Home War/ Terror Unshackling the Reality of USS Liberty

Unshackling the Reality of USS Liberty

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ussliberty

by Greg Maybury

All Conspiracy, No Theory

For any number of reasons Ray McGovern’s recent article on the USS Liberty attack underscores the absolute imperative for the fate of the ship and its crew and Israel’s involvement in it to be kept on the political and public radar.

The first is that despite being well-documented in countless articles, books and documentaries, not nearly enough folks even after all this time — both Stateside and elsewhere — are aware of the backstory of this tragic, lamentable crime, as it was hushed up by everyone involved with the ever reliable mainstream media (MSM) as always, complicit handmaidens in such. In this respect and with numerous precedents to go by, we can all imagine the ‘all hell breaks loose’ hue and cry if a bunch of Jihadi-fuelled ‘terror-meisters’ of the ISIS ilk managed to perpetrate a similar attack on a US vessel.

The second reason is the reality that no-one, either in the US or in Israel, was ever held to account for this — let’s call a spade a spade — unconscionable war crime. As McGovern has duly noted, this included the father of the estimable Senator John McCain (R-AZ), one of Washington’s principal spearchuckers in the pursuit of hegemony and amongst the most righteous and subservient of Israeli apologists, with McCain senior by most accounts being party along with many others to the cover-up that went to the highest levels of the US government at the time.

And the third reason is that the Liberty narrative should be held up as a constant reminder for us all of Israel’s pernicious impact on the geopolitical order and its ongoing ability to literally get away with murder, to say nothing of its propensity for flouting international law with impunity. In this case we’re talking the premeditated “murder” of active service personnel of the armed forces of its own principal patron and protector, America, itself a nation with a long history of selective adherence to the basic principles of international law.

That said, although I for one am an unabashed critic of Israel and its foreign policies, and in particular, its inordinate influence via the Israel lobby in the U.S. on America’s own foreign policy and military and national security affairs — along with the legislative and democratic process in general — I fully appreciate those engaging in any form of criticism of Israel are treading a fine line. To even question, much less condemn Israel, its policies or its motives and actions in the Greater Middle East and elsewhere — no matter how gingerly and ‘rationally’ one might approach the subject — automatically invites accusations of “anti-Semitism” and similar name-calling. And sometimes a whole lot worse, as we’ll see shortly.

Such accusations are of course amongst the most damning — albeit gratuitous — epithets than can be leveled at anyone wanting to be taken seriously as a writer, journalist and political commentator. It is a response the Zionists and hardliners in Israel and the country’s apologists in the US and elsewhere have an easy propensity for to be sure. It further explains why so few political figures — including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — will contemplate such critiques in their public utterances, no matter their private feelings and views.

Yet there is no way of escaping the deplorable reality of the fate of USS Liberty for those still habitually inclined to bury said “reality”. Nor should there be. For others, that is those willing to see it for what it represents, it remains one of the truly ugly blots on the morally desertified landscape of US/Israel relations. It is moreover a savage indictment not just on Israel itself but on all those so-called ‘American friends of Israel’ who have created and fed this increasingly out-of-control monster, in far too many instances at total odds with their own country’s national interest.

In fact we might even say the Liberty attack provided a marker for the way that relationship has been managed from that point onward. If Israel can get away with such a heinous act, then there was/is no holding them back. Not only can we legitimately ask questions and speculate about what other attacks or acts of terrorism Israel has been involved in and/or perpetrated on the US, quite a few folks have actually done with so with compelling, if not irrefutable argument. These include the JFK assassination, the Oklahoma bombing, and 9/11, to cite just three.

Moreover, for those willing to objectively view and unflinchingly report on Israel’s larger role within the geopolitical firmament — one that continues to be sponsored, fostered and sanctioned by the Washington establishment at great expense to us all — one suspects (or at least trusts) they are themselves becoming increasingly impervious to and dismissive of such labels and name-calling. The more the Israelis and their sundry apologists trot out such self-serving, ad hominem nonsense, the less meaningful and rational it becomes and is perceived to be. As it should be.

For what it is worth, here in Australia it seems to some degree we are less anal retentive about criticism of Israel as we are with the “anti-Semitic” brush being arbitrarily applied whenever it is expedient to do so. Herein it is interesting to note that former Aussie Prime Minister — Malcolm Fraser, now sadly deceased — in an interview a few years back publicly declared his view about Israel’s role in the attack on the Liberty, confirming the attack was in fact a deliberate act of war, and that it was covered up. Predictably, the Israel lobby here in Australia and those predisposed to defend Israel come hell or high water dismissed his observations as the “rantings” of someone with “anti-Semitic” tendencies.

Few could argue though that Fraser — a senior Cabinet minister at the time of the 1967 attack in the government of one of the US’s staunchest allies — was in a position to know the details. (Two years later he was actually appointed Defence Minister.) And given Fraser’s unimpeachable stature and credibility nationally and internationally — in everything from defending human rights to fighting discrimination — this of course was a ludicrous response to his revelations.

But tellingly, perhaps not surprisingly though, there was little commentary in the MSM — specifically the Rupert Murdoch/News Ltd owned national ‘paper of record’ The Australian, Murdoch himself being a high profile supporter of Israel — that gave any credence to the veracity of Fraser’s statements or attempted to revisit the backstory behind this incident. They were of course all too ready to ignore and dismiss Fraser’s ‘rantings’. After all he had long since retired from political life, and may not have been considered as politically relevant. (We should try and imagine though any comparable public figure in the U.S. doing what Fraser did; it would just be unthinkable!)

On the other hand there is the case of Mike Carlton, a highly respected, veteran Aussie journalist and broadcaster who resigned last year in the aftermath of an almighty brouhaha over public comments he made criticising Israel’s Gaza Strip adventures. Gaza is of course a place where once again indiscriminate murder, terror and general mayhem is perpetrated by the Jewish state with impunity, with the US all but giving the nod or at least looking the other way.

Although Carlton worked for Fairfax Media, the arch-rival media outlet to Murdoch’s News Ltd., there was much conjecture that he’d been ostracised and pushed out as a result of intense pressure brought to bear by The Australian newspaper and by the Australian Jewish lobby. Interestingly, the majority of the Australian public were relatively sanguine about the whole affair.

Yet there can be little doubt Carlton was targeted with extreme prejudice by Murdoch’s lynch mob if only because there was no love lost between the Fairfax media group and News Ltd. in general, and Carlton himself was one of Fairfax’s leading spear-chuckers in this frequently bitter, long-standing rivalry. But it was also difficult to escape the conclusion that the News Ltd crowd were dutifully channeling their boss’s empathy towards Israel whilst at the same time leveraging the bitter, emotion-charged controversy in the service of some payback for past slights.

As Carlton himself revealed later, most of the media attention neglected to mention the vitriol he was subjected to. As he said at the time:

“I got a fortnight of abuse, of threats of violence. [I was called] ‘You filthy piece of Jew-hating Nazi slime’, ‘people like you started World War II’, ‘Catholic Jew-baiter’ and so on.”

And although most folks of a more objective disposition were prepped to view Carlton’s Gaza comments with a more nuanced eye, the Aussie Jewish media played tag-team with News Ltd at Carlton’s expense and declared his views as “offensive and inappropriate, bereft of certain facts [and] unbalanced.” They — like Murdoch’s minions — made no secret of their deeply felt schadenfreude at Carlton’s disappearance from the media landscape.

So maybe it’s not so different here in Australia after all. Such is the power of the Israeli lobby, their sympathisers and and pro-Israel campaigners.

