12. That a danger to our national security exists whenever our elected officials are willing to subordinate American interests to those of any foreign nation, and specifically are unwilling to challenge Israel’s interests when they conflict with American interests; this policy, evidenced by the failure to defend USS Liberty and the subsequent official cover-up of the Israeli attack, endangers the safety of Americans and the security of the United States.

WHEREUPON, we, the undersigned, in order to fulfill our duty to the brave crew of USS Liberty and to 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:

FIRST: That a new Court of Inquiry be convened by the Department of the Navy, operating with Congressional oversight, to take public testimony from surviving crewmembers; and to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the attack on the USS Liberty, with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services, and to determine Israel’s possible motive in launching said attack on a U.S. naval vessel;

SECOND: That every appropriate committee of the Congress of the United States investigate the actions of the White House and Defense Department that prevented the rescue of the USS Liberty, thereafter threatened her surviving officers and men if they exposed the truth, and covered up the true circumstances of the attack from the American people; and

THIRD: That the eighth day of June of every year be proclaimed to be hereafter known as USS LIBERTY REMEMBRANCE DAY, in order to commemorate USS Liberty’s heroic crew; and to educate the American people of the danger to our national security inherent in any passionate attachment of our elected officials for any foreign nation.

We, the undersigned, hereby affix our hands and seals, this 22nd day of October 2003.

Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, United States Navy, (Ret.)
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

General Raymond G. Davis, United States Marine Corps,
Former Assistant Commandant of The Marine Corps

*Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, United States Navy, (Ret.)
Former Judge Advocate General Of The Navy

Ambassador James Akins, (Ret.) Former United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

 Add your signature HERE

On 21 September 2005, *Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, USN, Ret., personally saluted USS LIBERTY survivor Ronald Kukal in a Letter from the Liberty Alliance 

 

On 4 August 2017, Ken Ladd, a USS Liberty supporter wrote:

I’ve been following military/political affairs since I was 8 years old. In 1959, I was introduced to the horrors of the Holocaust as well as The Attack on Pearl Harbor, from a military contractor during a presentation of the NIKE ZEUS anti-missile system on a Saturday afternoon in Valhalla, NY, 1959.

Thinking both events were taking place at that moment my first reaction was, “What are we doing to save those Jewish People?”

So my concern for people and our country was imbedded very early.

From 1968 through ’71, I served with MSTS [Military Sea Transportation Service], out of Norfolk on a Victory Ship, so I was very familiar with The LIBERTY and its physical layout as the LIBERTY was a Victory Ship.

Survivors, families, and supporters, scattered in the dark for all these years, until the progress of technology in communications brought us together: survivors, families and supporters of The USS Liberty Movement!

What We want is this: A proper congressional investigation, as required yet still unfulfilled, into the USS LIBERTY, and the failure of the political chain, that continues to fail the Men, families, and supporters of THE USS LIBERTY.

To those who try to label us anti-Semitic, I say this: Anti-Semitism refers to racial and discriminatory injustice, which I oppose, and should in no way be connected to political acceptance.

Example: To support the investigation into the My Lai Massacre was not Anti-American but to support this premise and American Value: We do not indiscriminately murder women children and the elderly. Once realizing your target is innocent and you continue to execute anyway; well that’s simply murder and requires investigation.

Beware The Beast you try to kill is not The Beast that you become!

Here’s something I slapped together with stock shots as a Tribute to our guys set to my music! “THE USS LIBERTY: A TRIBUTE“

 

 

Eileen Fleming is TADN’s volunteer Health Reporter and Senior Non-Arab Correspondent 

Fleming produced the UNCENSORED “30 Minutes with Vanunu” Mordechai, Israel’s nuclear whistleblower

Contact her HERE