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Title: Nader puts spotlight on 1967 '(USS Liberty) cover-up'
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URL Source: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/liv ... KD.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
Published: Oct 31, 2008
Author: Jim Siegel
Post Date: 2008-10-31 13:46:01 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 244
Comments: 16
Nader puts spotlight on 1967 'cover-up' Friday, October 31, 2008 3:12 AM By Jim Siegel THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ralph Nader wants John McCain to address his support of a book about Israel's attack on a U.S. ship in 1967. Adding to his usual criticisms of the "corporate candidates" from the two major parties, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader yesterday introduced a wrinkle, calling on John McCain to come clean about Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty. "He doesn't like to have his character impugned. I'm challenging his character on this point," Nader said in a news conference at the Statehouse. McCain was not involved in the incident, which killed 34 American sailors amid the Six-Day War between Israel and several Arab nations. Israel said the attack was a case of mistaken identity, and McCain's father, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., approved an investigation that determined the incident was a tragic mistake. Nader is among those who think the report was a cover-up. He's dragging McCain into it because the senator wrote a positive note on a 2002 book, The Liberty Incident, that also concluded the attack was an accident. "He has been asked again and again by these sailors and their families to come clean," Nader said. "Instead, he endorses a propaganda book that says it was accidental. That reflects on his character." The McCain campaign declined to respond. Democrats fought to keep Nader off the Ohio ballot four years ago, but this year, his presence on the ballots of Ohio and 44 other states hasn't caused much of a stir. A number of Democrats blamed him for Al Gore's loss in the 2000 presidential election. "If Obama and McCain have the ability to take votes away from me, then I have the right to take votes away from them, and we should get over it," Nader said
Poster Comment: GO RALPH GO
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
(Edited)
It seems that one has to go to the "far right" or the "far left" to hear any amount of political sense these days. It must be because when you're a fringe candidate with no chance of winning to begin with, you have nothing to lose by telling the truth. A number of Democrats blamed him for Al Gore's loss in the 2000 presidential election. They should blame their own POS candidates, just as the GOP should stop blaming Perot for Bush 41 and Bob Dole's loss.
Nader is among those who think the report was a cover-up. He's dragging McCain into it because the senator wrote a positive note on a 2002 book, The Liberty Incident, that also concluded the attack was an accident. "He has been asked again and again by these sailors and their families to come clean," Nader said. "Instead, he endorses a propaganda book that says it was accidental. That reflects on his character." Spot on, Ralph. McCain is always pointing to his patriotism via his military service, so most definitely McCain should be forced to account for his shameless endorsement of the Liberty cover-up and letting down his "brothers" in service by supporting a lie.
Nader should also ask why McKook stopped us from getting all the troops home from 'nam. Hell, run out the Keating 5 scandal.
...but wouldn't his account be the same? That is, wouldn't he give the same opinion today that he gave in his scummy rotten endorsement of that scummy rotten 2002 book ? I would be delighted to see him have to explain it on national tv but, of course, national tv would not allow it to be mentioned.
"The 'uniter' has brought the entire world together - to despise and deride us." lodwick
Like father, like son.
You do have some fine ideas. If most Americans were aware, and courageously honest, they would want those very significant incidents widely discussed.
"The 'uniter' has brought the entire world together - to despise and deride us." lodwick
Once you make the pilgrimage to TelAviv, it's all over for our country.
We're so dumbed-down, it's beyond discussion. I guess that 'the plan' is working. Collectively we seem to have the attention span of a gnat and the comprehension of a rock.
I think Nader wants to force McCain by zeroing on "character" - something that McCain himself always touts as possessing - to expand on his reasons for supporting the gov't report and for writing a positive note for the book, The Liberty Incident. Nader is challenging McCain to defend his self-described patriotism and selfless devotion to America through military service. It appears that thusfar McCain has been dodging the questions about his limp-wristed patriotism and skin-deep character, when being asked to account for his position by Liberty survivors and their family members. MSM will not pursue this matter for obvious reasons but Nader and his supporters might revive this Liberty issue via the Internet political discussion forums. Many Liberty survivors are dying off so now is as good a time as any for the Liberty incident to gain renewed attention it deserves. And McCain as an erstwhile military "hero" Presidential candidate presents the perfect target to have many of the unanswered questions brought to light again. Frankly Obama should also be asked about his position on the Liberty Incident and what he'd do as CofC regarding the survivors' calls for a second review to be done. As CofC wouldn't he want to satisfy the Liberty sailors' concerns that a gov't snow job was done? Obama says he's all for change and making gov't more transparent and responsive and accountable to da'peepul.
