The story of the bombardment of S.S.Liberty is not by any means new news, but this article elaborates on the details that makes it worth reading, which is a must in order to open the eyes of the American public on how Zionism is in full control of their fate as a "sovereign people" who are surpassed to be the greatest power in the world!!!
 

"America’s greatest burden today is the quiet but firm domination of our national life by Israel"

"At the very moment Israeli forces murdered U.S. sailors, President Lyndon B. Johnson was secretly providing unmarked U.S. military aircraft and personnel to aid Israel in its war against Arab states."

Israel’s war crimes against the USS Liberty and its crew on June 8, 1967—midway in the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab states—provoked a shocking U.S. response, a cover up that shielded Israel from U.S. outrage and marked the beginning of America’s 38 years of Israel-centric foreign policies. It signalled a costly, radical turn for the worse that sent U.S. prestige and credibility plunging and loaded on the American people ever-growing new burdens—even war—with no end in sight. .

The assault remains perplexing—and deeply painful—to the few Americans aware of its details but no more so than the strange behavior of President Lyndon B. Johnson while the attack was still underway. Most Americans have no knowledge of the assault on Liberty or the cover up, but these occurrences are certain to make indelible pages in future history books.

When attacked, the Liberty, an unarmed reconnaissance ship of the U.S. Navy, was moving slowly in international waters off the coast of Gaza and the Sinai. The day’s horrors are detailed in a report filed on behalf of the ship’s survivors in a U.S. circuit court in California on June 8. Among the Israeli crimes cited in the lawsuit are the following:-
—sustained rocket, cannon and torpedo fire from air and sea that killed U.S. 34 sailors, wounded 173 others, and riddled the defenseless ship with holes, one of them 40 feet wide;

—gun fire that destroyed rubber lifeboats that were put in the water when the ship’s captain ordered preparations to abandon ship;

—the firing of napalm on the open deck where defenseless sailors were attempting to protect the ship,

 
The assault was deliberate. It did not begin until three hours after Israeli command headquarters received positive identification that the target was an unarmed U.S. Navy reconnaissance ship The proof came from a series of close-in aerial surveillance flights by Israeli aircraft early that morning. The American flag flew in a brisk breeze at the ship’s stern throughout the day. Large U.S. Navy insignia were clearly visible on the ship’s hull.

 When Israeli General Moshe Dayan issued the order to sink the Liberty, one of the generals on his staff vainly protested: “This is pure murder.” On learning the ship’s identity, several Israeli pilots refused to take part. .

Testimony of survivors leaves no doubt that Israel’s high command intended to sink the ship, kill all personnel aboard, and leave no trace of Israel’s guilt.. At the least, it was monstrous ingratitude. At the very moment Israeli forces murdered U.S. sailors, President Lyndon B. Johnson was secretly providing unmarked U.S. military aircraft and personnel to aid Israel in its war against Arab states.

It is difficult to imagine a goal so attractive it would lead the government of Israel, a beleaguered nation whose only substantial international support came from the United States, to attempt to destroy its benefactor’s military vessel and crew..

Liberty survivors believe Israel’s most likely goal was luring the United States into joining the Jewish state as a fighting partner in its war against Arab nations. The scenario: Israel would secretly perpetrate a U.S. Navy disaster but fabricate evidence that blamed on Egypt, the leading Arab combatant; an outraged America would declare war, shouting “Remember the Liberty”; and U.S. forces would soon be battling Arabs as Israel’s war partner, a tempting scheme. With all-out help from the U.S. forces, Israel could expect its nation’s security guaranteed far into the future. Another Israeli motivation might have been fear that Liberty radiomen would intercept evidence of Israel’s decision to invade Syria the next day and transmit that potentially-damaging message to Washington. The scheme could work only if Israel destroyed the Liberty and its entire crew but left none of its own fingerprints..
 
Whatever the motivation, the risk of disclosure was immense. If only one U.S. sailor survived to tell the true story or just one outraged Israeli officer spoke out, the American people would demand severe retribution against Israel, not Egypt.

The scheme might have worked, except for the ingenuity of Liberty radiomen. It failed because, despite Israel’s intense jamming of airways and bombardment that wrecked the ship’s radio equipment, the crew managed to transmit one lone message—a call for help that was received by a nearby U.S. aircraft carrier as well as Israeli intelligence. 
 