A Time for Atonement and Restitution

And harking back to the USS Liberty, there is one other key reason for continuing to give oxygen to the Liberty tragedy. Justice needs to be properly and fully served of course, whether in respect of full and total compensation and/or restitution to still living crew members, the families of those that didn’t survive the attack along with those who have long since passed on, with full and open acknowledgement from both the Israeli and US governments in respect of the former’s involvement in the attack and the latter’s coverup. And along with that acknowledgement there needs to be a formal apology to all concerned from both governments. A real bonus would be the MSM collectively acknowledging their own complicity in the cover-up!

If any of this is likely to eventuate, it seems that 2017 — the 50th Anniversary of the attack — will present an ideal, timely opportunity for the release of all relevant documents related to the tragedy and for both governments to finally come clean on the matter. We can only hope that those who are seeking such an outcome are presently working on leveraging the timing of the anniversary to this end. It may be a ‘good luck with that’ long shot, but “nothing ventured” as they say. At the very least it should help keep the story alive, thereby providing a measure of ongoing discomfort for those that seek for whatever reasons to keep it under wraps.

Otherwise, I expect there will be much more focus on celebrating Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War itself than commemorating the Liberty debacle — much less acknowledging the real story of what happened so as to bring about some closure for all concerned and atoning for their crimes — one that thus far has all but been relegated to the status of collateral damage in that ugly, self-serving, and unnecessary War of aggression, one whose impact is still reverberating today.

As one of the characters in The Wire might have been wont to say: “That’s America man!”

Greg Maybury is a Perth (Australia) based freelance writer. His main areas of interest are American history and politics in general, with a special focus on economic, national security, military and geopolitical affairs.

For a Gumshoe article on Liberty and Malcolm Fraser link here.

 

12 COMMENTS

  3. Thanks for this fine article Greg, “Unshackling The Reality Of The Liberty” is a very important documented evidence to employ to unshackle the wider political reality.

    Articles like this should be on call in our political tool box and, where possible, publicly tabled on the record as evidence of the pattern and method of the information and political integrity we are operating within.

    Because this saga has now been fully exposed it can be raised in any forum with the very clear knowledge that any confrontation only adds to the opportunities to explain deep deception and all the participants.

    I often draw on the Liberty episode when dealing with political staff. It is very effective in knocking the balance of interpreting and apportioning trust in all the institutions of politics and media. It is essential to burst that conditioned gullible naive barrier to engage in a worthwhile discussion.
    The Liberty record breaks the spell.

  4. USA/Israel foreign policy- subvert subvert subvert lie lie lie bomb bomb bomb subvert subvert subvert blackmail blackmail blackmail bomb bomb bomb lie lie lie threaten threaten threaten cry cry cry subvert subvert subvert fund terrorists fund terrorists fund terrorists train terrorists train terrorists train terrorists bomb bomb bomb false flag false flag false flag lie lie lie – – – BLAME MUSLIMS BLAME ARABS

  5. There is no question that Israel committed this crime.

    The real question is why Lyndon Johnson tolerated their lies.
    He was not a patient man and certainly not a forgiving one.

    I think it quite possible Johnson secretly cooperated with the Israelis on the attack and wanted that fact covered up.

    He was a vicious, murderous man, quite capable of anything.

    Just as are the Israelis.

    • Dear John, We seriously need to know who our enemy is. And not only identify him but attack him or do whatever it takes, to save our lives. Immediately.

      You say “the Israelis” are vicious. But who, exactly, are “the Israelis”? If you mean the citizens of Israel, they are not the decision makers. I have lived in two democratic countries, US and Australia, in which the citizens aren’t the decision makers. (We vaguely suppose we are directing things, but we act like sheep.) Even the pollies in Canberra are apparently not the decision makers but are rubber-stamping the directives of others.

      Who are those others? You say Lyndon Johnson was a vicious murderous man. Well, he has been dead a long time. Who is doing the vicious stuff now? I am known on this website as the one who reacts if someone insults Jews. My motive is not so much that I respect Jewish folks (which I do) — it’s that I see how easy it is to blame the wrong party and thus neglect to focus on the right party!!!