"Killed" is the wrong word. "Murdered" is.
Freepers: hearts full of hate and cowardice, and skulls full, to quote a favorite saying of one of their favorite cowards, of mush.
"Murdered" is. Yes, that's a better choice of words.
"Murdered" is. Yes, that's a better choice of words. Another FF op gone wrong, from that slc.
McCain's father was involved with the investigation. He was C-in-C U.S. Naval Forces Europe at the time. Declaration of www.ifamericansknew.org/download/BostonDeclaration.pdf I, Ward Boston, Jr. do declare that the following statement is true and complete: For more than 30 years, I have remained silent on the topic of USS Liberty. I am a military man and when orders come in from the Secretary of Defense and President of the United States, I follow them. However, recent attempts to rewrite history compel me to share the truth. In June of 1967, while serving as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps, Department of the Navy, I was assigned as senior legal counsel for the Navy’s Court of Inquiry into the brutal attack on USS Liberty, which had occurred on June 8th. The late Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, president of the Court, and I were given only one week to gather evidence for the Navy’s official investigation into the attack, despite the fact that we both had estimated that a proper Court of Inquiry into an attack of this magnitude would take at least six months to conduct. Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., then Commander-in-chief, Naval Forces Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR), at his headquarters in London, had charged Admiral Kidd (in a letter dated June 10, 1967) to “inquire into all the pertinent facts and circumstances leading to and connected with the armed attack; damage resulting therefrom; and deaths of and injuries to Naval personnel.” Despite the short amount of time we were given, we gathered a vast amount of evidence, including hours of heartbreaking testimony from the young survivors. The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. Each evening, after hearing testimony all day, we often spoke our private thoughts concerning what we had seen and heard. I recall Admiral Kidd repeatedly referring to the Israeli forces responsible for the attack as “murderous bastards.” It was our shared belief, based on the documentary evidence and testimony we received first hand, that the Israeli attack was planned and deliberate, and could not possibly have been an accident. I am certain that the Israeli pilots that undertook the attack, as well as their superiors, who had ordered the attack, were well aware that the ship was American. I saw the flag, which had visibly identified the ship as American, riddled with bullet holes, and heard testimony that made it clear that the Israelis intended there be no survivors. 10. Not only did the Israelis attack the ship with napalm, gunfire, and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned three lifeboats that had been launched in an attempt by the crew to save the most seriously wounded — a war crime. Admiral Kidd and I both felt it necessary to travel to Israel to interview the Israelis who took part in the attack. Admiral Kidd telephoned Admiral McCain to discuss making arrangements. Admiral Kidd later told me that Admiral McCain was adamant that we were not to travel to Israel or contact the Israelis concerning this matter. Regrettably, we did not receive into evidence and the Court did not consider any of the more than sixty witness declarations from men who had been hospitalized and were unable to testify in person. I am outraged at the efforts of the apologists for Israel in this country to claim that this attack was a case of “mistaken identity.” In particular, the recent publication of Jay Cristol’s book, The Liberty Incident, twists the facts and misrepresents the views of those of us who investigated the attack. It is Cristol’s insidious attempt to whitewash the facts that has pushed me to speak out. I know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of “mistaken identity” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Admiral Kidd told me, after returning from Washington, D.C. that he had been ordered to sit down with two civilians from either the White House or the Defense Department, and rewrite portions of the court’s findings. Admiral Kidd also told me that he had been ordered to “put the lid” on everything having to do with the attack on USS Liberty. We were never to speak of it and we were to caution everyone else involved that they could never speak of it again. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement as I know that the Court of Inquiry transcript that has been released to the public is not the same one that I certified and sent off to Washington. I know this because it was necessary, due to the exigencies of time, to hand correct and initial a substantial number of pages. I have examined the released version of the transcript and I did not see any pages that bore my hand corrections and initials. Also, the original did not have any deliberately blank pages, as the released version does. Finally, the testimony of Lt. Painter concerning the deliberate machine gunning of the life rafts by the Israeli torpedo boat crews, which I distinctly recall being given at the Court of Inquiry and included in the original transcript, is now missing and has been excised. Following the conclusion of the Court of Inquiry, Admiral Kidd and I remained in contact. Though we never spoke