The message spoiled Israeli plans to blame Egypt. Instead of being able to welcome Washington as its new full-scale partner in arms against Arabs, Israel had the task of convincing President Johnson that it was just a tragic case of mistaken identity:

Israel dispatched a helicopter to the crime scene. Aboard were senior Israeli officers, together with the U.S. naval attaché in Tel Aviv. The Israelis offered help to Liberty survivors—an offer scornfully refused by the ship’s skipper, Commander William McGonagle, still on the bridge despite severe leg wounds. Israel also sent regrets to the White House, claiming, falsely, that Israeli forces believed their target was Egyptian.
 
Even more astounding was the behavior of President Lyndon B. Johnson during the assault and the days immediately following. He behaved as if his chief responsibility was to protect Israel from harm and criticism.

When Johnson learned that a U.S. carrier had launched fighter aircraft to defend the Liberty from Israeli attack, he ordered the aircraft to turn back and return to the carrier, the only time in U.S. naval history that rescue aircraft were called back while a Navy vessel was under assault. It was stark evidence that Johnson considered Israeli sensitivities and the well-being of Israeli attack personnel more important than the lives of Liberty crewmen.

After the assault, Johnson continued to place Israel’s interests above Liberty survivors. He immediately took steps to protect Israel from any public protest. He accepted quickly Israel’s excuse of mistaken identity, although his administration knew it to be false. He ordered a Navy Court of Inquiry but instructed its chairman, Admiral Isaac Kidd, to absolve Israel of guilt. [In a recent sworn statement, retired Navy Captain Ward Boston, Jr., a member of the Court of Inquiry, declared that he and Kidd were convinced all along that the assault was deliberate, not a case of mistaken identity.]

The president also ordered Kidd to keep survivors from talking about their ordeal. As soon as they were brought ashore, Kidd complied with presidential command by threatening the sailors, some still bedridden, with court martial and imprisonment if they said anything publicly. In his inquiry, Kidd interviewed only a few of the survivors.

When the court completed its report, Kidd admitted privately to a colleague that he knew it was misleading. Before it was released to the media and without Kidd’s approval, its text was further sanitized for Israel’s benefit by Department of Defense civilian attorneys. One of the items they deleted was testimony by survivor Lloyd Painter who told the court he witnessed Israeli forces deliberately shooting lifeboats to pieces. Medals were issued to survivors but in quiet ceremonies far from the White House and the president.

Over the years, Liberty survivors have pleaded repeatedly with administration officials, congressional committees, individual Members of Congre------------ss and the media for full disclosure of the truth. Only a few periodicals and networks responded. Of the few individual Members of Congress who spoke out, none in a leadership position.
 
The court’s false and misleading inquiry was the only official one ever held. Johnson’s successors in the presidency kept the cover up tight. Many public documents related to the assault remain classified.
 
Why the cover up?

Three years ago, Condoleeza Rice, now President George W. Bush’s secretary of state and then his national security adviser, unwittingly explained why in a remarkable burst of candor. She said: “We have an Israel-centric foreign policy.” Rice’s statement was profound and accurate. Although she spoke nearly a half-century after the assault her words explain why the cover up began and why it continues to this day.
 
Since 1967, many people in and out of government have learned the truth abut the cover up. Why were they silent? Why did the reporters ignore tips that would surely lead to top-rated news stories?
 
The sad and simple truth is that most Americans, especially those in public office and even those in the presidency, have a deadly fear of being called anti-Semitic. They will not utter or write criticism of Israel, no matter how well documented, for fear it will draw that unwarranted and unwelcome charge. Former U.S. Ambassador the UN George W. Ball once stated that the most powerful instrument of intimidation employed by Israel’s U.S. lobby is the “reckless charge of anti-Semitism.”
 
The fear is endemic but rarely mentioned. It reaches all government offices and intimidates all levels and sections of our society—business, education, academia, preachers, publishing and other media. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the only president to demand that Israel abide by international law. In 1956, on the eve of his successful bid for re-election, he forced Israel to halt its illegal military assault on Egypt’s Suez Canal.

Among those who know the facts about Israeli influence, almost all can supply an excuse to remain silent. The few willing to speak out get little or no attention.

