WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:05.200
<v Speaker 1>The following presentation is Del Marvis Studio's production.

2
00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:12.759
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network. Here is

3
00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:15.199
<v Speaker 2>your host, George Hobbs.

4
00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:20.440
<v Speaker 3>Welcome back truth seekers from around the world. It's time

5
00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:24.160
<v Speaker 3>for another edition of our classic audio series, and today

6
00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.839
<v Speaker 3>is June the eighth, twenty twenty five, which means it's

7
00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:30.600
<v Speaker 3>the fifty eighth anniversary of the USS Liberty incident. I

8
00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.920
<v Speaker 3>thought it fitting that we placed some audio from that.

9
00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.000
<v Speaker 3>Of course, fifty eight years ago today, US Liberty USS

10
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.280
<v Speaker 3>Liberty Pardon me came under attack by Israel, resulting in

11
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.880
<v Speaker 3>thirty four KIA, one hundred and seventy one wounded, and

12
00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.079
<v Speaker 3>of course it left the Liberty severely damaged. The first

13
00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:55.119
<v Speaker 3>audio clip Richard Bellfield's The Day Israel attacked America, followed

14
00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:00.159
<v Speaker 3>by USS Liberty survivor Phil Turney in a thirty five

15
00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:03.799
<v Speaker 3>minute lecture. Again, these are one of those things that

16
00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:09.040
<v Speaker 3>are not taught in school that everyone should know about.

17
00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.879
<v Speaker 3>So please take the time to share this with your

18
00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:16.239
<v Speaker 3>friends and family. God bless all of those who were

19
00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:19.439
<v Speaker 3>affected that day. I hope everyone has a great week.

20
00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.120
<v Speaker 3>We'll see you Tuesday night. Without any further ado, here

21
00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:24.159
<v Speaker 3>is our classic audio for this week.

22
00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:32.000
<v Speaker 2>Early June nineteen sixty seven, the Six Day War in

23
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.760
<v Speaker 2>the Middle East between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria is underway.

24
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:41.640
<v Speaker 2>A spy ship, very lightly armed but bristling with antennae,

25
00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:46.319
<v Speaker 2>steams into the Mediterranean to eavesdrop on the conflict. It

26
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:52.519
<v Speaker 2>is patrolling in international waters off the Egyptian coast. At

27
00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:55.519
<v Speaker 2>two in the afternoon on June the eighth, with the

28
00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:59.359
<v Speaker 2>war reaching its climax, Israeli jets and motor torpedo boats

29
00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:04.239
<v Speaker 2>launched an unprovoked attack on the ship. They dropped napalm

30
00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:07.359
<v Speaker 2>and straight its decks with rockets, cannon fire and armored

31
00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.840
<v Speaker 2>piercing rounds before trying to sink it with torpedoes.

32
00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:22.120
<v Speaker 1>We had no way to defend ourselves and it was

33
00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:23.319
<v Speaker 1>just We're just slaughtered.

34
00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.520
<v Speaker 4>And they shot at life rafts that were put into

35
00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.000
<v Speaker 4>the water, and they shot the ones that were still

36
00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:37.240
<v Speaker 4>on board the ship. Bullet holes, shell holes everywhere. Blood,

37
00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.120
<v Speaker 4>the forecastle, the front part of the ship was just

38
00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:41.719
<v Speaker 4>red with.

39
00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:50.840
<v Speaker 2>Blood throughout the attack. The ship flies the stars and

40
00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.280
<v Speaker 2>stripes the flag of Israel's closest ally, the United States

41
00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:59.080
<v Speaker 2>of America. Its name the USS Liberty is freshly painted

42
00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:02.400
<v Speaker 2>on its stern, and the bow carries the distinctive numbers

43
00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:04.159
<v Speaker 2>of an American naval vessel.

44
00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:08.319
<v Speaker 5>Out of a crew of just under three hundred, there

45
00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:11.159
<v Speaker 5>were thirty four killed in one hundred and seventy two

46
00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:17.520
<v Speaker 5>injured in varying degrees to life threatening life debilitating the injuries,

47
00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:19.919
<v Speaker 5>so that was more than two thirds of the crew.

48
00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:33.360
<v Speaker 2>This audio tape, which has never been broadcast before, was

49
00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:37.000
<v Speaker 2>recorded in real time by the Israeli military during the assault.

50
00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:40.360
<v Speaker 2>The woman's voice in the background is counting down the seconds.

51
00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.560
<v Speaker 2>It proves that Israeli commanders knew all along that they

52
00:03:44.560 --> 00:04:06.599
<v Speaker 2>were attacking an American ship.

53
00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:49.840
<v Speaker 1>A size.

54
00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:03.759
<v Speaker 2>For the first time. This and other evidence allows us

55
00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.560
<v Speaker 2>to reveal the true story of what happened that day

56
00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:10.759
<v Speaker 2>and what came after, when a deadly assault by one

57
00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:14.039
<v Speaker 2>ally on another was covered up and an American president

58
00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:17.079
<v Speaker 2>was manipulated by the secret agents of a foreign power,

59
00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:36.079
<v Speaker 2>events that have shaped US Israeli relations ever since. The

60
00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:40.959
<v Speaker 2>United States Navy Memorial in Washington, d C. June the eighth,

61
00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:46.319
<v Speaker 2>two thousand and fourteen. Every year on the anniversary of

62
00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:51.120
<v Speaker 2>the attack on the USS Liberty survivors, relatives and supporters

63
00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:52.160
<v Speaker 2>gather together.

64
00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:56.439
<v Speaker 5>It's a remembrance of those who who were killed that day,

65
00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:59.920
<v Speaker 5>the thirty four and Dave Lucas, I was in charge

66
00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:03.319
<v Speaker 5>of the deck force. I was twenty five. My first

67
00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:05.560
<v Speaker 5>child was born when I was one day out on

68
00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:08.600
<v Speaker 5>that cruise. So as long as there are survivors and

69
00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:12.759
<v Speaker 5>maybe children of survivors, I think this will probably be

70
00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:13.560
<v Speaker 5>an annual event.

71
00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.879
<v Speaker 6>Anseelu or.

72
00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:22.319
<v Speaker 2>The names of the thirty four killed are read out,

73
00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:29.839
<v Speaker 2>oh ye, punctuated by the tolling of a navy bow

74
00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:37.279
<v Speaker 2>David Marlborough and the playing of taps, the traditional military

75
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.079
<v Speaker 2>funeral lament.

76
00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:51.480
<v Speaker 1>It's important to.

77
00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.759
<v Speaker 5>Not forget what happened and to continue to try to

78
00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.759
<v Speaker 5>find out why it happened and who made it happen.

79
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:07.480
<v Speaker 2>In the summer of nineteen sixty seven, America was in turmoil.

80
00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.639
<v Speaker 2>An incendiary mixture of racial discrimination and extreme poverty exploded

81
00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:15.879
<v Speaker 2>into a summer of rioting in cities across the country.

82
00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:29.560
<v Speaker 2>But one issue dominated the Vietnam War. In all, ten

83
00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:33.720
<v Speaker 2>thousand troops would die that year. The Americans were trapped,

84
00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:41.399
<v Speaker 2>they couldn't leave, and they couldn't win. In the Middle East, too,

85
00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:45.560
<v Speaker 2>war looked inevitable. There was growing tension between Israel and

86
00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:51.279
<v Speaker 2>its Arab neighbors, armies were mobilizing. Israel promised the White

87
00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.160
<v Speaker 2>House they would not attack first, but on the fifth

88
00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:57.319
<v Speaker 2>of June they jammed radar sets at the US embassy

89
00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:01.079
<v Speaker 2>in Tel Aviv so the Americans couldn't detect that jets

90
00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:06.240
<v Speaker 2>taking off to launch a surprise assault on Egypt. Meanwhile,

91
00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:12.000
<v Speaker 2>the USS Liberty was sailing across the Mediterranean into the

92
00:07:12.040 --> 00:07:12.920
<v Speaker 2>war zone.

93
00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.959
<v Speaker 1>Liberty was a state of the art intelligence gathering vessel

94
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:19.439
<v Speaker 1>of the time, and what we did is we listed.

95
00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.800
<v Speaker 1>We were a listening ship. My name is Lloyd Painter.

96
00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:26.199
<v Speaker 1>I was a research officer. We could we could receive

97
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.240
<v Speaker 1>any signal that was out there, low band, high band anything,

98
00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.319
<v Speaker 1>intercepting it, recording it, and we did have on board

99
00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:35.639
<v Speaker 1>some translators who could have an immediate translation of what

100
00:07:35.720 --> 00:07:38.000
<v Speaker 1>was going on. We would actually bounce signals off the

101
00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:39.560
<v Speaker 1>moon back to NSA.

102
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.680
<v Speaker 7>We were were spies. I'm Jim Kavanaugh. I was a

103
00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.879
<v Speaker 7>communication technician aboard the USS Liberty and I intercepted Morse code.

104
00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:56.199
<v Speaker 7>We're spies, I mean were intercepting messages from embassies, military bases, police,

105
00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:00.240
<v Speaker 7>anything and everything that we could get to ensure or

106
00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:03.560
<v Speaker 7>that the United States was comfortable with what was going

107
00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.480
<v Speaker 7>on in the world and no one's conspiring against us

108
00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:13.600
<v Speaker 7>and basically goes to protect our interests.

109
00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.360
<v Speaker 2>This was the Cold War. American President Lyndon Johnson knew

110
00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.160
<v Speaker 2>that the Russians already had substantial military influence in Egypt.

111
00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:26.560
<v Speaker 2>He needed to find out what they were going to

112
00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:29.600
<v Speaker 2>do next to make sure that a local conflict did

113
00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:33.440
<v Speaker 2>not become a world war with the USA backing Israel

114
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.399
<v Speaker 2>and Russia siding with the Arab cause.

115
00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.000
<v Speaker 8>I was assigned as a Russian linguist aboard the ship

116
00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.519
<v Speaker 8>I'm Bryce Lockwood, United States Marine Corps retired to Israelis

117
00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:51.600
<v Speaker 8>Our primary purpose was to intercept communications of the Russian

118
00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:54.960
<v Speaker 8>spy aircraft as that were at Alexandria, Egypt, and that

119
00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:58.720
<v Speaker 8>was our job, was to find them. We were not

120
00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.519
<v Speaker 8>targeted against Israeli's.

121
00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:03.080
<v Speaker 1>Life was very relaxing. One of the nice things about

122
00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.600
<v Speaker 1>the Liberty is we had air conditioning because we had

123
00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:09.000
<v Speaker 1>communications equipment, so we were cool in the hot days.

124
00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.960
<v Speaker 1>It was a very laid back, very clean ship. It

125
00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.399
<v Speaker 1>was spotless. The morale was pretty high, I mean very high.

126
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.720
<v Speaker 2>By the time the Liberty arrived off the coast of

127
00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.399
<v Speaker 2>Egypt on the eighth of June. The war had just

128
00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:25.519
<v Speaker 2>two days left to run. Israel had seized the Old

129
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:28.600
<v Speaker 2>City of Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

130
00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:33.919
<v Speaker 2>Jordanian forces were beaten and Egypt was conceding defeat. Only

131
00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:35.159
<v Speaker 2>Syria held out.

132
00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:41.559
<v Speaker 9>The airwaves were dead. The only voices we did get

133
00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.279
<v Speaker 9>were those of Israeli or Hebrew was what we were hearing.

134
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.960
<v Speaker 9>My name is Bob Wilson. I worked for NSA on

135
00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.679
<v Speaker 9>June the eighth, nineteen sixty seven, when what we were

136
00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.240
<v Speaker 9>trying to monitor find something coming from the direction of Egypt,

137
00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:01.559
<v Speaker 9>there just was nothing. They on the skies, in the

138
00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.240
<v Speaker 9>ground and everything. I don't think there was anything moving

139
00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:06.879
<v Speaker 9>at that time that they didn't know about.

140
00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:10.879
<v Speaker 7>I was listening to the chatter night before. They knew

141
00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:13.799
<v Speaker 7>it was an American ship that came into the area. They

142
00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:14.600
<v Speaker 7>knew who we were.

143
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:18.639
<v Speaker 2>Five point fifteen am first light. The ship's log recorded

144
00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.720
<v Speaker 2>an Israeli photo reconnaissance plane flying over the Liberty.

145
00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:25.840
<v Speaker 9>It was easily identifiable as a no ratlesseracraft and those

146
00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:27.919
<v Speaker 9>are photo reconnaissance aeracraft.

147
00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:32.279
<v Speaker 2>Israeli records obtained by Al Jazeera showed that their reconnaissance

148
00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:35.440
<v Speaker 2>plane reported the Liberty as an American spy ship. How

149
00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.639
<v Speaker 2>number gt R five Well.

150
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:41.720
<v Speaker 10>I was on the bridge. I'm John Scott. I was

151
00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:46.080
<v Speaker 10>the damage control officer and his circle the ship kind

152
00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:50.320
<v Speaker 10>of in a broad circle and headed back towards Israel.

153
00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:55.559
<v Speaker 2>Israeli planes then continued to fly over the Liberty all morning.

154
00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.200
<v Speaker 7>And they would do half moon passes over us, and

155
00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:00.879
<v Speaker 7>we saw that they were as early.

156
00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:03.919
<v Speaker 1>They were slowly lumbering over our ship, and we were

157
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:05.279
<v Speaker 1>waving at them. They were waving at act.

158
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.080
<v Speaker 7>They were sophisticated, almost as sophisticated as we were. As

159
00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:13.200
<v Speaker 7>far as surveillance and technology. They had everything. We supplied

160
00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.519
<v Speaker 7>them with all the technology to this day.

161
00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.759
<v Speaker 1>And I felt that we were in great shape because

162
00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:19.440
<v Speaker 1>they knew who we.

163
00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:22.120
<v Speaker 7>Were, They're are friends. We felt safe, actually, it was

164
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:23.559
<v Speaker 7>a secure feeling to see them.

165
00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:26.399
<v Speaker 2>There was one other thing which made the crew feel safe.

166
00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:29.960
<v Speaker 1>We had an American flag flying the standard and then

167
00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:32.559
<v Speaker 1>we put up the Holiday colors, which is a huge

168
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.480
<v Speaker 1>American flag. And it was a bright sunny day with

169
00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.720
<v Speaker 1>the wind blowing I don't know five or ten knots.

170
00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.159
<v Speaker 1>The flag was unfurled you could see it for miles.

171
00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.559
<v Speaker 2>Meanwhile, Israeli military jets were on their way. On the

172
00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:48.080
<v Speaker 2>real time audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera at one

173
00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:51.960
<v Speaker 2>fifty three pm, the pilots asked their base control about.

174
00:11:51.639 --> 00:12:01.240
<v Speaker 1>The ship, right, how man prove that about it?

175
00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.559
<v Speaker 2>The USS Liberty was the only ship of any size

176
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:15.320
<v Speaker 2>in the area. The American sixth fleet, including two aircraft carriers,

177
00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:17.360
<v Speaker 2>was five hundred miles away.

178
00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:19.399
<v Speaker 6>Oh, it was a great day.

179
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:20.440
<v Speaker 11>Hello.

180
00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:21.519
<v Speaker 6>I'm Jim Smith.

181
00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.960
<v Speaker 4>I was a damage controlman and engineering I mean, I'm

182
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:25.759
<v Speaker 4>twenty years old.

