Did Operation Northwoods come to the Eastern Mediterranean 44 years ago today?
"On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel.
"The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it.
"Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public.
"The USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.
The Attack
"After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft overflights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning.
"USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft nine hours before the attack and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter.
"Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.
"The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us.
"Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded..."
USS Liberty Memorial
Did President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara know in advance of the attack on Liberty?
Two attempts by the 6th Fleet to come to the ship's rescue were called back on their orders:
"...(h)e told me that upon receipt of our SOS, aircraft were launched to come to our assistance and then Washington was notified. He said that the Secretary of Defense (Robert McNamara) had ordered that the aircraft be returned to the carrier, which was done.
"RADM Geis then said that he speculated that Washington may have suspected that the aircraft carried nuclear weapons so he put together another flight of conventional aircraft that had no capability of carrying nuclear weapons.
"These he launched to assist us and again notified Washington of his actions. Again McNamara ordered the aircraft recalled. He (Geis) requested confirmation of the order being unable to believe that Washington would let us sink.
"This time President Johnson ordered the recall with the comment that he did not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, but that he would not embarrass his allies..."
USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel.
"The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it.
"Survivors have been forbidden for 40 years to tell their story under oath to the American public.
"The USS Liberty Memorial web site tells their story and is dedicated to the memory of the 34 brave men who died.
The Attack
"After surveilling USS Liberty for more than nine hours with almost hourly aircraft overflights and radar tracking, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked our ship in international waters without warning.
"USS Liberty was identified as a US naval ship by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft nine hours before the attack and continuously tracked by Israeli radar and aircraft thereafter.
"Sailing in international waters at less than five knots, with no offensive armament, our ship was not a military threat to anyone.
"The Israeli forces attacked without warning and without attempting to contact us.
"Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded..."
USS Liberty Memorial
Did President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara know in advance of the attack on Liberty?
Two attempts by the 6th Fleet to come to the ship's rescue were called back on their orders:
"...(h)e told me that upon receipt of our SOS, aircraft were launched to come to our assistance and then Washington was notified. He said that the Secretary of Defense (Robert McNamara) had ordered that the aircraft be returned to the carrier, which was done.
"RADM Geis then said that he speculated that Washington may have suspected that the aircraft carried nuclear weapons so he put together another flight of conventional aircraft that had no capability of carrying nuclear weapons.
"These he launched to assist us and again notified Washington of his actions. Again McNamara ordered the aircraft recalled. He (Geis) requested confirmation of the order being unable to believe that Washington would let us sink.
"This time President Johnson ordered the recall with the comment that he did not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, but that he would not embarrass his allies..."
USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia