THOMAS MOORER, EX-JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR DIES

From the web site at:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...on/7885393.htm
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Posted on Thu, Feb. 05, 2004

THOMAS MOORER, EX-JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR DIES
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, a Pearl Harbor veteran who
became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam
War, died Thursday. He was 91.

Navy officials confirmed his death. Moorer served as the
military's senior uniformed officer from July 1970 until his
retirement in July 1974.

A native of Mount Willing, Ala., Moorer played football at the
Naval Academy and received his commission in 1933. He joined one
of the early generations of naval aviators, flying fighters off
of the first American carriers, according to an official Navy
biography.

He was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on
Dec. 7, 1941.

The following February, he was flying a PBY patrol plane over
the water north of Darwin, Australia, when he was attacked by
Japanese aircraft. He and his co-pilot landed the plane in the
water and were rescued by a ship. That ship was attacked and
sunk later that day. He received a Silver Star for gallantry
throughout the ordeal and a Purple Heart for his wounds. He also
received a Distinguished Flying Cross for a patrol mission later
that year.

After the war, he rose through the ranks. President Johnson
selected him to be chief of naval operations, the service's top
officer, in 1967. He was reappointed by President Nixon in 1969.

Nixon also nominated him to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff the following year.

During the next few years, he supervised the U.S. troop
withdrawal from South Vietnam.

After he retired, Moorer appeared frequently in the news media
to comment on various issues.

In 1998, CNN cited him as confirming the American use of sarin,
a nerve agent, in a mission to hunt down U.S. defectors in Laos
during the Vietnam War. But he soon said he had simply heard of
unconfirmed stories about it and had no independent knowledge.
The network later retracted the story and reached a settlement
with Moorer.

He also accused Israel of deliberately attacking the USS
Liberty, an American spy ship monitoring the 1967 Six Day War.
Israel said it was an error.

Navy biographies list residences in Eufala, Ala., and McLean,
Va. His family includes his wife, the former Carrie Ellen Foy,
and four children.

__________________________________________________ _____________

o__ I'll tell you the truth about the USS LIBERTY, visit
_./)_
(_) \(_) http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/

_____________________(updated frequently)______________________


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.ht...utlook/2345393

Houston Chronicle | Jan. 9, 2004, 6:23PM

Betrayal behind Israeli attack on U.S. ship

By ADM. THOMAS MOORER

After State Department officials and historians assembled in Washington,
D.C., last week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, I am compelled
to speak out about one of U.S. history's most shocking cover-ups.

On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship -- the USS Liberty --
killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then
betrayed and left to die by our own government.

U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled, not once, but twice, through
direct intervention by the Johnson administration. Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara's cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty,
which I personally confirmed from the commanders of the aircraft carriers
America and Saratoga, was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire
military career.

To add insult to injury, Congress, to this day, has failed to hold formal
hearings on Israel's attack on this American ship. No official
investigation of Israel's attack has ever permitted the testimony of the
surviving crew members.

A 1967 investigation by the Navy, upon which all other reports are based,
has now been fully discredited as a cover-up by its senior attorney. Capt.
Ward Boston, in a sworn affidavit, recently revealed that the court was
ordered by the White House to cover up the incident and find that Israel's
attack was "a case of mistaken identity."

Some distinguished colleagues and I formed an independent commission to
investigate the attack on the USS Liberty. After an exhaustive review of
previous reports, naval and other military records, including eyewitness
testimony from survivors, we recently presented our findings on Capitol
Hill. They include:

· Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an
eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the
ship. Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility.
The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters,
flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and
numbers on its bow.

Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with
a small Egyptian transport, the Liberty was conspicuously different from
any vessel in the Egyptian navy. It was the most sophisticated intelligence
ship in the world in 1967. With its massive radio antennae, including a
large satellite dish, it looked like a large lobster and was one of the
most easily identifiable ships afloat.

· Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a
call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.

· Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had
been lowered to rescue the most seriously wounded.

As a result, our commission concluded that:

· There is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate
attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.

· In attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against
U.S. servicemen and an act of war against the United States

· The White House knowingly covered up the facts of this attack from the
American people.

· The truth continues to be concealed to the present day in what can only
be termed a national disgrace.

What was Israel's motive in launching this attack? Congress must address
this question with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the
Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services.

The men of the USS Liberty represented the United States. They were
attacked for two hours, causing 70 percent of American casualties, and the
eventual loss of our best intelligence ship.

These sailors and Marines were entitled to our best defense. We gave them
no defense.

Did our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? If so, why?
Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli
interests? These are important questions that should be investigated by an
independent, fully empowered commission of the American government.

The American people deserve to know the truth about this attack. We must
finally shed some light on one of the blackest pages in American naval
history. It is a duty we owe not only to the brave men of the USS Liberty,
but to every man and woman who is asked to wear the uniform of the United
States.


Moorer was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 1970 to 1974. He is
joined in the independent commission of inquiry by Gen. Ray Davis (recently
deceased); Rear Adm. Merlin Staring; former Judge Advocate General of the
Navy and Ambassador James Akins.