183
00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:26.480
<v Speaker 6>It's a time.

184
00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:29.480
<v Speaker 4>I come from a small town, used to throw hay

185
00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:32.960
<v Speaker 4>bales in a summertime for a buck an hour. Sun

186
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:37.840
<v Speaker 4>was shining, blue sky, clouds, nice people sunbathing on a deck.

187
00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:41.720
<v Speaker 4>We had lunch, and five minutes later maybe here came

188
00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:44.039
<v Speaker 4>the jets and when nobody really knew what was happening

189
00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:45.679
<v Speaker 4>until they started fire.

190
00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.519
<v Speaker 1>The captain said to me, alert the forward gun mouth,

191
00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:58.919
<v Speaker 1>we're under attack. And I tried to raise the two

192
00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.519
<v Speaker 1>sailors and the forward gun I looked at and they

193
00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:04.080
<v Speaker 1>were blown to pieces by the rocket.

194
00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:08.320
<v Speaker 7>When the attacks started and we realized that we needed help,

195
00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:10.879
<v Speaker 7>we tried to communicate with the six Fleet.

196
00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:15.399
<v Speaker 8>They were jamming both our distress frequencies and our tactical frequencies.

197
00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.879
<v Speaker 8>The tactical frequencies is all right, but the international distress

198
00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:21.360
<v Speaker 8>frequencies as a violation of international law of jam them

199
00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:22.919
<v Speaker 8>and the Israelis were jamming that.

200
00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.600
<v Speaker 7>And we could not get a signal for us. Here's

201
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:29.759
<v Speaker 7>the question I have to ask, who would know the

202
00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:33.879
<v Speaker 7>frequencies other than an ally, and who was the ally

203
00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:37.679
<v Speaker 7>in the war? It was in Egypt, it was Israel.

204
00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:40.559
<v Speaker 7>They would know, and only they would know in this

205
00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:42.840
<v Speaker 7>conflict what our frequencies would be.

206
00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:48.000
<v Speaker 2>Now cut off from the outside world, the crew on

207
00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:49.840
<v Speaker 2>the Liberty was defenseless.

208
00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.799
<v Speaker 5>We had four fifty caliber machine guns on board that

209
00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:56.240
<v Speaker 5>were basically there to repel any borders that might come

210
00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:02.080
<v Speaker 5>by a pirate situation. Weren't designed to bring down jet

211
00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:03.720
<v Speaker 5>aircraft that were hammering at us.

212
00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:06.159
<v Speaker 4>But you can't shoot a jet going six hundred miles

213
00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:07.840
<v Speaker 4>an hour with a Fity Calvin machine gun.

214
00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:09.039
<v Speaker 12>It doesn't work.

215
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.200
<v Speaker 1>It was just in a surreal scene. People who had

216
00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:15.720
<v Speaker 1>been standing there earlier, joking and laughing were now dead, dying,

217
00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:18.840
<v Speaker 1>and with the walking dead and wounded. It was just.

218
00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.840
<v Speaker 2>Unreal gasoline barrels stored on the deck of the ship

219
00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:26.559
<v Speaker 2>burst into flames. The crew rushed to try to put

220
00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:27.799
<v Speaker 2>out the fires.

221
00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:32.039
<v Speaker 4>I was watching the aircraft as they circled around, and

222
00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.320
<v Speaker 4>when they got to coming back towards the ship, I

223
00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:35.200
<v Speaker 4>just holler.

224
00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:35.600
<v Speaker 6>At him down.

225
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:38.759
<v Speaker 4>They'd fire and circle background. We'd jump back up and

226
00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:43.039
<v Speaker 4>keep fighting fire. The rocket noisiers horrendous. When a rocket explodes,

227
00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.840
<v Speaker 4>you can't escape a rocket. I don't care where you go.

228
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:53.080
<v Speaker 2>What the crew didn't know was that at three minutes

229
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.519
<v Speaker 2>past two, the Israeli pilots were ordered to use a new,

230
00:14:57.159 --> 00:14:58.519
<v Speaker 2>much deadlier weapon.

231
00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:12.360
<v Speaker 4>The biggest problem, I guess from from that was the

232
00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:14.759
<v Speaker 4>napalm which they dropped from the airplane.

233
00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:19.039
<v Speaker 8>The napalm had burned, scorched almost the entire front part

234
00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:21.799
<v Speaker 8>of the ship, the bridge area.

235
00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:24.279
<v Speaker 1>The whole top side of the ship had been set

236
00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.600
<v Speaker 1>on fire and was all charred. It was no longer

237
00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:27.240
<v Speaker 1>navy gray.

238
00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:29.879
<v Speaker 4>You have to stop the fires, to stop the flooding,

239
00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:33.279
<v Speaker 4>to keep that ship afloat. That's your home. You got

240
00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.000
<v Speaker 4>nowhere else to go. You can't pack up and go

241
00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.799
<v Speaker 4>down road because there is no down the road.

242
00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:41.399
<v Speaker 2>Up above the Israeli military argued about what should happen

243
00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:53.840
<v Speaker 2>next and who should sink the Liberty.

244
00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:58.879
<v Speaker 1>I remember thinking I was in pretty good shape. Then

245
00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.840
<v Speaker 1>I said, I think I could swim it to the shore.

246
00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:04.399
<v Speaker 1>And then I thought sharks, and I thought a lot

247
00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:05.519
<v Speaker 1>of things all quickly.

248
00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:15.840
<v Speaker 2>You know, at eleven minutes past two, with the Israeli

249
00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:19.000
<v Speaker 2>jets running out of ammunition, the pilots were instructed to

250
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:32.879
<v Speaker 2>fly down and confirm the identity of the ship. It

251
00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:36.000
<v Speaker 2>was now twelve minutes past two, and the Israeli controlled

252
00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:39.519
<v Speaker 2>tower knew for certain this was an American ship, the

253
00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:42.279
<v Speaker 2>same one its forces had first identified at five point

254
00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:45.879
<v Speaker 2>fifteen a m that morning, and then buzzed again during

255
00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:54.759
<v Speaker 2>seven additional reconnaissance flights throughout the day. The jets then

256
00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:59.639
<v Speaker 2>pulled out, but three Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats were

257
00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:05.640
<v Speaker 2>all ready on their way. The USS Liberty was a

258
00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.559
<v Speaker 2>spy ship. In the event of an attack, it was

259
00:17:08.599 --> 00:17:12.160
<v Speaker 2>standard procedure for the spies on board to destroy everything

260
00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:15.000
<v Speaker 2>just in case it fell into enemy hands.

261
00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:21.839
<v Speaker 7>Everyone was destroying material, Everyone was stripping information off of computers,

262
00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:24.759
<v Speaker 7>ripping computers open, pulling information out.

263
00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.319
<v Speaker 8>That's something you just don't want to hear board ship.

264
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:32.039
<v Speaker 8>You've done all this work, collected this intelligence and processed it,

265
00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:34.599
<v Speaker 8>and now you have to destroy it.

266
00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:37.200
<v Speaker 7>You just didn't want the enemy to get a hold

267
00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:38.440
<v Speaker 7>of anything classified.

268
00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:43.200
<v Speaker 2>At two thirty five, the Israeli motor boats fired five torpedoes,

269
00:17:43.480 --> 00:18:04.799
<v Speaker 2>four missed but one hit. It had been over nine

270
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:09.839
<v Speaker 2>hours since the Israeli military first identified the Liberty. Israeli

271
00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.279
<v Speaker 2>planes had flown over it repeatedly, and twenty minutes earlier

272
00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:16.480
<v Speaker 2>their control tower had confirmed it yet again as an

273
00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:22.359
<v Speaker 2>American ship. Twenty five Americans were about to die in

274
00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:27.640
<v Speaker 2>a single moment. This is what it looks like when

275
00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:31.640
<v Speaker 2>a torpedo hits the ship the size of the Liberty.

276
00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:35.279
<v Speaker 1>The torpedo threw us up in the air like a

277
00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.640
<v Speaker 1>roller coaster. It felt like one coming down. Dead, silence,

278
00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:41.359
<v Speaker 1>lights all off, smoke and haze everywhere.

279
00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:44.519
<v Speaker 8>I went back to the drinking fountain and filled it

280
00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.039
<v Speaker 8>with blood, reached down to get a drink, and a

281
00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:49.640
<v Speaker 8>black man stirred back at me.

282
00:18:55.400 --> 00:18:57.440
<v Speaker 4>And when it fell back to get right, it just

283
00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:00.880
<v Speaker 4>kept getting wrong, kept sinking, and.

284
00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.200
<v Speaker 1>We just waited, all of us weighted, thinking that this

285
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:05.960
<v Speaker 1>was it. We're going down.

286
00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.640
<v Speaker 8>And I figured that was the end of life for me.

287
00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:14.160
<v Speaker 2>The torpedo had blown a huge hole in the hull

288
00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:19.079
<v Speaker 2>thirty nine feet by twenty four, killing twenty five Americans

289
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:20.160
<v Speaker 2>in a single hit.

290
00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:23.599
<v Speaker 7>The torpedo hit the room that I was in, and

291
00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.880
<v Speaker 7>it was just luck. This guy died, this one lived,

292
00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:29.680
<v Speaker 7>that guy. It was how much shrapnel was coming in

293
00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:32.599
<v Speaker 7>your direction, you know, the old fashioned typewriters. I had

294
00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:34.720
<v Speaker 7>the letter H sticking out of.

295
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:35.519
<v Speaker 1>My left foot.

296
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.839
<v Speaker 7>I had I don't know eighty pieces of shrapland my

297
00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:45.400
<v Speaker 7>lower extremities, and the place filled up with water that fast,

298
00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:52.440
<v Speaker 7>totally black, totally filled with.

299
00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:58.200
<v Speaker 1>Powder and oil. It was like.

300
00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.519
<v Speaker 7>You were gagging, and you only had about eight or

301
00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:08.079
<v Speaker 7>ten inches of space where you could catch a breath.

302
00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:11.559
<v Speaker 7>The only way I could go in that direction was

303
00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:14.839
<v Speaker 7>to drop down and swim under water four or five strokes,

304
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.119
<v Speaker 7>come back up, and then frantically catch a breath and

305
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:20.440
<v Speaker 7>try to find something else.

306
00:20:20.359 --> 00:20:20.960
<v Speaker 1>Hold on too.

307
00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:27.200
<v Speaker 7>I got pulled through the hatch and onto the deck.

308
00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:30.319
<v Speaker 2>Others were not so lucky.

309
00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:36.200
<v Speaker 8>My friend Ronnie Campbell had a desk right there, and

310
00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:38.400
<v Speaker 8>I remember Ronnie saying, you fellas can do what you

311
00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:39.960
<v Speaker 8>want to, said I'm going to write a letter home,

312
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.200
<v Speaker 8>and he stuck a piece of paper in his Mills

313
00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:46.319
<v Speaker 8>typewriter and began typing, Dear Eileen, you won't believe what's

314
00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:50.759
<v Speaker 8>happening to us. And just seconds after that, the torpedo

315
00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:57.319
<v Speaker 8>struck in, killed both the two Moraines, killed my friend

316
00:20:57.400 --> 00:20:58.880
<v Speaker 8>Ronnie Campbell, and my.

317
00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:02.240
<v Speaker 1>Job was to try to get probably twenty or thirty

318
00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:04.559
<v Speaker 1>wounded sailors out to the main deck and to the

319
00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:07.559
<v Speaker 1>life rafts. So I went up and looked out myself

320
00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:11.200
<v Speaker 1>before I tried to get anyone up, and that's when

321
00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.720
<v Speaker 1>I observed a motor torpedo boat Israeli planning marked with

322
00:21:14.759 --> 00:21:18.160
<v Speaker 1>the star of David machine gunning are life raft.

323
00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:23.759
<v Speaker 2>The crew of the Liberty were now trapped on board

324
00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:27.640
<v Speaker 2>the own ship, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

325
00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.720
<v Speaker 1>The torpedo boats came in closer and began to machine

326
00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:36.240
<v Speaker 1>gun the ship using armor piercing projectiles.

327
00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:38.599
<v Speaker 5>The armor piercing the shells that they were using were

328
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:42.039
<v Speaker 5>leading holes. About that big round in the metal plating

329
00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:45.119
<v Speaker 5>just peel it, I like it was orange peel.

330
00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:51.160
<v Speaker 2>At close range, the armor piercing rounds ripped through the

331
00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:53.839
<v Speaker 2>steel hull of the ship nowhere was safe.

332
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.359
<v Speaker 5>This bullet was retrieved from one of the navigational books

333
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:02.759
<v Speaker 5>at the rear of the bridge. It had penetrated the

334
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.359
<v Speaker 5>skin of the ship, gone through at least one other book,

335
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:09.400
<v Speaker 5>and then stopped and in the second book this is

336
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.640
<v Speaker 5>part of an armor piercing shell. The outer portion or

337
00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:16.640
<v Speaker 5>jacket makes the hole that this then goes through. And

338
00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:20.480
<v Speaker 5>a bullet like this that hit Semen Francis Brown and

339
00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:21.640
<v Speaker 5>killed him.

340
00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:24.279
<v Speaker 1>He died right on the spot, just fell to the

341
00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:26.759
<v Speaker 1>floor dead. He was just barely eighteen.

342
00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:38.279
<v Speaker 8>There weren't enough helmets to go around for everyone.

343
00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.680
<v Speaker 1>It was like sitting in a cardboard box and having

344
00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:44.160
<v Speaker 1>somebody shoot through it. The bullets were just coming everywhere.

345
00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:52.400
<v Speaker 2>Throughout the attack. The Liberty had been silent to the

346
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.519
<v Speaker 2>outside world. All its aerials were either smashed or jammed.

347
00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:02.000
<v Speaker 8>We had one whip antenna which hadn't worked the entire cruise,

348
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.319
<v Speaker 8>and it had a bullet hole in it. One of

349
00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:08.400
<v Speaker 8>the radio men had taken a reel of coax cable

350
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.720
<v Speaker 8>and ran it from one of the transmitters back there

351
00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:16.759
<v Speaker 8>to that quip antenna and took some shrapnel in the process.

352
00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:20.960
<v Speaker 8>He got out in May day Firefox, Firefox, this is

353
00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:25.559
<v Speaker 8>rock Star. Rock Star under attack by NADDE surface and

354
00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:27.880
<v Speaker 8>naval are units require immediate assistance.

355
00:23:29.559 --> 00:23:32.640
<v Speaker 2>The American six feet was five hundred miles away and

356
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:36.279
<v Speaker 2>picked up the signal. So did the Israeli armed forces.

357
00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:42.160
<v Speaker 2>The attack stopped shortly afterwards. The American aircraft carriers were

358
00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:44.599
<v Speaker 2>in the middle of a nuclear weapons drill and had

359
00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.400
<v Speaker 2>to re arm with conventional bombs before they could take off.

360
00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:51.920
<v Speaker 2>Once the Israelis knew the US jets were in the air,

361
00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:55.200
<v Speaker 2>they summoned the American naval attache and told him there

362
00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:02.599
<v Speaker 2>had been a terrible mistake. The American planes were recalled.

363
00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:07.039
<v Speaker 2>As they returned, Israeli helicopters flew out to the Liberty.

364
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:15.359
<v Speaker 8>This one had some personnel from the Israeli government and

365
00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.680
<v Speaker 8>the US Naval ats achet. It dropped a brown paper

366
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:22.680
<v Speaker 8>sack on the deck and fore part of the ship

367
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:29.000
<v Speaker 8>weighted down with an orange had a bitiness card in it.