      There is just no way that it is “Jews” that are doing harm. That is a crazy attribution. (John, I don’t mean you said it’s the Jews, but many websites say so, or imply so.)

      So who is out to kill us? The fantastic buildup of weaponry is proof that someone is on the prowl. WHO IS IT? Granted, in Israel, it includes Netanyahu. He was trained by George Schultz of the US. (Bibi is an MIT graduate.) But even when we have narrowed the search down to the PM of Israel, we still don’t know what the plan is, or what the wars are all about, do we?

      I recommend we all start to kick up a fuss about the contemporary takeover of government in Oz, in America, in France, etc. Even Blind Freddy can see it. It looks non-violent, but it is depriving us of rule-of-law (see what attorney general George Brandis, poor slave, gets up to). Loss of rule-of-law means violence down the track.

      If we don’t sharpen our wits fast and deal with the real power issue, we will be as vulnerable as these residents of Gaza:

      • Mary, the citizens are the decision makers and only the citizens can stop the murder inflicted in their name.
        The citizen must be responsible and accountable for their
        action, inaction, or ignorance.
        I demand and expect all adults to be accountable and most Israeli’s vote for the crimes of their military to proceed.
        Are you suggesting they have no pattern or historical record to inform them of the crimes of their military?
        The Israeli military is nothing less than vicious.
        Most Israelis vote to elect politicians that operate a murderous and viscous military.
        Are the citizens forced to vote at gunpoint?

        Australian and US citizens who vote or remain silent are responsible for the war crimes of our Government though in Australia the habit of war is not as regular as Israel, nor as openly viscous.

        Mary, Israel only exists because of the “Holocaust” frauds and almost all those who claim “Jewish identity” in one of it’s various false manifestations join in the lies and persecute any person who dares speak the truth, that for the most part, the whole “Jewish identity” phenomena is invented by clever people who understand uncritical thinkers are very gullible.

        Incredibly, the trick has been so spectacularly successful, most of the population unconsciously adopt a political “Jewish Identity” which paralyses any genuine mature discussions about the root of why endless energy never finds a lasting solution to the pressing ills of the world.

        We must understand the social dynamic of our place in our society, we must be accountable for our own actions, we must be responsible for our understanding and knowledge, and we must speak out against every lie.

        I was raised as a Catholic but I didn’t continue support for this association when I discovered the “money trick” and evaluated my education and teachers to this point in my life were all corrupted and compromised because the “Jewish Identity” also dominated the Vatican which now only interprets the world within limits.

        There was no logical or rational choice.

        Israeli adults are, for the most part, choosing to join the policies of their State when they vote for more of the same and in any logical sense they are participants.

        This moral relation between each other and our agencies is the foundation premise and motivation that justifies all of our investigations and discussions here at Gumshoe.

        I accept judgement is complex in a world dominated by spells. Is laziness and apathy a defence for standing by while murder is conducted right before your eyes?
        How far down the road should a crime be conducted that we decide it is of no interest?
        Does justice have a proximity dimension?

        • Hmm. I want the Gaza bombings to stop. How to do this? John (referring to the Liberty) said Israeli’s are vicious and murderous. I tried to say “That is sloppy thinking.” It’s the way the human brain always goes because of our evolutionary history: we are over-eager to blame a group. (The group may be a race, but it can be an ideological group – my generation spent a lot of time thinking the Communists were our worst enemy. Geez.)

          You come back at me with “It’s every citizen’s fault.” I agree and this is my outlook on everything. We at the bottom of the heap are running the whole show by supporting it. I know a man whose teenage son was killed by the Powers That Be and he (the Dad) won’t say a word as he knows he’ll be next. Do I think he should make the ultimate sacrifice and speak? Well, yes, I do.