of the attack in public, we did discuss it between ourselves, on occasion. Every time we discussed the attack, Admiral Kidd was adamant that it was a deliberate, planned attack on an American ship. In 1990, I received a telephone call from Jay Cristol, who wanted to interview me concerning the functioning of the Court of Inquiry. I told him that I would not speak to him on that subject and prepared to hang up the telephone. Cristol then began asking me about my personal background and other, non-Court of Inquiry related matters. I endeavored to answer these questions and politely extricate myself from the conversation. Cristol continued to return to the subject of the Court of Inquiry, which I refused to discuss with him. Finally, I suggested that he contact Admiral Kidd and ask him about the Court of Inquiry. Shortly after my conversation with Cristol, I received a telephone call from Admiral Kidd, inquiring about Cristol and what he was up to. The Admiral spoke of Cristol in disparaging terms and even opined that “Cristol must be an Israeli agent.” I don’t know if he meant that literally or it was his way of expressing his disgust for Cristol’s highly partisan, pro-Israeli approach to questions involving USS Liberty. At no time did I ever hear Admiral Kidd speak of Cristol other than in highly disparaging terms. I find Cristol’s claims of a “close friendship” with Admiral Kidd to be utterly incredible. I also find it impossible to believe the statements he attributes to Admiral Kidd, concerning the attack on USS Liberty. Several years later, I received a letter from Cristol that contained what he purported to be his notes of our prior conversation. These “notes” were grossly incorrect and bore no resemblance in reality to that discussion. I find it hard to believe that these “notes” were the product of a mistake, rather than an attempt to deceive. I informed Cristol that I disagreed with his recollection of our conversation and that he was wrong. Cristol made several attempts to arrange for the two of us to meet in person and talk but I always found ways to avoid doing this. I did not wish to meet with Cristol as we had nothing in common and I did not trust him. Contrary to the misinformation presented by Cristol and others, it is important for the American people to know that it is clear that Israel is responsible for deliberately attacking an American ship and murdering American sailors, whose bereaved shipmates have lived with this egregious conclusion for many years. Dated: January 9, 2004
Hey man, what have got against gnats and rocks ... U hate nature ? [Hahahaha].
Where's your birth certificate Barack ?
Good stuff, nolu. The McCain bloodline is scum.
ping
#2. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader yesterday introduced a wrinkle, calling on John McCain to come clean about Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty..."He doesn't like to have his character impugned. I'm challenging his character on this point," Nader said in a news conference at the Statehouse...Israel said the attack was a case of mistaken identity, and McCain's father, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., approved an investigation that determined the incident was a tragic mistake.
#3. To: scrapper2. all (#2)
Spot on, Ralph. McCain is always pointing to his patriotism via his military service, so most definitely McCain should be forced to account for his shameless endorsement of the Liberty cover-up and letting down his "brothers" in service by supporting a lie.
#4. To: scrapper2 (#2)
McCain should be forced to account for his shameless endorsement of the Liberty cover-up.
#5. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
McCain's father, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., approved an investigation that determined the incident was a tragic mistake.
#6. To: lodwick (#3)
Nader should also ask why McKook stopped us from getting all the troops home from 'nam. Hell, run out the Keating 5 scandal.
#7. To: Rupert_Pupkin, Bud, JT, all (#5)
the finest ZOG that money can buy bump
#8. To: Bub (#6)
If most Americans were aware, and courageously honest, they would want those very significant incidents widely discussed.
#9. To: Bub (#4)
...but wouldn't his account be the same? That is, wouldn't he give the same opinion today that he gave in his scummy rotten endorsement of that scummy rotten 2002 book ? I would be delighted to see him have to explain it on national tv but, of course, national tv would not allow it to be mentioned.
#10. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
McCain was not involved in the incident, which killed 34 American sailors
#11. To: Turtle (#10)
"Killed" is the wrong word.
#12. To: Jethro Tull, Turtle, all (#11)
"Killed" is the wrong word.
#13. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
McCain was not involved in the incident....
www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ul-boston.html
Ward Boston, Jr.,Captain, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
Counsel to the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry’s investigation into the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty
at Coronado, California.
Ward Boston, Jr., Captain, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
Senior Counsel to the USS Liberty Court of Inquiry
#14. To: lodwick (#8)
Collectively we seem to have the attention span of a gnat and the comprehension of a rock.
#15. To: nolu_chan (#13)
#16. To: Cynicom (#0)
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