368
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:33.079
<v Speaker 8>It landed right next to the severed leg of one

369
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:37.160
<v Speaker 8>of the deck personnel, and the note said.

370
00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:42.519
<v Speaker 9>Do you have casualts?

371
00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:48.920
<v Speaker 5>Pretty obvious that there were casualts.

372
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:51.319
<v Speaker 1>I mean there's still.

373
00:24:51.079 --> 00:25:00.680
<v Speaker 5>Body parts and blood streaming down the bulkheads message do

374
00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:01.640
<v Speaker 5>you have casualties?

375
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:02.279
<v Speaker 6>Was kind of.

376
00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:04.839
<v Speaker 1>Out of place.

377
00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:10.079
<v Speaker 8>One of the sailors carried that sack back to the captain.

378
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.079
<v Speaker 8>The captain took out the no and read it, looked

379
00:25:15.119 --> 00:25:25.680
<v Speaker 8>up into helicopter and popped the social finger at him.

380
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.640
<v Speaker 2>June the eighth, nineteen sixty seven, the height of the

381
00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:32.400
<v Speaker 2>Six Day War, the USS Liberty and the American spyeship

382
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:35.680
<v Speaker 2>had just been attacked by Israeli jets and torpedo boats

383
00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:40.440
<v Speaker 2>while in international waters off Egypt. Badly damaged, two thirds

384
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:50.319
<v Speaker 2>of its crew were dead or wounded. As soon as

385
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.480
<v Speaker 2>the news reached Washington, the attack on the Liberty instantly

386
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:58.039
<v Speaker 2>triggered a domestic political crisis. According to documents released under

387
00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:01.920
<v Speaker 2>the Freedom of Information Act, one solution suggested in American

388
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:06.119
<v Speaker 2>government circles was to sink the Liberty so journalists could

389
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:10.640
<v Speaker 2>not photograph it and inflame public opinion against the Israelis.

390
00:26:11.079 --> 00:26:17.279
<v Speaker 2>The NSSA rejected this idea with an impolite comment. Handling

391
00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:20.839
<v Speaker 2>the media became the top priority.

392
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.920
<v Speaker 13>I was taken to my home in White Oak, Maryland.

393
00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:29.359
<v Speaker 13>My name is Patricia Blue Rushakis, and my husband was

394
00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:33.839
<v Speaker 13>killed on the Liberty and by the time I got there,

395
00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.240
<v Speaker 13>there were any number of people from the National Security

396
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:41.880
<v Speaker 13>Agency there. They were there to make sure that I

397
00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:46.599
<v Speaker 13>didn't speak to anyone from the press, and I didn't.

398
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:48.799
<v Speaker 13>They stay night and day.

399
00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:52.599
<v Speaker 2>Back in the Mediterranean, the Liberty was now listing at

400
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:56.160
<v Speaker 2>ten degrees, a massive hole in the hull above and

401
00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.799
<v Speaker 2>below the waterline.

402
00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:02.319
<v Speaker 5>The planes that they said they were sending to us

403
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:03.240
<v Speaker 5>never arrived.

404
00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:05.039
<v Speaker 1>Well, I was afraid of, and I think most of

405
00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:06.279
<v Speaker 1>us was that we were going to sink.

406
00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:11.240
<v Speaker 4>Well, the mess decks was pretty much littered with the wounded.

407
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:13.519
<v Speaker 1>It looks like something out of a horror movie. But

408
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:18.160
<v Speaker 1>people standing around are lying wounded and dead and stunned,

409
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:20.200
<v Speaker 1>the heads missing parts of their bodies.

410
00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.400
<v Speaker 2>The Liberty had only one doctor on board, with very

411
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:24.839
<v Speaker 2>limited medical resources.

412
00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:27.960
<v Speaker 4>There was not a table that wasn't being used with

413
00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:30.119
<v Speaker 4>a body on her, a wounded body on it.

414
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.920
<v Speaker 2>The doctor fixed compound fractures and treated bullet and shrapnel

415
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:41.640
<v Speaker 2>wounds while blood transfusions were given arm to arm.

416
00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:42.279
<v Speaker 11>It was.

417
00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:48.279
<v Speaker 1>It was real bad, and the doctor said to him,

418
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:50.960
<v Speaker 1>do you want me to operate? He says, you're probably

419
00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:52.759
<v Speaker 1>gonna die if I do it, and you'll certainly die

420
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.440
<v Speaker 1>if I don't, and he said, go ahead, doctor, And

421
00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:00.319
<v Speaker 1>so when the doctor operated, we held him this tight

422
00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:02.680
<v Speaker 1>as we could. It was horrible pain, I'm sure for him,

423
00:28:03.200 --> 00:28:06.240
<v Speaker 1>and all of a sudden he went limp and he

424
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:07.119
<v Speaker 1>died right there.

425
00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:11.599
<v Speaker 10>I don't ever see anything like it again.

426
00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.119
<v Speaker 5>Captain McGonagall received a pretty bad leg injury, lost a

427
00:28:23.160 --> 00:28:26.799
<v Speaker 5>lot of blood. He was navigating by the stars.

428
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:29.839
<v Speaker 1>We had a little bit of power and tons of

429
00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:33.039
<v Speaker 1>water in our belly which bent. The ship waved back

430
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:34.480
<v Speaker 1>and forth all night long.

431
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.680
<v Speaker 2>The next day American ships arrived to take the injured

432
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:40.680
<v Speaker 2>and the dead off the Liberty. The American government now

433
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:44.759
<v Speaker 2>made sure that no journalists could get anywhere near the crew.

434
00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:49.440
<v Speaker 1>When they took the severely wounded to various parts that

435
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:52.680
<v Speaker 1>they actually posted guards on their room so that no

436
00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.599
<v Speaker 1>one could be interviewed by the press. The total press

437
00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:58.480
<v Speaker 1>blackout was in effect back.

438
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:01.880
<v Speaker 2>In Washington the government and there was little information for

439
00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:06.119
<v Speaker 2>the press while politics went on behind closed doors.

440
00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:12.319
<v Speaker 14>I was told to go up personally to the seventh floor. Well,

441
00:29:12.359 --> 00:29:14.880
<v Speaker 14>my name is Bill Wolly. I was in charge of

442
00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:19.920
<v Speaker 14>the Arab Israel disc sit in because the Secretary of

443
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:26.119
<v Speaker 14>State himself, Dean Rusk, had summoned Ambassador Harmon of Israel

444
00:29:26.839 --> 00:29:31.240
<v Speaker 14>to come in urgently, and so I sat through the

445
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:35.599
<v Speaker 14>meeting taking notes, and in a loud voice, Secretary was

446
00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:41.599
<v Speaker 14>really demanding some explanation for why and what had happened.

447
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:47.440
<v Speaker 14>The ambassador himself seemed to be ignorant of the incident.

448
00:29:47.559 --> 00:29:51.640
<v Speaker 14>He immediately said, I can't believe what you're telling me.

449
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:54.720
<v Speaker 14>It would be impossible, it would be unheard of.

450
00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:58.440
<v Speaker 2>It was especially tough for Lyndon Johnson, to date, the

451
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.279
<v Speaker 2>most pro Israeli Amica president in history.

452
00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:07.440
<v Speaker 11>Johnson was in a very tough mood. I'm Tom Hughes.

453
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:10.759
<v Speaker 11>I was director in the State Department Director of Intelligence

454
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:14.240
<v Speaker 11>and Research at the time of the Liberty incident. In

455
00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:18.720
<v Speaker 11>sixty seven attack on the Liberty, Johnson himself briefed Newsweek

456
00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:21.880
<v Speaker 11>magazine off the record that the Israelis had attacked, and

457
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:23.920
<v Speaker 11>the reason they'd attacked was that they thought this was

458
00:30:23.960 --> 00:30:27.720
<v Speaker 11>an intelligence ship that was intercepting perhaps Israeli as well

459
00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:29.920
<v Speaker 11>as Egyptian communications.

460
00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:32.359
<v Speaker 2>But then everything changed.

461
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:37.400
<v Speaker 11>The fact that Johnson himself was the leaker and briefer

462
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:41.440
<v Speaker 11>of Newswig was soon leaked, and this alarmed, of course,

463
00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:47.000
<v Speaker 11>the Israeli Embassy and they're leading friends in the Jewish organizations.

464
00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:53.839
<v Speaker 11>The Israeli Embassy regarded this as a major problem and

465
00:30:53.960 --> 00:31:01.039
<v Speaker 11>that what Johnson had told Newswig practically amount of blood libel.

466
00:31:02.039 --> 00:31:06.039
<v Speaker 2>Declassified Israeli documents show they were going to threaten President

467
00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:10.920
<v Speaker 2>Johnson with blood libel, gross anti Semitism, and that would

468
00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:12.759
<v Speaker 2>end his political career.

469
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:20.440
<v Speaker 12>Blackmail. This is Admiral bobbie R. Emman Us Navy retired.

470
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:25.519
<v Speaker 12>I'm a former director of the National Security Agency. But

471
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:28.000
<v Speaker 12>they know if he is thinking about running again, he's

472
00:31:28.039 --> 00:31:34.160
<v Speaker 12>going to need money for his campaign, so alleging that

473
00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:39.920
<v Speaker 12>he's blood libeling is going to arouse the Jewish donors.

474
00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:44.720
<v Speaker 2>The Israeli government hired teams of lawyers, some of whom

475
00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:47.759
<v Speaker 2>were close friends of Lyndon Johnson, and began an all

476
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:51.559
<v Speaker 2>out offensive. They leant on the media to kill critical

477
00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:54.720
<v Speaker 2>stories and slanted others in favor of Israel.

478
00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.759
<v Speaker 11>There was a campaign mounted to see what could be

479
00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:07.279
<v Speaker 11>done about returning Johnson to his predictable pro Israeli position.

480
00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:11.200
<v Speaker 2>At the time, Johnson was still undecided as to whether

481
00:32:11.240 --> 00:32:13.319
<v Speaker 2>to run for president the following year.

482
00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:17.079
<v Speaker 11>Efforts were to be made to remind the President of

483
00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:22.240
<v Speaker 11>the delicacy of his own position that he personally might

484
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:27.599
<v Speaker 11>lose support for his run for reelection in nineteen sixty eight.

485
00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:32.279
<v Speaker 2>Israeli tactics were clever. They identified Johnson's soft spot the

486
00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:36.799
<v Speaker 2>war in Vietnam, and gave him two extraordinary gifts, neither

487
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:39.480
<v Speaker 2>of which were made public at the time. The first

488
00:32:40.079 --> 00:32:40.799
<v Speaker 2>was political.

489
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:44.119
<v Speaker 11>One of Johnson's complaints about Israel was that many of

490
00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:48.319
<v Speaker 11>the Jewish organizations, in the heads of leaders in the

491
00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:51.519
<v Speaker 11>Jewish community were opposing him on Vietnam, and they were

492
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:57.039
<v Speaker 11>suddenly becoming more silent than Vietnam as the liberty crisis moved,

493
00:32:57.079 --> 00:32:59.519
<v Speaker 11>So he also knew that there was a move back

494
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:04.680
<v Speaker 11>in his favor of he was moderate Israel.

495
00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:09.160
<v Speaker 2>There was a second gift, much more secret but vital

496
00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:12.799
<v Speaker 2>to the American president. The dreadful death toll in Vietnam

497
00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:16.839
<v Speaker 2>was dominating the domestic news agenda. The North Vietnamese had

498
00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:20.279
<v Speaker 2>Russian surface to air missiles which were bringing down American

499
00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:25.359
<v Speaker 2>aircraft on a daily basis. The American military attashe in

500
00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:30.759
<v Speaker 2>Israel got a surprise visit from a senior Israeli intelligence officer.

501
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:35.079
<v Speaker 12>Took some helicopters and went across the North Red Sea

502
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:40.400
<v Speaker 12>to the surfaced air missile sites and not only captured them,

503
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:44.920
<v Speaker 12>but took back everything, the launchers, the missiles, the man

504
00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:48.920
<v Speaker 12>maintenance manuals, the rest of it. And then he went

505
00:33:49.000 --> 00:33:51.799
<v Speaker 12>to the US embassy to the Ara Toche and said,

506
00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:54.079
<v Speaker 12>I think I have something you might be interested in.

507
00:33:55.240 --> 00:33:59.319
<v Speaker 12>And of course those were the same missiles that our

508
00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:04.480
<v Speaker 12>aircraft over North Vietnam we're encountering day to day, and

509
00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.079
<v Speaker 12>countermeasures was a huge issue.

510
00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:12.239
<v Speaker 2>So grateful was the American government. They gave Israel two gifts.

511
00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:14.800
<v Speaker 2>In return, they resupplied them with the weapons they had

512
00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:17.639
<v Speaker 2>just lost in the war, and the Liberty Inquiry, run

513
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:21.079
<v Speaker 2>by the Department of Defense the DoD was watered down.

514
00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:27.559
<v Speaker 12>All that's influenced by what have we benefited from from

515
00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:29.960
<v Speaker 12>the captured essay to missile sites.

516
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:35.800
<v Speaker 11>Soon Johnson did respond, and it took a much more

517
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:38.400
<v Speaker 11>lenient line and wished that the whole incident could be

518
00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:40.000
<v Speaker 11>put behind us as soon as possible.

519
00:34:40.280 --> 00:34:43.559
<v Speaker 2>Johnson's softer approach to Israel was immediately reflected in the

520
00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:47.079
<v Speaker 2>American Navy inquiry which was now under way. On board

521
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:50.760
<v Speaker 2>the Liberty.

522
00:34:49.519 --> 00:34:53.440
<v Speaker 1>We began to realize that a cover up was descending

523
00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:53.960
<v Speaker 1>upon us.

524
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:57.000
<v Speaker 5>A lot of people that were in a key position

525
00:34:57.079 --> 00:35:00.360
<v Speaker 5>to offer testimony were not given that opportunity.

526
00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:04.480
<v Speaker 1>I testified to the machine gunny of life rafts, to

527
00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:08.639
<v Speaker 1>the captain's state of mind, and it was that those

528
00:35:08.679 --> 00:35:10.840
<v Speaker 1>two issues in particular were totally omitted.

529
00:35:11.239 --> 00:35:13.639
<v Speaker 2>Lloyd Painter was not the only officer to have his

530
00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:14.800
<v Speaker 2>testimony ignored.

531
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:20.920
<v Speaker 5>I saw what looked like unburned vasoline, and I scraped

532
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:22.280
<v Speaker 5>a little bit of it off and put it in

533
00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:26.719
<v Speaker 5>the jar and sealed the cap on, and I presented

534
00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:28.400
<v Speaker 5>to the quart of Inquiry, and that's the last I

535
00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:31.800
<v Speaker 5>saw that jar. There was no mention of napalm, and

536
00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:32.880
<v Speaker 5>I'm sure that's what it was.

537
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:35.239
<v Speaker 1>They didn't want to hear any of that. I didn't

538
00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:36.760
<v Speaker 1>know that at the time. I didn't know it till

539
00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:39.159
<v Speaker 1>many months later, that none of I had been recorded.

540
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:40.960
<v Speaker 1>Looking back on it, it was a total sham.

541
00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:44.440
<v Speaker 2>The US Court of Inquiry reported in just twenty days.