          But it would be better first if six friends form a committee to save his life and made noise about it. If he just makes the sacrifice alone, it won’t help. Actually it will worsen the situation. How many doctors, when they heard about Bradstreet’s murder last month, have quietly vowed NOT to speak up?

          Christopher, you are not correct, IMO, about the voting thing. Who is already on the ballot for the voters to choose from? Insiders all. It is my understanding that Israeli people are far more dissident than the rest of us. They oppose what their government does by public protest. It is hard to accomplish anything on voting day.

          Actually I think we humans are very poor at banding together – other than when our leader calls for it and when the enemy is clearly identifiable. So your Comment is a long lament for the (currently) impossible. We do not know how to band together! Sure, we were taught in school that labor unions had formed, as a way of banding together, but now I wonder if the unions weren’t manipulated into shape by the bosses. When I immigrated to Oz, Bob-auk was a Trade Union figure. But he is a Rhodes scholar…

          I agree that Israel came into existence in the late Forties by way of Truman’s say-so and that he was able to do it because of the Nazi persecution of Jews. Yup, I also know that the Jews “asked for” the 1933 Nuremberg laws that cast them into the role of non-citizen, as they had openly declared war on their own country, Germany. Who encouraged them to do that? A bunch of snakes in the grass.

          Ah, there are many, many snakes in the grass. So, Christopher, I agree with you and maybe even hold a stronger position. I am all for punishing any snake in the grass no matter how small he or she be. They are the problem. And as you say, we are the problem. I am the problem.

          Please could we get clear on whom we should try to band together against re the Gaza genocide? I say it is neither Netanyahu nor Obama, as they are both minor puppets and could not have a rational thought if they tried. It is the layer above them that plans everything. They, too, can’t have a rational thought as it was beaten out of then in childhood (I think), but they are clever. We need to fight them.

          As I said I am willing to fight their little employees. In South Africa that was called ‘necklacing.’ What option did the liberators have other than to get the small players?

          Here is a wonderful quote from Steve Biko, before he got beaten to death “in custody”, in 1977:
          “The first step therefore is to make the black man come to himself; to pump back life into his empty shell; to infuse him with pride and dignity to remind him of his complicity in the crime of allowing himself to be misused and therefore letting evil reign supreme in the country of his birth.”

          The BBC (snakes) reported on the day: “Mr Biko had been in custody since 18 August when he was arrested and detained under the Terrorism Act. He is the 20th person to die in custody during the past 18 months.”

          Go, Biko!

          • Mary, I am not talking about “banding together” at all.

            I am simply stating that if we vote for a military policy we are participating.

            I don’t ever vote for anyone in Federal and State elections and recommend this is the only moral choice while preferential voting is in force, or a very substantial change occurs in our political awareness, and non monopoly candidates gain serious ground.

            Those who vote for more of the same will get more of the same and are totally wasting their time protesting until they stop voting for the policies.

            We know all the Parties are owned by the war party and will always advance monopoly.

            What would happen in Israel if 99% of the population did not record a Vote?

            We have a vote which we can withhold if we choose on election day. We vote for something different to what is on offer.

            The power structure would crumble if individuals understood they are in control if they could only break from the spell that has everyone lining up on election day, and every other day, to vote for wars and a whole nest of policies that the same people then spend four years complaining about, apparently oblivious that they are responsible because they are fooled into voting for what they do not desire.

            I am only responsible for my vote.

            Everyone is responsible for their vote and if they vote for war they are responsible for war.

            This is very clear logic.

            I have had people fume to the point of near violence believing voting for “a” candidate is the only moral option.

            I have had people argue I should not be allowed to access any Government services if I do not vote for a candidate.

            This type of logic is nonsense yet argued by well educated successful people.

            This catastrophe of critical thinking is why we are watching the world heading down a self destructive road.

            Of course not voting on election day needs to be followed up by pulling your vote out of your pocket regularly to state and lobby for the outcomes and policies we believe are correct.

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