Pro-Israel forces long ago successfully redefined anti-Semitism to mean any criticism of the State of Israel. The new definition is false, malicious and damaging to our national interests, but the Liberty crew and their supporters are among the few willing to risk an anti-Semitic smear.

The cover up of the Liberty was the first convincing proof that pro-Israel forces had won absolute control of U.S. Middle East policy. Pressure from friends who were passionate zealots for Israel forced him to violate his oath of office by ordering back the fighter planes and then imposing a tight cover up an act that was surely an act of ingratitude seldom if ever matched in history.

As a consequence, most citizens are unaware that our U.S. Middle East policy has  been crafted by lobbies for two politically-powerful religious communities whose goals are narrowly focused. One community is relatively small in number but powerful in influence. It consists mainly of secular Jews, as well as ultra-Orthodox Jews. They are perhaps best described as extreme Zionists. The other community is very large, consisting of millions of Christians who accept a controversial interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelations.

Both groups believe present-day Israel is a resurrection of ancient Israel and a pre-eminent part of God’s plan. Both believe the Jewish state must be kept strong and united until the arrival on earth of each group’s messiah.

They have attained such political power that Congress dutifully appropriates billions to Israel without conditions or serious discussion, much less real debate. Because of this unrestricted aid year after year, Israeli leaders have been able to violate human rights, engage in lawless behavior, abandon the idealism of Judaism, and lure America into damning complicity in this inhuman and unlawful conduct.
 
The complicity reached a fateful peak in 1982 when the U.S. government supplied the arms and material that Israel used in slaughtering 18,000 Beirut civilians, then, adding insult to injury, immediately replenished Israel’s supply of weapons and ammunition when the slaughter ended. . Osama bin Laden recently stated publicly that he planned 9/11 as the payback for the U.S. supportive role.
 
 The lobby’s grip on our government is unhealthy for both Israel and the United States. It is also unhealthy for both Christianity and Judaism. If our nation is to emerge from today’s peril, we must face openly and critically the role of these religious groups and their passionate, dangerous attachment to the government of Israel. If we keep tip-toeing around reality, we risk still greater peril tomorrow.
 
The Liberty cover up will someday be recognized as an historic but fateful turning point for America. It convinced Israeli leaders that they could get by with anything, even mass murder of U.S. sailors, with only sympathetic, helpful reaction from Washington.

It proved ultimately to be a fateful blunder for both Israel and America. It inaugurated ever-mounting U.S. aid to Israel, all of it unconditional and without accountability required. It cleared the path for Israel to mount still broader conquest and more flagrant abuse of human rights. It reinforced Israel’s contempt for legal constraints and world opinion.

As I ponder the awful price paid by the Liberty survivors, I marvel—and recoil—at the grip the government of Israel, a small nation of about five million people, maintains over America, a nation of nearly 300 million.

After many years in politics, I am convinced that America’s greatest burden today is the quiet but firm domination of our national life by Israel, a phenomenon that reaches far broader and deeper than the fate of the Liberty and its crew, important as their fate is to hundreds of families and in the proud annals of the U.S. Navy. Israel’s assault, although an egregious example of this how costly this burden can be, is not the only example, nor the most recent one.
 
Our longstanding Israel-centric policies are the main reason why America, once revered worldwide, is today reviled worldwide. Our war in Iraq and even 9/11 can be traced to the extreme anti-Arab bias in our Israel-centric foreign policies.

If the truth about the assault on the Liberty had been officially disclosed in detail at any point since 1967, public outrage would have forced an immediate end to our Israel-centric foreign policy. Unconditional aid to Israel would come to a halt. All future U.S. aid would be tied to firm conditions and to accountability procedures like those demanded of all other aid recipients. Israel would no longer be lured into lawbreaking by protective, unconditional U.S. military, political and economic support. Years ago, I heard Moshe Dayan, then Israel’s preeminent political and military leader, state plainly that Israel would have no choice but to obey U.S. requirements if they were conditions of eligibility for U.S. aid.

The report filed in federal court by Liberty survivors could become America’s turn for the better. If the Bush administration responds positively, the benefits can be great. A bright new day can dawn for America. Our nation’s relationship with powerful religious groups can become rational, as adherents for the first time become aware of Israel’s perfidy.