542
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:47.360
<v Speaker 2>It was a rush job, full of spelling mistakes, much

543
00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:51.760
<v Speaker 2>key evidence ignored. No Israelis interviewed, and it exonerated them

544
00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:52.280
<v Speaker 2>from blame.

545
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:56.000
<v Speaker 1>I read the Court of Inquiry and realized that my

546
00:35:56.079 --> 00:35:58.599
<v Speaker 1>statements had been stricken from the record and never recorded,

547
00:35:59.159 --> 00:36:02.039
<v Speaker 1>so I knew then for certain that the cover up

548
00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:03.000
<v Speaker 1>was massive.

549
00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:06.880
<v Speaker 2>The Israelis then rushed out their own report, which concluded

550
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:09.639
<v Speaker 2>that the whole affair was a series of mistakes and

551
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:13.440
<v Speaker 2>that no one was to blame. The only dissenting voice

552
00:36:13.559 --> 00:36:16.679
<v Speaker 2>was that of the Israeli ambassador in Washington. He sent

553
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:20.639
<v Speaker 2>a secret telegram back home arguing that Israel was clearly guilty.

554
00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:24.360
<v Speaker 2>He cited the audio tape of the attack, the existence

555
00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:28.000
<v Speaker 2>of which was known to top Israeli officials, and mentioned

556
00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:31.280
<v Speaker 2>the crucial twenty minute gap that followed the liberty's identification

557
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:35.239
<v Speaker 2>and the launch of the torpedoes against her. He said

558
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:37.760
<v Speaker 2>they should own up to what they had done and

559
00:36:37.800 --> 00:36:41.840
<v Speaker 2>put the guilty on trial. His advice was ignored. The

560
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:45.760
<v Speaker 2>focus now was to repair the damage to American Israeli relations.

561
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:52.960
<v Speaker 12>The Israelis have always been very skillful and tracking what

562
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:57.880
<v Speaker 12>the US government is doing, saying, thinking and the effort

563
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.679
<v Speaker 12>influence and thereby no means the only country that does it.

564
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:04.440
<v Speaker 12>Many do, They're just more effective at it than most.

565
00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:07.280
<v Speaker 12>And the great advantage they have is compared to other

566
00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:10.360
<v Speaker 12>countries is their influence in the Congress.

567
00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:14.039
<v Speaker 2>Around the time of the attack, the Washington Post had

568
00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.599
<v Speaker 2>noted that the Jewish lobby could help determine the outcome

569
00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:18.960
<v Speaker 2>of one hundred and sixty nine of the two hundred

570
00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:22.199
<v Speaker 2>and seventy electoral votes needed to win the White House.

571
00:37:23.760 --> 00:37:28.440
<v Speaker 11>The big emotive words about the attack disappeared from press

572
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:35.000
<v Speaker 11>releases at the Pentagon. Much more bland and neutral sounding

573
00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:42.280
<v Speaker 11>discourse occurred, and this was true of the private briefings

574
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:45.360
<v Speaker 11>that official people in the Venegon made about the incident.

575
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:49.599
<v Speaker 2>But whatever was said to journalists, every US intelligence had

576
00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:53.360
<v Speaker 2>believed the attack was intentional. One of them wrote a

577
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:56.960
<v Speaker 2>nice whitewash for a group of ignorant, stupid, and inept

578
00:37:57.519 --> 00:37:58.519
<v Speaker 2>x x X.

579
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:05.239
<v Speaker 12>The Jewish community has always been more generous than many

580
00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:11.519
<v Speaker 12>of their other counterparts in supporting financially elections, political causes,

581
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:15.000
<v Speaker 12>and the process that does translate into influence.

582
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:19.239
<v Speaker 2>Many of Johnson's closest friends and advisors were pro Israeli,

583
00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:22.440
<v Speaker 2>and they reported back to Tel Aviv on his every move.

584
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.960
<v Speaker 2>The Israeli story constantly shifted to count whatever new intelligence

585
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:31.320
<v Speaker 2>the White House received. So sensitive with these communications that

586
00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:34.360
<v Speaker 2>the Israelis used code names to protect the identity of

587
00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:38.760
<v Speaker 2>their White House agents. But for the first time the

588
00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:42.679
<v Speaker 2>members of the ring can be named. Hamlet was a

589
00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:46.679
<v Speaker 2>million dollar fundraiser for the Democrats. When he rang, Johnson

590
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:53.719
<v Speaker 2>took his calls, he was Abe Feinberg. Menache was Arthur Goldberg.

591
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.360
<v Speaker 2>The US Ambassador to the United Nations Harari was David Ginsberg,

592
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:02.480
<v Speaker 2>a high profile Washington lawyer who also represented the Israeli embassy.

593
00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:11.039
<v Speaker 2>Ilan was Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas. Lyndon Johnson had

594
00:39:11.039 --> 00:39:13.719
<v Speaker 2>dinner with him on the eve of the Six Day War.

595
00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:18.719
<v Speaker 2>The strategy worked. The US Israeli relationship proved to be

596
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:22.559
<v Speaker 2>stronger than the killing and injuring of more than two

597
00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:25.280
<v Speaker 2>hundred Americans.

598
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:30.239
<v Speaker 11>The American Israeli relationship was very much at stake that

599
00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:34.800
<v Speaker 11>was brought back from the precipice.

600
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:38.000
<v Speaker 2>The crucial intelligence came from the US Ambassador to the

601
00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:41.920
<v Speaker 2>United Nations, Arthur Goldberg. He warned tell Aviv that the

602
00:39:42.039 --> 00:39:46.039
<v Speaker 2>United States had the audio tape which revealed Israeli pilots

603
00:39:46.119 --> 00:39:53.880
<v Speaker 2>knew it was an American ship before they attacked. The

604
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:56.679
<v Speaker 2>tape was quietly buried.

605
00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:02.000
<v Speaker 12>So I think your consciousness as was made to sweep

606
00:40:02.039 --> 00:40:05.559
<v Speaker 12>it under the rug, to put it behind. My reading

607
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:10.800
<v Speaker 12>is that the US government had made a decision to

608
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:15.119
<v Speaker 12>accept the apology and reject the other rise now, but

609
00:40:15.159 --> 00:40:16.079
<v Speaker 12>don't push it further.

610
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:20.639
<v Speaker 2>With the politics sorted, the only remaining issue was the

611
00:40:20.679 --> 00:40:24.000
<v Speaker 2>fate of the USS Liberty, badly damaged and now in

612
00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:29.280
<v Speaker 2>Malta for extensive repairs. The torpedo hole was massive and

613
00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:31.360
<v Speaker 2>was revealed to be much bigger once they got the

614
00:40:31.360 --> 00:40:34.719
<v Speaker 2>ship into dry dock and drained it of water. The

615
00:40:34.760 --> 00:40:39.639
<v Speaker 2>sealed compartment was a water filled tune full of bodies,

616
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:42.480
<v Speaker 2>body parts, and top secret equipment.

617
00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:47.639
<v Speaker 1>You could smell death and you could smell oil. That's

618
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:50.840
<v Speaker 1>what I remember. As soon as the air hit the bodies,

619
00:40:50.840 --> 00:40:52.559
<v Speaker 1>they began to deteriorate rapidly.

620
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:55.840
<v Speaker 4>You do what you have to do. There were your

621
00:40:55.840 --> 00:40:57.239
<v Speaker 4>ship mates, still are.

622
00:40:58.639 --> 00:41:00.719
<v Speaker 1>The Navy was more concerned with whip and parts then

623
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:03.000
<v Speaker 1>they were body parts. But when I went down, I

624
00:41:03.079 --> 00:41:05.840
<v Speaker 1>knew that you couldn't separate the two. We had to

625
00:41:05.840 --> 00:41:10.800
<v Speaker 1>start shoveling up the parts, one hundred and sixty eight bags.

626
00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:15.480
<v Speaker 2>Worth Elsewhere, the makeup artists were getting to work.

627
00:41:16.239 --> 00:41:18.519
<v Speaker 5>We were in the drydock about six weeks and three

628
00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.199
<v Speaker 5>hundred Maltese workers are working two shifts a day. And

629
00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:23.000
<v Speaker 5>I think seven days a week to try. They were

630
00:41:23.039 --> 00:41:27.280
<v Speaker 5>cutting out the shell holes, welding plates over that on,

631
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.840
<v Speaker 5>fabricating metal to cover the torpedo hole.

632
00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:34.199
<v Speaker 1>And then in one day they panted the entire ship.

633
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:37.400
<v Speaker 1>We looked like nothing ever happened. We took it across

634
00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:40.039
<v Speaker 1>the Atlantic. It was like being in a cemetery. But

635
00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:42.679
<v Speaker 1>when we pulled into Port, we looked good. This press

636
00:41:42.679 --> 00:41:46.039
<v Speaker 1>and everything were there, and we looked like, basically nothing

637
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:48.559
<v Speaker 1>really happened. So it was great for the press to

638
00:41:48.960 --> 00:41:53.039
<v Speaker 1>downplay what were really happened to us.

639
00:41:54.360 --> 00:41:57.559
<v Speaker 2>While the survivors met the widows and friends, the one

640
00:41:57.639 --> 00:42:00.599
<v Speaker 2>hundred and sixty eight bags of body parts top secret

641
00:42:00.679 --> 00:42:06.039
<v Speaker 2>equipment were quietly taken to an incinerator and burnt. A

642
00:42:06.119 --> 00:42:09.519
<v Speaker 2>year later and the Liberty Captain William McGonagall was given

643
00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:13.840
<v Speaker 2>the Medal of Honor, America's highest award for gallantry. The

644
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:17.480
<v Speaker 2>tradition has always been that it is presented by the

645
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:19.239
<v Speaker 2>President in the White House.

646
00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:22.000
<v Speaker 1>I look at.

647
00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:28.079
<v Speaker 4>These two gallant marines, and I see a merrack.

648
00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:31.639
<v Speaker 2>Captain McGonagall never heard words like these from his commander

649
00:42:31.719 --> 00:42:34.360
<v Speaker 2>in chief. There was no television coverage for him as

650
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:37.079
<v Speaker 2>he received his medal in a quiet ceremony in the

651
00:42:37.159 --> 00:42:40.760
<v Speaker 2>Navy yard. President Johnson was just four miles away at

652
00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:43.199
<v Speaker 2>the time, he stayed in the White House to hand

653
00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:48.280
<v Speaker 2>out diplomas to school children. The reason was revealed in

654
00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:52.199
<v Speaker 2>this internal memo, which advised President Johnson that due to

655
00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:55.880
<v Speaker 2>the nature and sensitivity of these awards, they should be

656
00:42:55.920 --> 00:42:59.599
<v Speaker 2>given by the Department of Defense, not by him. The

657
00:42:59.639 --> 00:43:07.960
<v Speaker 2>advice was clear no press release regarding them should be made.

658
00:43:08.199 --> 00:43:12.000
<v Speaker 1>When I received my Purple Heart in a secret ceremony

659
00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:15.039
<v Speaker 1>in the Captain's office, I was admonished the threat of

660
00:43:15.039 --> 00:43:17.719
<v Speaker 1>court martial. Don't ever tell anyone who you got this.

661
00:43:18.119 --> 00:43:20.519
<v Speaker 1>Don't ever tell anyone how you got this medal.

662
00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:28.239
<v Speaker 2>The following year, American aid to Israel increased fourfold, and

663
00:43:28.360 --> 00:43:32.559
<v Speaker 2>President Johnson agreed a treaty classified above top secret with

664
00:43:32.760 --> 00:43:37.119
<v Speaker 2>Israel for the mutual exchange of intelligence, an arrangement which

665
00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:55.480
<v Speaker 2>is still in place today code named Stone Ruby.

666
00:43:55.840 --> 00:43:59.519
<v Speaker 5>One of the things that bothers me is there wasn't

667
00:43:59.559 --> 00:44:02.599
<v Speaker 5>a nice explanation of what went on. No one wants

668
00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:05.719
<v Speaker 5>to talk about the why.

669
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:09.440
<v Speaker 2>The big secret the Israelis wanted to protect was their

670
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:12.360
<v Speaker 2>next move. They had told the Americans that this was

671
00:44:12.400 --> 00:44:14.639
<v Speaker 2>to be a limited war and not a land grab.

672
00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:18.079
<v Speaker 2>But on June eighth, nineteen sixty seven, their forces were

673
00:44:18.079 --> 00:44:21.719
<v Speaker 2>poised to attack and seize the Golan Heights and invade Syria,

674
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:24.679
<v Speaker 2>something they wished to keep from the White House until

675
00:44:24.719 --> 00:44:31.599
<v Speaker 2>they'd done it. Successive American administrations, both Republican and Democrat,

676
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:35.039
<v Speaker 2>had refused to deal with the Liberty. Even the issue

677
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:38.599
<v Speaker 2>of war crimes against unarmed Americans has never been addressed.

678
00:44:39.559 --> 00:44:42.599
<v Speaker 5>There was a war crimes report filed by the Liberty

679
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:47.679
<v Speaker 5>Veterans Association to address the issues of such war crimes

680
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:54.719
<v Speaker 5>as firing on life rafts that was never answered properly.

681
00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:57.119
<v Speaker 5>I don't think it was answered period.

682
00:44:57.800 --> 00:45:01.320
<v Speaker 7>The people who were responsible for attacking the liber Liberty were,

683
00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:04.000
<v Speaker 7>you know, buy and large, the military individuals in the

684
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:07.360
<v Speaker 7>war room. I don't know how many, four, eight ten.

685
00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:11.519
<v Speaker 7>Those are the people who came up with the plan.

686
00:45:12.559 --> 00:45:15.119
<v Speaker 7>Those are the individuals who are responsible for the attack.

687
00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:19.280
<v Speaker 7>The pilots, the motor torpedo boat personnel.

688
00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:20.119
<v Speaker 1>They were ordered.

689
00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:23.840
<v Speaker 7>You know, you don't follow orders, go to jail, so

690
00:45:23.960 --> 00:45:28.400
<v Speaker 7>they have to follow through. It wasn't the Israeli people

691
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:32.000
<v Speaker 7>who ordered that attack. It wasn't the average Jewish person

692
00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:37.519
<v Speaker 7>who ordered that attack. We really need to exonerate the

693
00:45:37.599 --> 00:45:42.199
<v Speaker 7>average Jewish person Israeli from this and go towards those

694
00:45:42.199 --> 00:45:44.440
<v Speaker 7>individuals who are responsible for the attack.

695
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:47.960
<v Speaker 13>No one was really willing to take this on, not

696
00:45:48.039 --> 00:45:52.760
<v Speaker 13>the State Department, the White House, not the Congress. It's

697
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:57.679
<v Speaker 13>in everybody's best interest to just let this go. And

698
00:45:57.719 --> 00:46:02.360
<v Speaker 13>that's exactly what they did. By doing that, they left

699
00:46:03.199 --> 00:46:06.320
<v Speaker 13>a lot of pain for the survivors and for the

700
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:14.639
<v Speaker 13>families because there was a lot of broken families, broken marriages, alcoholism, depression,

701
00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:23.840
<v Speaker 13>post traumatic stress disorder. So those crew members suffered a lot,

702
00:46:24.039 --> 00:46:25.400
<v Speaker 13>but so did the families.

703
00:46:25.559 --> 00:46:28.199
<v Speaker 1>The hardest part was the reaction of our own government

704
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:32.159
<v Speaker 1>toward us, and we were actually the fingers were pointed

705
00:46:32.199 --> 00:46:37.400
<v Speaker 1>at us, and the Israelis weren't. They were never questioned

706
00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:40.159
<v Speaker 1>as to why they did it. They only questioned us.

707
00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:45.719
<v Speaker 2>The families still want answers from their government, which remained

708
00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:49.400
<v Speaker 2>silent for many Some memories never fade.

709
00:46:49.639 --> 00:46:52.719
<v Speaker 13>We had a wonderful time just being together. I met

710
00:46:52.760 --> 00:46:56.639
<v Speaker 13>Alan at a party and we spent a lot of

711
00:46:56.639 --> 00:46:59.679
<v Speaker 13>time talking throughout the evening and at the end of

712
00:46:59.719 --> 00:47:04.400
<v Speaker 13>the year evening he said to me, are you busy

713
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:09.519
<v Speaker 13>tomorrow afternoon? And I said, well no, and he said,

714
00:47:09.719 --> 00:47:13.199
<v Speaker 13>do you think we could get married? Then I was

715
00:47:13.239 --> 00:47:17.440
<v Speaker 13>told that he was among the dead. It was absolutely

716
00:47:18.199 --> 00:47:21.880
<v Speaker 13>the worst moment of my life.

717
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:23.920
<v Speaker 7>There is not a day that doesn't go by or

718
00:47:23.960 --> 00:47:26.320
<v Speaker 7>I don't think about those guys. I mean, I went

719
00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:29.039
<v Speaker 7>through hell, but they left the earth.

720
00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:40.199
<v Speaker 5>When I'm walking up to the mass grave, I still

721
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:44.000
<v Speaker 5>feel a connection with those people. Hard to explain, but

722
00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:48.199
<v Speaker 5>it's still there. So I want to remember that connection

723
00:47:50.760 --> 00:47:53.800
<v Speaker 5>as long as I can. What we shared, what we felt.

724
00:48:00.079 --> 00:48:03.400
<v Speaker 2>Thirteen years of haggling before both sides finally agreed a

725
00:48:03.400 --> 00:48:07.280
<v Speaker 2>compensation deal for the ship. By nineteen eighty, the bill

726
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:12.320
<v Speaker 2>plus interest was just over seventeen million dollars. Israel offered

727
00:48:12.360 --> 00:48:16.920
<v Speaker 2>six the Americans accepted, then sold the liberty for one

728
00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:21.760
<v Speaker 2>hundred thousand dollars scrap. The settlement for the victims was quicker,

729
00:48:22.119 --> 00:48:29.599
<v Speaker 2>but many are still unhappy with it today, not.

730
00:48:29.639 --> 00:48:32.360
<v Speaker 13>Feel it was a fair settlement. I would have fought it,

731
00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:39.760
<v Speaker 13>but I was so sad and broken. I just didn't

732
00:48:39.800 --> 00:48:43.360
<v Speaker 13>have the energy to take on that fight. And it

733
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:45.719
<v Speaker 13>wasn't a fight that I thought I could win. The

734
00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:53.840
<v Speaker 13>state Department were very eager for the survivors to make

735
00:48:53.880 --> 00:48:58.599
<v Speaker 13>that settlement. They sent a check for the amount, and

736
00:48:59.159 --> 00:48:59.920
<v Speaker 13>that that was.

737
00:49:01.480 --> 00:49:03.800
<v Speaker 2>The American government came up with a formula for the

738
00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:07.519
<v Speaker 2>Israelis to compensate the widows and children for their loss.

739
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:11.119
<v Speaker 2>This included a payment for shock and mental anguish. The

740
00:49:11.199 --> 00:49:14.800
<v Speaker 2>widows got twenty five thousand dollars, with ten thousand dollars

741
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:18.239
<v Speaker 2>for each of their children over five. An American government

742
00:49:18.280 --> 00:49:22.320
<v Speaker 2>lawyer doubted that children under five could sufficiently comprehend the

743
00:49:22.360 --> 00:49:27.320
<v Speaker 2>event to suffer shock and grief. The US proposed they

744
00:49:27.320 --> 00:49:36.880
<v Speaker 2>should therefore receive nothing, an offer the Israelis accepted. Since

745
00:49:36.920 --> 00:49:39.880
<v Speaker 2>the attack on the Liberty, the USA and Israel have

746
00:49:39.960 --> 00:49:43.840
<v Speaker 2>grown ever closer. At the time, George Ball, the U

747
00:49:43.840 --> 00:49:47.039
<v Speaker 2>s Undersecretary of State, noted that it seemed clear to

748
00:49:47.079 --> 00:49:49.840
<v Speaker 2>the Israelis that as American leaders did not have the

749
00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:53.719
<v Speaker 2>courage to punish them for the blatant murder of American citizens,

750
00:49:54.159 --> 00:49:56.960
<v Speaker 2>they would let them get away with anything.

751
00:50:11.880 --> 00:50:16.559
<v Speaker 6>USS Liberty is a story that's been covered up for

752
00:50:16.639 --> 00:50:19.599
<v Speaker 6>far too long. You've never heard it because it was

753
00:50:19.639 --> 00:50:25.280
<v Speaker 6>covered up. They used us, the crew of the USS Liberty,

754
00:50:26.920 --> 00:50:33.920
<v Speaker 6>to be eliminated by the Zionist State of Israel LBJ

755
00:50:35.400 --> 00:50:39.559
<v Speaker 6>and a handful of others. McNamara is a good example.

756
00:50:42.119 --> 00:50:46.880
<v Speaker 6>They got this cabala of a few people together to

757
00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:51.719
<v Speaker 6>send us into a war zone. Our usual steaming was

758
00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:57.039
<v Speaker 6>from Norfolk, Virginia into Africa. We grew up and down

759
00:50:57.079 --> 00:51:00.800
<v Speaker 6>the coast all the time, all the time, time four

760
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:02.920
<v Speaker 6>or five knots, picking up the signals out of the sky.

761
00:51:03.199 --> 00:51:07.480
<v Speaker 6>It's perfectly legal. Everybody did it. And we were the

762
00:51:07.480 --> 00:51:09.920
<v Speaker 6>most sophisticated spy ship in the world at that time,

763
00:51:11.440 --> 00:51:14.639
<v Speaker 6>the most sophisticated we bound. We could bounce messages off

764
00:51:14.639 --> 00:51:17.360
<v Speaker 6>the moon and get him back to NAST Security Agency

765
00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:22.519
<v Speaker 6>within three seconds in nineteen sixty seven. Think about that.

766
00:51:22.559 --> 00:51:26.519
<v Speaker 6>So what do you think they got now? There's no telling.

767
00:51:26.679 --> 00:51:32.559
<v Speaker 6>There's just no telling. I saved this for you too.

768
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:39.800
<v Speaker 6>You have another gift, Tom, come on up. Sacrifice of

769
00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:47.719
<v Speaker 6>Liberty four part series with survivors and trusted American admirals

770
00:51:47.719 --> 00:51:51.519
<v Speaker 6>in generals right here. Thank you, Tom. I recommend everybody

771
00:51:51.559 --> 00:51:59.239
<v Speaker 6>go on to YouTube watch it or rumble. Uh Rick

772
00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:03.480
<v Speaker 6>Wilds's he produced that film. A great guy and I

773
00:52:03.519 --> 00:52:06.079
<v Speaker 6>got to mention a dear, dear friend of mine too.

774
00:52:07.760 --> 00:52:12.000
<v Speaker 6>Another great guy is Pastor Chuck Baldwin and Callous Bell

775
00:52:12.159 --> 00:52:19.039
<v Speaker 6>was Montana. I've been with Chuck for a few times,

776
00:52:19.039 --> 00:52:22.599
<v Speaker 6>several times broken bread together. I've listened to his sermons,

777
00:52:22.599 --> 00:52:24.559
<v Speaker 6>but he tells it the way it is. I mean,

778
00:52:24.599 --> 00:52:27.920
<v Speaker 6>the truth is the truth, and no matter, you can't

779
00:52:27.960 --> 00:52:34.360
<v Speaker 6>hide the truth. But I'm still here because of the

780
00:52:34.360 --> 00:52:36.920
<v Speaker 6>gallant crew of the USS Liberty and our determination not

781
00:52:37.039 --> 00:52:43.360
<v Speaker 6>to give up. We were ordered into the Mediterranean from Africa.

782
00:52:45.360 --> 00:52:49.000
<v Speaker 6>We didn't where we're headed, We had no idea, we

783
00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.639
<v Speaker 6>didn't know the Sixth Day War was going on. We

784
00:52:52.679 --> 00:52:56.639
<v Speaker 6>stopped in Malta, I excuse me, rode to Spain and

785
00:52:56.719 --> 00:53:00.920
<v Speaker 6>picked up three linguists and S. A. C. I, a

786
00:53:01.000 --> 00:53:04.880
<v Speaker 6>tape type guy. The lingers were all three of them

787
00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:07.679
<v Speaker 6>were marines. Two of them were blown to bits during

788
00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:13.559
<v Speaker 6>the torpedo attack. One survived, Bryce Lockwood and he had

789
00:53:13.559 --> 00:53:16.159
<v Speaker 6>to full blastom of torpedo coming at him too, but

790
00:53:16.199 --> 00:53:24.199
<v Speaker 6>he he survived, thank god. We got into the area

791
00:53:24.519 --> 00:53:30.639
<v Speaker 6>on June the seventh in the Israeli recon aircraft piper

792
00:53:30.679 --> 00:53:36.000
<v Speaker 6>cups whatever they had DC three flying box car. If

793
00:53:36.039 --> 00:53:39.199
<v Speaker 6>you've ever seen those. They would take pictures of our ship.

794
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:41.440
<v Speaker 6>They did this over and over on the seventh, over

795
00:53:41.480 --> 00:53:44.920
<v Speaker 6>and over. They came so close to our ship you

796
00:53:44.920 --> 00:53:46.920
<v Speaker 6>could see the pilots. We'd wave with them and they'd

797
00:53:47.000 --> 00:53:50.800
<v Speaker 6>way back. We were very, very happy to see the

798
00:53:50.840 --> 00:53:55.760
<v Speaker 6>Star of David on those those aircraft because we asked

799
00:53:55.800 --> 00:53:58.840
<v Speaker 6>for a destroyer escort from the United States Navy, and

800
00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:02.519
<v Speaker 6>this says, you don't need an escort. You're a Navy ship.

801
00:54:02.599 --> 00:54:06.440
<v Speaker 6>You have a flag on it. That's your protection, that flag.

802
00:54:07.159 --> 00:54:11.719
<v Speaker 6>Don't you worry about nothing. Little did little we know,

803
00:54:11.800 --> 00:54:15.159
<v Speaker 6>we just got set up. We just got set up.

804
00:54:17.440 --> 00:54:20.920
<v Speaker 6>On June the eighth, the same thing happened over and

805
00:54:20.960 --> 00:54:24.079
<v Speaker 6>over again. Now listen on that ship. If you weren't working,

806
00:54:24.159 --> 00:54:27.880
<v Speaker 6>you could be outside sunbathing. Here we are in the Mediterranean, beautiful,

807
00:54:27.960 --> 00:54:35.400
<v Speaker 6>beautiful water. But you see the bombs going off. We

808
00:54:35.400 --> 00:54:40.320
<v Speaker 6>were twelve point five miles off the Sinai. You can

809
00:54:40.360 --> 00:54:43.960
<v Speaker 6>see the bombs bursting in the black. And he said,

810
00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:46.039
<v Speaker 6>oh my god, I'm glad we're here and not over

811
00:54:46.079 --> 00:54:51.599
<v Speaker 6>there a little bit. You know, at two o'clock the

812
00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:56.119
<v Speaker 6>attack began. I had just left the forward gun mount.

813
00:54:56.159 --> 00:54:59.119
<v Speaker 6>We had a general quarters drilled before that because we

814
00:54:59.239 --> 00:55:01.480
<v Speaker 6>drilled on that ship all the time to keep up

815
00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:04.840
<v Speaker 6>our skills. And I loved it. I mean I loved

816
00:55:04.880 --> 00:55:09.239
<v Speaker 6>doing what I did, firefighting and things like that, damage control.

817
00:55:09.559 --> 00:55:13.519
<v Speaker 6>I was in engineering and I enjoyed that too. And

818
00:55:14.199 --> 00:55:18.880
<v Speaker 6>at two o'clock the attack began. I just lept the

819
00:55:18.880 --> 00:55:22.599
<v Speaker 6>forward gun mount where two men came up. The gunner's

820
00:55:22.639 --> 00:55:24.400
<v Speaker 6>mate was there, man in the gun. We had four

821
00:55:24.440 --> 00:55:29.440
<v Speaker 6>fifty caliber machine guns. And David Scolac. Because the sound

822
00:55:29.480 --> 00:55:32.440
<v Speaker 6>part of phones weren't working. Now this is before the attack,

823
00:55:33.440 --> 00:55:36.719
<v Speaker 6>he came up there. I said, Heylac, go ahead and

824
00:55:36.920 --> 00:55:38.440
<v Speaker 6>see if you can get this fixed. The old man

825
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:41.519
<v Speaker 6>wants it fixed. I stayed up a few minutes and

826
00:55:41.519 --> 00:55:43.119
<v Speaker 6>the old man was up on the bridge and I said,

827
00:55:43.119 --> 00:55:45.039
<v Speaker 6>hey man, I gotta go because the old man did

828
00:55:45.079 --> 00:55:48.239
<v Speaker 6>not like anybody standing around. You better be working or

829
00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:56.239
<v Speaker 6>sun bathing, but not anything else. So I walked down

830
00:55:56.239 --> 00:56:00.519
<v Speaker 6>the starboard ladder. I get to my works station was

831
00:56:00.519 --> 00:56:07.079
<v Speaker 6>about thirty seconds away in Boom. The attack started just

832
00:56:07.119 --> 00:56:10.840
<v Speaker 6>before that. They said, prepare to test the motor whale boat.

833
00:56:10.880 --> 00:56:14.960
<v Speaker 6>They do that every day, make sure it works. And

834
00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:18.159
<v Speaker 6>they did that, and I thought the whale boat boat

835
00:56:18.199 --> 00:56:21.559
<v Speaker 6>blew up for some reason. I started to go out

836
00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:24.519
<v Speaker 6>the hatch. I was right next to that, and this

837
00:56:24.679 --> 00:56:26.559
<v Speaker 6>chief grabbed me by the back of the neck. He said, man,

838
00:56:26.559 --> 00:56:31.079
<v Speaker 6>we're under attack. So I immediately high tail it to my

839
00:56:32.760 --> 00:56:37.079
<v Speaker 6>repair station. Repare two forward to take over my duties.

840
00:56:37.519 --> 00:56:43.360
<v Speaker 6>Chief Thompson, he's passed now. He was the sing leader.

841
00:56:43.599 --> 00:56:47.800
<v Speaker 6>I was assistant on leader. Immediately I became the leader

842
00:56:48.559 --> 00:56:54.639
<v Speaker 6>of those men that were left to put out fires,

843
00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:00.000
<v Speaker 6>pull people, men off the deck, and try to save lives.

844
00:57:01.320 --> 00:57:06.039
<v Speaker 6>The two men I just left were made into mist

845
00:57:07.559 --> 00:57:12.920
<v Speaker 6>with the rac hits on that gun nut. Within three seconds,

846
00:57:12.920 --> 00:57:16.719
<v Speaker 6>they took out every tuning antenna on that ship. Within

847
00:57:16.760 --> 00:57:19.599
<v Speaker 6>three seconds, our four to fifty caliber machine guns port

848
00:57:19.639 --> 00:57:27.960
<v Speaker 6>starbott forward on the three level, they were gone. Every

849
00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:31.079
<v Speaker 6>antenna was gone, and we're on the concert attack. Now

850
00:57:31.079 --> 00:57:34.639
<v Speaker 6>remember this. Those planes were unmarked jets. They were Misteer

851
00:57:35.400 --> 00:57:39.320
<v Speaker 6>and Mirage jets, not just two jets. There were at

852
00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:47.159
<v Speaker 6>least thirty sorties. Thirty sorties within twenty five minutes. Terry

853
00:57:47.199 --> 00:57:50.679
<v Speaker 6>hal Lbardier was a radioman and he took that one

854
00:57:50.719 --> 00:57:57.960
<v Speaker 6>antenna offline or we'd never got a message out. He

855
00:57:58.079 --> 00:58:04.559
<v Speaker 6>ran a long wire through to that antenna. He took offline,

856
00:58:05.039 --> 00:58:09.079
<v Speaker 6>got it back online. And this was about ten minutes

857
00:58:09.920 --> 00:58:12.800
<v Speaker 6>after the attack started. And the attack lasted by the

858
00:58:12.800 --> 00:58:15.880
<v Speaker 6>airplanes for twenty five minutes, over and over again throughout day,

859
00:58:15.960 --> 00:58:22.639
<v Speaker 6>dropped napalm on us. They did everything they could kill us.

860
00:58:24.039 --> 00:58:28.000
<v Speaker 6>Little did we know that was just to soften us up,

861
00:58:30.079 --> 00:58:35.639
<v Speaker 6>just to soften us up. We thought the attack was over,

862
00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:39.079
<v Speaker 6>but Terry had gotten a message out Rockstar Rockstar under

863
00:58:39.079 --> 00:58:42.880
<v Speaker 6>attacked by unknown jet aircraft. Rockstar Rockstar need help, help help.

864
00:58:43.400 --> 00:58:46.800
<v Speaker 6>This went out as far as way to Vietnam. The

865
00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:50.199
<v Speaker 6>sixth Fleet picked it up. They sent rescue aircraft from

866
00:58:50.239 --> 00:58:52.960
<v Speaker 6>the USS Saratoga. Captain Tolly a good friend of mine.

867
00:58:52.960 --> 00:58:58.480
<v Speaker 6>He's passed too, World War two veteran fighter pilot. He's

868
00:58:58.519 --> 00:59:02.239
<v Speaker 6>gone now, but he's met it. He lost his command

869
00:59:02.239 --> 00:59:06.039
<v Speaker 6>because he sent help to us. Mcnamerica called him back

870
00:59:06.719 --> 00:59:11.239
<v Speaker 6>and to his surprise, the America did not launch. They

871
00:59:11.239 --> 00:59:17.639
<v Speaker 6>did not launch. About maybe two or three minutes after that,

872
00:59:18.800 --> 00:59:22.360
<v Speaker 6>they launched aircraft from America again, I mean from the

873
00:59:22.360 --> 00:59:26.440
<v Speaker 6>Saratoga again, and the America before those planes even hit

874
00:59:26.480 --> 00:59:29.239
<v Speaker 6>their horizon and recalled by LBJ. I don't give a

875
00:59:29.320 --> 00:59:35.239
<v Speaker 6>goddamn excuse my French. If those sailors die, well, not

876
00:59:35.400 --> 00:59:38.559
<v Speaker 6>embarrass my ally. Now, how did he know they were

877
00:59:38.639 --> 00:59:41.639
<v Speaker 6>our allies? We didn't know who was attacking us, but

878
00:59:41.679 --> 00:59:45.840
<v Speaker 6>he sure did. They set us up to be slaughtered,

879
00:59:46.719 --> 00:59:54.519
<v Speaker 6>and the slaughter just started. We saw three mortar torpedo

880
00:59:54.559 --> 01:00:00.159
<v Speaker 6>boats coming up towards us. Now, I'll remind you we

881
01:00:00.159 --> 01:00:03.880
<v Speaker 6>had stars of David all inside that ship because we

882
01:00:03.920 --> 01:00:06.400
<v Speaker 6>wanted the Israelies to win. I mean, there are allies.

883
01:00:07.760 --> 01:00:11.480
<v Speaker 6>We wanted him to win. Little Nudgy did I know then?

884
01:00:11.599 --> 01:00:15.000
<v Speaker 6>When we saw the the flag, that's the only time

885
01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:19.119
<v Speaker 6>we knew it was the Israelis. I thought they were

886
01:00:19.119 --> 01:00:23.760
<v Speaker 6>there to help us. No, they weren't. They're there to

887
01:00:23.800 --> 01:00:32.280
<v Speaker 6>sink us. Now, they fired five torpedoes at us. I

888
01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:34.480
<v Speaker 6>know where two went because I saw him. Two went aft.

889
01:00:35.559 --> 01:00:37.920
<v Speaker 6>Where the other two went, I don't have no clue.

890
01:00:38.119 --> 01:00:41.760
<v Speaker 6>I don't have a clue where they went, but I

891
01:00:41.800 --> 01:00:46.639
<v Speaker 6>know where one hit on the starboard side in the

892
01:00:46.719 --> 01:00:51.639
<v Speaker 6>research basis where the spies were. Now, these guys were

893
01:00:51.679 --> 01:00:54.119
<v Speaker 6>the best, the cream of the crops spies in the world,

894
01:00:55.360 --> 01:00:59.760
<v Speaker 6>the very best. And they never talked to us, and

895
01:00:59.800 --> 01:01:01.719
<v Speaker 6>we didn't talk to them. It was two different crews

896
01:01:01.719 --> 01:01:04.440
<v Speaker 6>aboard that ship, the Spies and ship's company, which I

897
01:01:04.519 --> 01:01:12.199
<v Speaker 6>was ship's company. They never talked to us. But those

898
01:01:12.239 --> 01:01:17.480
<v Speaker 6>four men were blown to bits. They were blown to bits.

899
01:01:17.519 --> 01:01:20.039
<v Speaker 6>When that torpedo hit, it picked the ship completely up

900
01:01:20.079 --> 01:01:22.800
<v Speaker 6>out of the water and it went down like this

901
01:01:22.920 --> 01:01:27.280
<v Speaker 6>and start going to the right the Starbard's side. I

902
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:28.840
<v Speaker 6>thought it was going to roll over, and it just

903
01:01:28.880 --> 01:01:32.000
<v Speaker 6>stopped by the hand of God. By the hand of

904
01:01:32.000 --> 01:01:35.760
<v Speaker 6>God saved us. He saved me for this day. I

905
01:01:35.800 --> 01:01:38.079
<v Speaker 6>think he saved all of us right here, for this moment,

906
01:01:38.960 --> 01:01:45.639
<v Speaker 6>for this moment to expose with Israel and the United

907
01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:52.119
<v Speaker 6>States concocted to get us into World War three. The

908
01:01:52.199 --> 01:01:54.480
<v Speaker 6>attack from the torpedo boats lasted for an hour and

909
01:01:54.519 --> 01:01:57.400
<v Speaker 6>a half. We had two three flags we put up.

910
01:01:57.639 --> 01:02:02.639
<v Speaker 6>Two were shot down on the initial ibate flags, big flags.

911
01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:06.880
<v Speaker 6>They shot two up and down. They put another flag up.

912
01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:11.719
<v Speaker 6>I didn't personally, but the Sigamund did a seven by thirteen,

913
01:02:11.719 --> 01:02:13.639
<v Speaker 6>which is call holiday colors. You could see it for

914
01:02:13.719 --> 01:02:20.159
<v Speaker 6>miles and miles and miles. The Israeli pilots said that,

915
01:02:21.880 --> 01:02:25.320
<v Speaker 6>but sir, it's an American ship. It's an American ship.

916
01:02:25.800 --> 01:02:29.000
<v Speaker 6>You have your orders. Hit the ship, and hit it.

917
01:02:29.039 --> 01:02:33.360
<v Speaker 6>They did, and the consequences are well known. Thirty four

918
01:02:33.400 --> 01:02:35.639
<v Speaker 6>men were slaughtered, one hundred and seventy four were wounded,

919
01:02:35.719 --> 01:02:41.039
<v Speaker 6>including myself, and I was walking wounded. The others weren't.

920
01:02:44.400 --> 01:02:49.239
<v Speaker 6>I've seen men blown in half right before your eyes.

921
01:02:51.440 --> 01:02:53.239
<v Speaker 6>There's nothing you can do about it. We had none

922
01:02:53.280 --> 01:02:55.519
<v Speaker 6>to fight back, but our will and our wists and

923
01:02:55.519 --> 01:03:02.719
<v Speaker 6>are belief in God to survive. In fact, when the

924
01:03:02.760 --> 01:03:05.039
<v Speaker 6>torpedo hit, I told a friend of mine, Rico Metti,

925
01:03:05.119 --> 01:03:07.719
<v Speaker 6>he was in the same division. I was in damage

926
01:03:07.719 --> 01:03:17.079
<v Speaker 6>control and we were there. It said, prepare for torpedo strike.

927
01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:22.599
<v Speaker 6>And then that's a little bit different than prepare for

928
01:03:22.599 --> 01:03:24.960
<v Speaker 6>a torpedo hit, because we know what's coming. We have

929
01:03:25.039 --> 01:03:31.880
<v Speaker 6>our hands on the bulkheads. Boom. It was deafening. You

930
01:03:31.920 --> 01:03:38.239
<v Speaker 6>couldn't believe the explosion. And they circled the ship, and

931
01:03:38.280 --> 01:03:41.239
<v Speaker 6>they circled the ship and circled the ship over and

932
01:03:41.320 --> 01:03:46.880
<v Speaker 6>over and over again, firing that our firefighters, me stretcher bearers,

933
01:03:48.639 --> 01:03:50.719
<v Speaker 6>people that are trying to get men off deck to

934
01:03:50.760 --> 01:03:57.960
<v Speaker 6>save their lives. It was horrific. It was horrific to

935
01:03:58.039 --> 01:04:04.800
<v Speaker 6>see your brothers being blown to bits and killed. It

936
01:04:04.880 --> 01:04:10.360
<v Speaker 6>was horrific. When the torpedo boats finally got through with

937
01:04:10.440 --> 01:04:15.440
<v Speaker 6>us after an hour and a half, we thought it

938
01:04:15.480 --> 01:04:19.119
<v Speaker 6>was over again. No it wasn't. Here come the Israelis

939
01:04:19.159 --> 01:04:23.320
<v Speaker 6>again in troop carrying helicopters to finish this off. We

940
01:04:23.360 --> 01:04:28.159
<v Speaker 6>thought they were going to rope down or ladder down, whatever,

941
01:04:28.280 --> 01:04:30.199
<v Speaker 6>But they were. I was on the starboard, on the

942
01:04:30.199 --> 01:04:34.239
<v Speaker 6>starboard side. I saw him hovering over the starboard gun

943
01:04:34.280 --> 01:04:39.480
<v Speaker 6>mount and I just looked at him, you know, I

944
01:04:39.519 --> 01:04:43.760
<v Speaker 6>figured I was a dead man. Anyway, I just and

945
01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:45.480
<v Speaker 6>he did the same thing back to me. He went

946
01:04:45.559 --> 01:04:48.840
<v Speaker 6>like that, he smiled, and all of a sudden they

947
01:04:48.880 --> 01:04:51.880
<v Speaker 6>were gone. Boom, They just took off. I guess the

948
01:04:51.920 --> 01:04:55.480
<v Speaker 6>gig was up, you know. Uh, they couldn't seek an

949
01:04:55.480 --> 01:04:59.599
<v Speaker 6>old World War two cargo ship converted into a spy

950
01:04:59.719 --> 01:05:09.320
<v Speaker 6>ship with their torpedo boats, with their aircraft, mystere mirage jets,

951
01:05:09.400 --> 01:05:12.440
<v Speaker 6>dropping napalm and everything else they could on us. There

952
01:05:12.480 --> 01:05:14.880
<v Speaker 6>were holes in the deck of the ship going. I mean,

953
01:05:14.920 --> 01:05:18.079
<v Speaker 6>all you could see is daylight all around you. Boom boom,

954
01:05:18.119 --> 01:05:23.960
<v Speaker 6>boom boom, nothing but daylight. And this one fella I

955
01:05:24.039 --> 01:05:26.880
<v Speaker 6>want to message his name because he's he infuriates me.

956
01:05:27.559 --> 01:05:29.639
<v Speaker 6>But he says they really wanted to think that ship

957
01:05:29.679 --> 01:05:32.199
<v Speaker 6>they would just drop metal or hard bombs and it

958
01:05:32.280 --> 01:05:35.440
<v Speaker 6>went straight through and you'd be done. Well, Okay, what

959
01:05:35.480 --> 01:05:37.079
<v Speaker 6>does a forty by forty foot hole?

960
01:05:37.159 --> 01:05:37.400
<v Speaker 1>Dude?

961
01:05:37.920 --> 01:05:42.199
<v Speaker 6>What did five torpedoes do that they weren't trying to

962
01:05:42.199 --> 01:05:46.840
<v Speaker 6>sink it? That was the whole plan. It was cooked

963
01:05:46.920 --> 01:05:52.519
<v Speaker 6>up by LBJ. Levy Eskill, he was the Prime Minister

964
01:05:52.599 --> 01:05:57.519
<v Speaker 6>then of Israel. In a cabal of people in our government.

965
01:06:00.239 --> 01:06:07.199
<v Speaker 6>The USS America and USS Davis and USS Massy came alongside.

966
01:06:07.639 --> 01:06:09.719
<v Speaker 6>Of course, the aircraft carrier was about a couple of

967
01:06:09.760 --> 01:06:13.000
<v Speaker 6>miles away. They flew the calicopters over to pick up

968
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:16.400
<v Speaker 6>all the dead and wounded, and there were scores of

969
01:06:16.440 --> 01:06:19.079
<v Speaker 6>them going to different places. They sent them all over

970
01:06:19.119 --> 01:06:22.840
<v Speaker 6>the world for definity of care. They split up the

971
01:06:22.880 --> 01:06:27.760
<v Speaker 6>crew so we'd never talk. I stayed with the ship

972
01:06:30.480 --> 01:06:34.400
<v Speaker 6>two days out at sea. After they took the wounded off,

973
01:06:34.400 --> 01:06:38.000
<v Speaker 6>and the and the dead except the ones that were

974
01:06:38.079 --> 01:06:46.360
<v Speaker 6>in the torpedo hole. Here comes Admiral Isaac Kidd and

975
01:06:46.440 --> 01:06:54.239
<v Speaker 6>Ward Boston doing a board of inquiry, and he got

976
01:06:54.280 --> 01:06:56.159
<v Speaker 6>us in small groups. I was. I was in sick

977
01:06:56.239 --> 01:07:02.360
<v Speaker 6>bay with five other guys, and we felt kind of

978
01:07:02.360 --> 01:07:04.880
<v Speaker 6>relieved because he took his stars off and he threw

979
01:07:04.920 --> 01:07:06.920
<v Speaker 6>him on the stainless still table that ran out like

980
01:07:06.920 --> 01:07:10.519
<v Speaker 6>a bellet, really did. I said, Wow, this is pretty cool.

981
01:07:10.559 --> 01:07:12.599
<v Speaker 6>He says, I'm just like your dad. Just please tell

982
01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:18.760
<v Speaker 6>me everything you saw and heard. And I did as

983
01:07:18.880 --> 01:07:23.639
<v Speaker 6>everybody else did, and he got right in my face

984
01:07:25.239 --> 01:07:27.320
<v Speaker 6>and he says, I'm going to tell all you sobs.

985
01:07:27.400 --> 01:07:29.800
<v Speaker 6>If you ever repeat a word you just sent to

986
01:07:29.800 --> 01:07:33.280
<v Speaker 6>me said to me to anybody, I'll make sure you

987
01:07:33.400 --> 01:07:37.039
<v Speaker 6>end up in prison, living worth or worse. You know

988
01:07:37.079 --> 01:07:42.480
<v Speaker 6>what worse means. See, yes, sir, I do. So they

989
01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:44.760
<v Speaker 6>beat us up, the radies, beat us up in our

990
01:07:44.760 --> 01:07:49.239
<v Speaker 6>own government, beat us up. Medley tell us never talk

991
01:07:49.280 --> 01:07:53.079
<v Speaker 6>about it when you just see your brothers slaughtered before

992
01:07:53.119 --> 01:07:58.840
<v Speaker 6>your eyes. How can any human being, how can anybody

993
01:08:00.440 --> 01:08:06.119
<v Speaker 6>not feel compassion or horror senior brothers slaughtered and not

994
01:08:06.239 --> 01:08:08.239
<v Speaker 6>talk about it? But I didn't talk about it for

995
01:08:08.760 --> 01:08:14.599
<v Speaker 6>almost eighteen twenty years until I married my wife, Lisa,

996
01:08:14.719 --> 01:08:16.600
<v Speaker 6>and I never even told her I was in the military.

997
01:08:17.359 --> 01:08:20.039
<v Speaker 6>I read a letter from stan Waie Master Chief E

998
01:08:20.159 --> 01:08:23.479
<v Speaker 6>nine about the USOS liberty, and I said, wow, if

999
01:08:23.479 --> 01:08:25.399
<v Speaker 6>he can speak, I'm gonna start speaking. I haven't shut

1000
01:08:25.439 --> 01:08:30.079
<v Speaker 6>up since it's my goal. My brothers can't speak, but

1001
01:08:30.159 --> 01:08:35.199
<v Speaker 6>I can. When you've got two crooked governments, the government

1002
01:08:35.199 --> 01:08:38.439
<v Speaker 6>of Israel and the government of the United States set

1003
01:08:38.520 --> 01:08:41.920
<v Speaker 6>us up be murdered to start a World War three,

1004
01:08:43.039 --> 01:08:45.359
<v Speaker 6>that's about as bad as it gets. If we go down,

1005
01:08:45.399 --> 01:08:49.840
<v Speaker 6>the world is completely changed. There were Russian sub under

1006
01:08:49.920 --> 01:08:55.319
<v Speaker 6>US that was ready to knuke Israel. The Temple Mount.

1007
01:08:55.760 --> 01:09:00.800
<v Speaker 6>They need to reflect the to hit, and they were

1008
01:09:00.800 --> 01:09:05.079
<v Speaker 6>ready to do it. But us not thinking, by the

1009
01:09:05.079 --> 01:09:09.319
<v Speaker 6>grace of God, is why I'm here. And it's a

1010
01:09:09.319 --> 01:09:12.439
<v Speaker 6>great honor. And you know what, there's so many different things.

1011
01:09:13.479 --> 01:09:20.680
<v Speaker 6>Navy Court of Inquiry RealD Mount Isaac Kid see Navy

1012
01:09:20.720 --> 01:09:25.039
<v Speaker 6>Court of Inquiry per Captain Ward Boston killed Kid told

1013
01:09:25.119 --> 01:09:29.199
<v Speaker 6>him he believed the attack was deliberate and the Israelies

1014
01:09:29.279 --> 01:09:32.680
<v Speaker 6>knew they the ship was American New York Times two

1015
01:09:32.720 --> 01:09:37.039
<v Speaker 6>thousand and two. Captain Ward Boston, I feel the Israelis

1016
01:09:39.199 --> 01:09:41.319
<v Speaker 6>knew what what they were doing. They knew it was

1017
01:09:41.359 --> 01:09:45.880
<v Speaker 6>American ship used Navy ship. We were identified by Israel

1018
01:09:46.239 --> 01:09:49.439
<v Speaker 6>as a friendly American ship hours an hour before the attack.

1019
01:09:50.760 --> 01:09:53.520
<v Speaker 6>Their issues was they took us off their war title,

1020
01:09:53.560 --> 01:09:55.760
<v Speaker 6>they changed the watch and didn't inform the other watch

1021
01:09:55.800 --> 01:09:58.520
<v Speaker 6>commanders we were in the area, Like anybody believes that

1022
01:09:59.399 --> 01:10:02.279
<v Speaker 6>they just took us off forgot we were there. That's

1023
01:10:02.359 --> 01:10:09.840
<v Speaker 6>sobs Richard Helms, CIA director, It was no accident. Clark Hifford,

1024
01:10:10.479 --> 01:10:16.359
<v Speaker 6>no accident. Dean Russ Secretary of State, no accident. Marshall Carter,

1025
01:10:16.680 --> 01:10:25.600
<v Speaker 6>Former Security Administrative Director n Essay, no mistake. Lewis Battle,

1026
01:10:26.279 --> 01:10:33.039
<v Speaker 6>no mistake. Professor Hayden park Paik, no mistake. FBI officials.

1027
01:10:33.960 --> 01:10:38.439
<v Speaker 6>FBI officials counter the friendly spying can be a damage,

1028
01:10:38.720 --> 01:10:43.479
<v Speaker 6>a damaging as spying for the enemies of the They

1029
01:10:43.520 --> 01:10:47.399
<v Speaker 6>note in nineteen sixty seven went Israeli, Israel just to

1030
01:10:47.479 --> 01:10:52.800
<v Speaker 6>Liberty attacked the electronic intelligence ship USS Liberty. So the

1031
01:10:52.920 --> 01:10:55.439
<v Speaker 6>FBI knew it, the CIA knew it, everybody knew it,

1032
01:10:56.279 --> 01:10:59.119
<v Speaker 6>but they covered up. Thomas Moore, dear friend of mine,

1033
01:11:00.159 --> 01:11:04.880
<v Speaker 6>very good friend. He was a very highly decorated man.

1034
01:11:04.920 --> 01:11:08.680
<v Speaker 6>He was former chief of Staff twice. He's the only

1035
01:11:08.960 --> 01:11:13.279
<v Speaker 6>admiral that ever had command of this Southern Command in

1036
01:11:13.279 --> 01:11:17.079
<v Speaker 6>the Pacific Command, not the same time, but different times,

1037
01:11:17.119 --> 01:11:26.119
<v Speaker 6>and then became two terms Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Captain McGonagall,

1038
01:11:28.960 --> 01:11:32.199
<v Speaker 6>please do not release Jonathan Pollard to the Government of

1039
01:11:32.279 --> 01:11:36.520
<v Speaker 6>Israel until and unless the Government of Hissil acknowledges in

1040
01:11:36.640 --> 01:11:42.039
<v Speaker 6>writing and publicly the government of Israel armed forces the

1041
01:11:42.159 --> 01:11:49.319
<v Speaker 6>Liberty attacked the USS Liberty HGTR five. Now the Captain

1042
01:11:49.479 --> 01:11:54.079
<v Speaker 6>received a medal of honor, and he deserved. I saw

1043
01:11:54.159 --> 01:11:58.239
<v Speaker 6>him in action, great man, he was hit, great man,

1044
01:12:00.159 --> 01:12:05.039
<v Speaker 6>but he was cohersed. Our government curhersed him to tone

1045
01:12:05.079 --> 01:12:07.199
<v Speaker 6>it down, tone it down. I know what they said

1046
01:12:07.239 --> 01:12:10.199
<v Speaker 6>to me, what they say to him. There's no telling.

1047
01:12:11.800 --> 01:12:14.560
<v Speaker 6>Another friend of mine, Cat Buger, of the USS Pueblo,

1048
01:12:14.720 --> 01:12:16.640
<v Speaker 6>which is in North Korea right now. I've talked to

1049
01:12:16.640 --> 01:12:20.600
<v Speaker 6>Mark about it. He's been on that ship. By the way,

1050
01:12:20.600 --> 01:12:27.359
<v Speaker 6>Thank you, Mark, it's a pleasure talking to you. He said,

1051
01:12:27.479 --> 01:12:29.359
<v Speaker 6>they had never been captured if they'd known about the

1052
01:12:29.439 --> 01:12:35.439
<v Speaker 6>USS Liberty. It was so tightly, so tightly covered up.

1053
01:12:36.319 --> 01:12:42.359
<v Speaker 6>And it still is today that people that people simply

1054
01:12:42.399 --> 01:12:46.079
<v Speaker 6>believed that Israel did it by mistake. No, it was

1055
01:12:46.079 --> 01:12:49.319
<v Speaker 6>a pre planned attack to kill us all and get

1056
01:12:49.359 --> 01:12:52.159
<v Speaker 6>us in a lot of trouble, more trouble we ever

1057
01:12:52.199 --> 01:12:55.199
<v Speaker 6>thought of. We were close to a nuclear war. There

1058
01:12:55.239 --> 01:13:02.159
<v Speaker 6>were sacked aircraft in the air headed to car six

1059
01:13:02.199 --> 01:13:08.439
<v Speaker 6>hours before we even got attacked. So the mighty idea

1060
01:13:09.720 --> 01:13:14.680
<v Speaker 6>in this two hour blood bath, they couldn't sink old

1061
01:13:14.680 --> 01:13:16.680
<v Speaker 6>World War two ship. And they couldn't. I bet they're

1062
01:13:16.680 --> 01:13:19.840
<v Speaker 6>still stretching their heads. They can't figure that one out.

1063
01:13:21.600 --> 01:13:23.800
<v Speaker 6>As anybody in here. Didn't know any survivors from a

1064
01:13:23.880 --> 01:13:28.960
<v Speaker 6>torpedo attack. I know one in here. I talked to Indianapolis.

1065
01:13:32.159 --> 01:13:36.520
<v Speaker 6>I guess i'd call him an expert. There's one survivor left.

1066
01:13:36.560 --> 01:13:40.520
<v Speaker 6>He's ninety eight. They hit that ship with one torpedo.

1067
01:13:40.600 --> 01:13:42.960
<v Speaker 6>It was a big ship too, and it brought it

1068
01:13:43.000 --> 01:13:50.680
<v Speaker 6>down immediately. But that ship, our ship took all that

1069
01:13:50.880 --> 01:13:54.119
<v Speaker 6>stayed alive. And that's why I'm here because of the

1070
01:13:54.159 --> 01:13:58.199
<v Speaker 6>gallant crew of the USS Liberty. These are my ship,

1071
01:13:58.199 --> 01:14:00.399
<v Speaker 6>Mason Brothers. There's not very many of us left. There's

1072
01:14:00.399 --> 01:14:02.880
<v Speaker 6>probably fifty or so. I have a crew of two

1073
01:14:02.960 --> 01:14:05.399
<v Speaker 6>hundred and ninety four. Thirty four were killed initially one

1074
01:14:05.439 --> 01:14:10.680
<v Speaker 6>hundred and seventy four woun I helped in operations that

1075
01:14:10.840 --> 01:14:13.399
<v Speaker 6>night with Doc Keefer. He was hitting his stomach. He's

1076
01:14:13.399 --> 01:14:16.119
<v Speaker 6>having him. He had a life jack around it to

1077
01:14:16.159 --> 01:14:20.640
<v Speaker 6>hold his guts in. He was hitting both both legs, knees.

1078
01:14:21.920 --> 01:14:25.159
<v Speaker 6>He stood on those those legs for seventeen hours, operating

1079
01:14:25.199 --> 01:14:28.319
<v Speaker 6>on people that were losing their lives or any hope

1080
01:14:28.359 --> 01:14:33.279
<v Speaker 6>of life. I helped in one operation. One of the

1081
01:14:33.319 --> 01:14:38.319
<v Speaker 6>operations I helped with Doc was a man named Gary Blanchard.

1082
01:14:39.039 --> 01:14:41.960
<v Speaker 6>He was hit and he was hit bad. He got

1083
01:14:42.039 --> 01:14:46.239
<v Speaker 6>hitting the kidneys. He blew his back out. Doc cut

1084
01:14:46.279 --> 01:14:50.039
<v Speaker 6>him open well before that. He says, rub my feet,

1085
01:14:50.039 --> 01:14:52.199
<v Speaker 6>my feet are hard. I took his socks off, rubbed

1086
01:14:52.239 --> 01:14:55.399
<v Speaker 6>his feet, tried to get some circulation, went on to

1087
01:14:55.439 --> 01:14:58.399
<v Speaker 6>the left side of him, and he looked at me.

1088
01:14:58.399 --> 01:15:03.199
<v Speaker 6>He says, you think I'm gonna live. I said, no,

1089
01:15:03.239 --> 01:15:07.479
<v Speaker 6>I don't think you are. Man. Doc cut him open.

1090
01:15:07.560 --> 01:15:13.079
<v Speaker 6>He was dead. Cut him open like a deer I

1091
01:15:13.159 --> 01:15:14.720
<v Speaker 6>used to hunt. I didn't know what it looks like.

1092
01:15:15.840 --> 01:15:18.520
<v Speaker 6>That's what it looked like. We put a few stitches

1093
01:15:18.520 --> 01:15:20.880
<v Speaker 6>in him. Doc did put him over the side and

1094
01:15:20.920 --> 01:15:23.119
<v Speaker 6>it went on all night for seventeen hours. Help never

1095
01:15:23.159 --> 01:15:27.159
<v Speaker 6>got there. For seventeen hours. They left us out there alone.

1096
01:15:27.560 --> 01:15:29.279
<v Speaker 6>They didn't even send a piper cub over there to

1097
01:15:29.279 --> 01:15:32.159
<v Speaker 6>see how we were doing. That's how bad it was.

1098
01:15:32.520 --> 01:15:37.199
<v Speaker 6>They could care less. They did not care, and our

1099
01:15:37.199 --> 01:15:42.880
<v Speaker 6>government still doesn't care. They do not care. They tried

1100
01:15:42.880 --> 01:15:45.880
<v Speaker 6>to silence us, they tried to murder us. They tried

1101
01:15:45.880 --> 01:15:55.800
<v Speaker 6>to call us an i, Samites, jew haters, Nazis, Antisthmitic pigs, jihadis.

1102
01:15:56.720 --> 01:15:58.359
<v Speaker 6>I mean, I can go on and on and on,

1103
01:16:00.680 --> 01:16:03.680
<v Speaker 6>but we're none of that. We're none of that. All

1104
01:16:03.720 --> 01:16:05.640
<v Speaker 6>we want to do is tell the truth to America.

1105
01:16:05.880 --> 01:16:08.199
<v Speaker 6>You deserve the truth. So you paid the taxes. It's

1106
01:16:08.239 --> 01:16:12.880
<v Speaker 6>your money, and you should be able to seek redress

1107
01:16:12.920 --> 01:16:16.319
<v Speaker 6>from your government and say, hey, wait a minute, it's

1108
01:16:16.359 --> 01:16:19.359
<v Speaker 6>been fifty eight years. Coming next June, we're going to

1109
01:16:19.439 --> 01:16:23.520
<v Speaker 6>have a reunion in northern Virginia. I'll bring that up

1110
01:16:23.560 --> 01:16:29.880
<v Speaker 6>again in a minute. But they never have. And I've

1111
01:16:29.880 --> 01:16:32.479
<v Speaker 6>written so many presidents. I only got one letter back

1112
01:16:32.479 --> 01:16:39.520
<v Speaker 6>from Bill Clinton, and he never addressed my letter. He gets,

1113
01:16:39.720 --> 01:16:41.600
<v Speaker 6>I don't know if what was up there, but he

1114
01:16:41.680 --> 01:16:44.680
<v Speaker 6>never addressed my questions. He just sent me a nice

1115
01:16:44.680 --> 01:16:48.760
<v Speaker 6>little note like come on, man. And he's the only

1116
01:16:48.800 --> 01:16:53.359
<v Speaker 6>one I ever got an answer from, including Ronald Reagan.

1117
01:16:53.399 --> 01:16:55.479
<v Speaker 6>I figured he would help us. I put a full

1118
01:16:55.479 --> 01:16:59.640
<v Speaker 6>page add in or I didn't. A donor did, and

1119
01:17:01.840 --> 01:17:04.199
<v Speaker 6>I was president then to have. I'm four time president

1120
01:17:04.239 --> 01:17:06.920
<v Speaker 6>of LVA and former chairman. So I don't give up.

1121
01:17:07.079 --> 01:17:08.600
<v Speaker 6>I'm not going to give I'm almost ad and I

1122
01:17:08.600 --> 01:17:12.319
<v Speaker 6>ain't given up. And my family stand for behind me.

1123
01:17:12.359 --> 01:17:15.039
<v Speaker 6>I know you all do, and listen. I'm not here

1124
01:17:15.079 --> 01:17:18.600
<v Speaker 6>to really beat up on anybody. But when you do

1125
01:17:18.680 --> 01:17:21.439
<v Speaker 6>something like that so horrific, can cover it up for

1126
01:17:21.479 --> 01:17:24.720
<v Speaker 6>all these years. If it was so easy, why didn't

1127
01:17:24.760 --> 01:17:27.319
<v Speaker 6>the governor of the United States just say, okay, we'll

1128
01:17:27.359 --> 01:17:31.039
<v Speaker 6>investigate it as they should have. In seven days, they

1129
01:17:31.039 --> 01:17:34.359
<v Speaker 6>had an invested seven day board of inquiry. In seven

1130
01:17:34.439 --> 01:17:37.600
<v Speaker 6>days they figured out, oh, okay, there's a mistake in identity.

1131
01:17:37.640 --> 01:17:39.880
<v Speaker 6>But no, they were ordered by Johnson to find it.

1132
01:17:40.039 --> 01:17:45.640
<v Speaker 6>In fact, John McCain's daddy was in on that. He

1133
01:17:45.760 --> 01:17:52.960
<v Speaker 6>was an Admiral John McCain junior, and they said make

1134
01:17:53.039 --> 01:17:59.960
<v Speaker 6>sure the crew silenced and make sure this mistaken identity. Now,

1135
01:18:00.119 --> 01:18:03.479
<v Speaker 6>this attack like on the USS Stark and cold, and

1136
01:18:04.920 --> 01:18:07.840
<v Speaker 6>they had a full investigation in depth, not the USS Liberty.

1137
01:18:07.840 --> 01:18:11.279
<v Speaker 6>Oh it's all wrapped up in seven days. A real

1138
01:18:11.319 --> 01:18:15.760
<v Speaker 6>investigation would have taken over several years to figure all

1139
01:18:15.800 --> 01:18:17.920
<v Speaker 6>this out. But no, they would not do that. They

1140
01:18:17.960 --> 01:18:21.640
<v Speaker 6>would not do that. And they're still silences trying to

1141
01:18:21.680 --> 01:18:32.680
<v Speaker 6>silence this. You know they've Last Secember, I had to

1142
01:18:32.720 --> 01:18:37.399
<v Speaker 6>honor spending time with Candice O once on her show.

1143
01:18:39.239 --> 01:18:44.920
<v Speaker 6>A wonderful woman, a kind woman, and a faithful woman

1144
01:18:44.960 --> 01:18:52.560
<v Speaker 6>of God. They're attacking her like I've been attacked. She's

1145
01:18:53.439 --> 01:18:56.600
<v Speaker 6>telling the truth. Everybody's got a right to say something

1146
01:18:57.399 --> 01:18:59.279
<v Speaker 6>that's what's right about this country. Tell her to take

1147
01:18:59.279 --> 01:19:02.479
<v Speaker 6>it away. And we're close to it now, we're very

1148
01:19:02.479 --> 01:19:05.600
<v Speaker 6>close to it. When they make laws that you can't

1149
01:19:05.600 --> 01:19:07.720
<v Speaker 6>talk about another group of people, I don't care if

1150
01:19:07.760 --> 01:19:15.560
<v Speaker 6>they're Asian, Black, whatever, Korean, Arab, you better not talk

1151
01:19:15.600 --> 01:19:19.840
<v Speaker 6>about Israel or you're an anti cement and a Semitic pig.

1152
01:19:20.399 --> 01:19:23.319
<v Speaker 6>And that's just exactly the way they feel. Look what's

1153
01:19:23.359 --> 01:19:26.399
<v Speaker 6>going on now at these colleges. I mean, people see

1154
01:19:26.439 --> 01:19:29.760
<v Speaker 6>what's going on in the world. They see what's going

1155
01:19:29.800 --> 01:19:32.600
<v Speaker 6>on in the world, and the US's liberties of spearhead,

1156
01:19:32.600 --> 01:19:36.039
<v Speaker 6>the hot red hot spearhead to breaking this whole open

1157
01:19:36.239 --> 01:19:40.159
<v Speaker 6>before we all die and with your help, that's going

1158
01:19:40.239 --> 01:19:43.359
<v Speaker 6>to happen. With your help, that's going to happen. And

1159
01:19:43.399 --> 01:19:47.399
<v Speaker 6>whoever out there in tv Land, don't forget us, because

1160
01:19:47.399 --> 01:20:03.279
<v Speaker 6>we're here. We ain't leaving. My greatest fear, well, I

1161
01:20:03.279 --> 01:20:05.840
<v Speaker 6>guess it's not really a fear of My biggest disappointment

1162
01:20:09.560 --> 01:20:14.359
<v Speaker 6>is our own government. We've succeeded our power to a

1163
01:20:14.439 --> 01:20:21.079
<v Speaker 6>foreign country. Israel controls us. They control the Congress, they

1164
01:20:21.119 --> 01:20:26.079
<v Speaker 6>control the Senate, they control our money. We don't control

1165
01:20:26.119 --> 01:20:32.560
<v Speaker 6>our country. Desion the state does? Does that make them

1166
01:20:32.720 --> 01:20:33.600
<v Speaker 6>the real bad people?

1167
01:20:33.680 --> 01:20:33.760
<v Speaker 1>Know?

1168
01:20:33.800 --> 01:20:35.720
<v Speaker 6>The real bad people? The people letting them do it,

1169
01:20:37.399 --> 01:20:44.720
<v Speaker 6>that's the people, real bad people. I mean, if you

1170
01:20:44.760 --> 01:20:47.079
<v Speaker 6>can see anything in godsla, and I'm not an expert

1171
01:20:47.119 --> 01:20:50.279
<v Speaker 6>on it, but I'll tell you what I've seen, These

1172
01:20:50.319 --> 01:20:55.159
<v Speaker 6>pictures that brings me to my knees with sorrow and

1173
01:20:55.239 --> 01:21:00.800
<v Speaker 6>pain for innocence being starved and bombed and burned and

1174
01:21:00.880 --> 01:21:04.239
<v Speaker 6>beat up and raped and robbed. I'm tired of it.

1175
01:21:05.079 --> 01:21:09.079
<v Speaker 6>This whole country should be tired of it. Our passionate

1176
01:21:09.159 --> 01:21:11.560
<v Speaker 6>attachment to the design of state has got to stop.

1177
01:21:20.840 --> 01:21:24.880
<v Speaker 6>My greatest my greatest hope is that I live long

1178
01:21:24.960 --> 01:21:29.880
<v Speaker 6>enough to see some kind of some kind of justice,

1179
01:21:32.239 --> 01:21:34.039
<v Speaker 6>not just for me, but the whole crew. I'm here

1180
01:21:34.079 --> 01:21:37.680
<v Speaker 6>representing the crew. I'm the president of the association, and uh,

1181
01:21:38.960 --> 01:21:41.000
<v Speaker 6>those men that die couldn't speak, but I could speak

1182
01:21:41.039 --> 01:21:44.840
<v Speaker 6>for him and the men that we're old now they're

1183
01:21:44.840 --> 01:21:47.319
<v Speaker 6>all dying off or you know, the diseases, whatever it

1184
01:21:47.359 --> 01:21:49.359
<v Speaker 6>happens in life. We all know that we're all going there.

1185
01:21:49.640 --> 01:21:53.399
<v Speaker 6>Of course, you guys are all young, but uh, I

1186
01:21:53.439 --> 01:21:55.119
<v Speaker 6>know a lot of you in here got some gray hair.

1187
01:21:55.159 --> 01:21:58.279
<v Speaker 6>And I'm sure you remember the USS Liberty, but you

1188
01:21:58.279 --> 01:22:01.680
<v Speaker 6>don't remember the cover up. You heard what you heard

1189
01:22:01.720 --> 01:22:05.279
<v Speaker 6>and you believed it, but it's not the truth, folks,

1190
01:22:05.359 --> 01:22:08.600
<v Speaker 6>that this is one of the most criminal, terrible acts

1191
01:22:08.600 --> 01:22:13.039
<v Speaker 6>committed on a flagged American ship and American history. We're

1192
01:22:13.079 --> 01:22:15.520
<v Speaker 6>the only ship in American history that's never had help

1193
01:22:15.560 --> 01:22:21.439
<v Speaker 6>come to it when they're under attack. That's what they did.

1194
01:22:22.079 --> 01:22:24.520
<v Speaker 6>They left us out there to be slaughtered by the

1195
01:22:24.640 --> 01:22:27.039
<v Speaker 6>zion of State, blame it on Egypt and bring us

1196
01:22:27.079 --> 01:22:29.680
<v Speaker 6>to war. That's why those sack aircraft run the way.

1197
01:22:29.720 --> 01:22:32.359
<v Speaker 6>The only thing that saved us. We didn't sink, and

1198
01:22:32.399 --> 01:22:35.720
<v Speaker 6>they didn't count on that. They did everything they could

1199
01:22:35.760 --> 01:22:42.520
<v Speaker 6>do to silences by intimidation, threats, and evil words. That's

1200
01:22:42.520 --> 01:22:45.960
<v Speaker 6>what our own government did. The crew of the US

1201
01:22:46.199 --> 01:22:49.399
<v Speaker 6>Liberty is most decorated crew in the United States Naval

1202
01:22:49.479 --> 01:22:52.640
<v Speaker 6>history for a single engagement, not none other but the

1203
01:22:52.720 --> 01:22:54.960
<v Speaker 6>US's Liberty. Nobody knows about it from the Medal of

1204
01:22:55.000 --> 01:23:01.159
<v Speaker 6>Honor on down Navy Cross Stars, Bronze Star wars, a

1205
01:23:01.239 --> 01:23:06.840
<v Speaker 6>v combat action, and we got a president until unicitation

1206
01:23:06.920 --> 01:23:12.159
<v Speaker 6>from guests who LBJ I tore it up. I want

1207
01:23:12.279 --> 01:23:17.600
<v Speaker 6>none to do that guy, he left us. He left

1208
01:23:17.600 --> 01:23:25.399
<v Speaker 6>the world in bad shape. We don't need presidents to

1209
01:23:25.439 --> 01:23:29.479
<v Speaker 6>send our young men and women in war all for

1210
01:23:29.520 --> 01:23:33.079
<v Speaker 6>the sake of the design estate. And that's what we're doing.

1211
01:23:34.399 --> 01:23:39.079
<v Speaker 6>I think you all know that. I hope you do.

1212
01:23:39.560 --> 01:23:41.560
<v Speaker 6>That's what they're doing. They want us to bomb our end.

1213
01:23:41.600 --> 01:23:43.119
<v Speaker 6>They want us to take them out and all that shit.

1214
01:23:43.960 --> 01:23:48.560
<v Speaker 6>Israel will probably do it themselves, of course it won't

1215
01:23:48.560 --> 01:23:55.479
<v Speaker 6>be clandestine. The American military would be behind it. I

1216
01:23:55.560 --> 01:23:58.159
<v Speaker 6>really want to thank all of you for being here,

1217
01:23:58.840 --> 01:24:02.520
<v Speaker 6>and thank you Tom for your gracious support. Everybody here

1218
01:24:02.560 --> 01:24:05.600
<v Speaker 6>has been so friendly and nice to me. Boy. I'll

1219
01:24:05.600 --> 01:24:08.720
<v Speaker 6>tell you I wear you, all of you with a

1220
01:24:08.760 --> 01:24:12.119
<v Speaker 6>badge of honor. They can call me anything. They went. Oh,

1221
01:24:12.119 --> 01:24:16.079
<v Speaker 6>by the way, I got my pen and now a member.

1222
01:24:24.960 --> 01:24:26.840
<v Speaker 6>So I would encourage all of you if you would

1223
01:24:26.880 --> 01:24:32.119
<v Speaker 6>help us. Don't write your Congress. They're gonna lie to you.

1224
01:24:33.479 --> 01:24:37.880
<v Speaker 6>They always do. I put the pressure on where send

1225
01:24:37.920 --> 01:24:42.079
<v Speaker 6>it right to Trump. He probably won't listen. But I've

1226
01:24:42.079 --> 01:24:46.239
<v Speaker 6>tried everything. The crew has tried everything. We love our country,

1227
01:24:46.439 --> 01:24:50.479
<v Speaker 6>we love our Lord, we love our families, all families.

1228
01:24:51.079 --> 01:24:54.159
<v Speaker 6>And when they attacked us, they attacked all of you.

1229
01:24:54.159 --> 01:24:59.479
<v Speaker 6>You attack American flagship, you attack an American flagship. They

1230
01:24:59.520 --> 01:25:03.760
<v Speaker 6>attacked all all of us, not just us, but that

1231
01:25:03.920 --> 01:25:08.439
<v Speaker 6>American flag they shot down twice. That's what they did.

1232
01:25:11.000 --> 01:25:12.840
<v Speaker 6>So if they can get by that, if you get

1233
01:25:12.840 --> 01:25:14.880
<v Speaker 6>by with that, they can get by with almost anything.

1234
01:25:16.119 --> 01:25:22.000
<v Speaker 6>And they are right now. I'll ask if you have

1235
01:25:22.119 --> 01:25:25.800
<v Speaker 6>any questions, I'll take a few questions, and I'll relieve you.

1236
01:25:27.560 --> 01:25:39.079
<v Speaker 6>By the way, case close, I rest my case.

1237
01:25:39.560 --> 01:25:41.920
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network.

1238
01:25:45.600 --> 01:25:46.439
<v Speaker 1>Just the facts, Mammy,