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

http://www.wrmea.com

The latest issue of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
contains Admiral Moorer's article and Captain Boston's declar-
ation, which I am sure you all have seen. It also contains the
below-listed article by Delinda C. Hanley. / John
================================================== ==============
From The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2004.
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THOSE NOT INVITED TO SPEAK STEAL THE SHOW
AT STATE DEPARTMENT LIBERTY DISCUSSION
By Delinda C. Hanley

The Department of State hosted on Jan. 12, 2004 a highly
charged panel discussion on Israel's June 8, 1967 attack on the
USS LIBERTY, which killed 34 Americans and wounded 172. Panel-
ists included historians, an Israeli author, a bankruptcy judge,
and a plucky investigative reporter. The State Department did
not invite as speakers LIBERTY survivors or other military ex-
perts who played key roles in the tragedy. Nonetheless, despite
clumsy attempts to silence them, the voices of survivors and their
supporters came through lound and clear.
Moderator Dr. Marc Susser, the State Department historian,
opened the two-day conference, called to mark the release of the
third volume of a trilogy focusing on U.S. foreign policy during
the Johnson administration. The latest volume documents U.S. pol-
icy directly before, during and after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli
war and includes newly declassified documents concerning Israel's
attack on the USS LIBERTY.
According to Susser, historians were granted full access to
all the Johnson administration's files, and "selected those doc-
uments that best told the history of U.S. foreign policy." By
law, Susser said, U.S. government documents are open to public
scrutiny -- although he admitted that after nearly 37 years,
some documents still could not be declassified. In a democracy,
the State Department historian stated, people have the right to
know, and their government must ensure its actions are not secret
forever. (See text on the Offrice of the Historian Web site,
www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb. )
Ambassador David Satterfield, deputy assistant secretary of
the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, next described the historical
importance of the 1967 war, as Israel and the Arabs today make
painful choices. Repeatedly referring to Palestinian terrorism,
he neglected Israel's brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians,
although he did say that Israeli settlement activity in Arab land
captured in 1967 must stop. Satterfield's remarks dampened aud-
ience expectations for an even-handed U.S. approach to peacemaking.
According to trilogy editor Dr. Harriet Schwar, her department
took 26 years to compile this 1,100-page history of U.S. policy in
the Middle East, weeding through documents culled from the White
House, State Department, CIA, NSA, Navy and other U.S. government
records. The most important documents have now been released,
Schwar said, with only a few not declassified and a few excised.
As for Israel's attack on its ally's ship, Schwar said her
staff found no evidence that the U.S. had overheard Israel's or-
ders to attack the LIBERTY, or any indication that there ever had
been any such recordings.
Dr. David Robarge of the Central Intelligence Agency's history
staff was proud of the CIA's accurate analysis and unpoliticized
intelligence in 1967. U.S. foreign policy mainly consisted of
keeping out of the Arab-Israeli war, he said, in order to avoid a
larger confrontation with the Soviet Union. As tensions rose in
the region, Israel had begged for U.S. arms and assistance, claim-
ing to be the underdog. But CIA intelligence contradicted this
claim, indicating Israel would quickly win a war with Arab states
without U.S. assistance.
According to University of Arizona Professor Charles Smith,
the Johnson administration was well aware that Israel fired the
war's first shots. Egypt had been about to send a delegation to
Washington, DC to make peace -- but Israel wanted U.S. sympathy,
as well as Arab territory. Had the Egyptian delegation met with
U.S. officials, Israel would have had no justification to attack.
Johnson's administration, Smith explained, believed that once
Israel had conquered Arab territory, the Jewish state would be
able to negotiate a lasting peace settlement from a position of
strength.
Dr. David Hatch, technical director at the Center for Cryptol-
ogic History, began his remarks on the LIBERTY controversy by
saying, "The good news is that information long sought by re-
searchers is now out -- and the bad news is that it does not set-
tle it." For three and a half decades the NSA withheld trans-
cripts from an intercept of Israeli helicopter pilots speaking
with air controllers and puzzling over the identity of the LIBER-
TY -- because, Hatch said, they didn't know it was important.
The pilots were told to identify the ship, and take any English-
speaking survivors to one place and Egyptians to another.
Next to speak was Judge A. Jay Cristol, whose recent book,
THE LIBERTY INCIDENT: THE 1967 ATTACK ON THE U.S. NAVY SPY SHIP,
was described by one retired government official in the audience
as a "brief for a guilty client: Israel." Cristol asked the
audience to applaud two LIBERTY survivors in the audience, his
"friends" Joe Lentini and Phil Tourney. (In the all-too-brief 15
minutes allotted for questions, the survivors denied being Cris-
tol's friends.) Cristol spent his 15 minutes of fame listing
real or imagined fans of his book.
Eventually the bankruptcy court judge turned to Admiral Isaac
C. Kidd's Naval Court of Inquiry, which concluded that Israel's
attack on the LIBERTY was a mistake. Cristol acknowledged the
recent declaration by Captain Ward Boston, the former U.S. Navy
attorney who helped Kidd investigate the attack. This document
was submitted to State Department panel organizers, but had not
been mentioned until that point. Alison Weir, founder of If
Americans Knew, passed out copies of the declaration to members
of the audience.
Boston states that, despite overwhelming evidence to the con-
trary, he and the admiral had been ordered to make a false report
and say the attack was an accident. Cristol lambasted Boston
both for breaking his oath to tell the truth in court and for
dishonoring the name of Admiral Kidd, who was another of Cris-
tol's "friends," as evidenced by a signed photo hanging in the
judge's office. The case on the LIBERTY should be closed, Cris-
tol argued, because every investigation has concluded the attack
was an accident.
Like a breath of fresh air, investigative journalist James
Bamford took his turn at the podium. He gave a concise account
of the "planned and deliberate" attack on the LIBERTY and the
subsequent cover-up, comparing it to Iran-Contra and other scan-
dals Bamford has investigated over the years. "I wouldn't be in
business if the government didn't cover things up," he said.
He expressed indignation that two of the panelists selected by
the U.S. State Department represented Israel, while no one was
there to represent American LIBERTY survivors.
Scoffing at claims that Israelis believed the ship was an
Egyptian horse carrier, Bamford cited a TV interview with the
Israeli who was tasked to identify the ship in JANE'S FIGHTING
SHIP manual. He then proceeded to read the hard-hitting Boston
declaration.
Israel intentionally tried to sink the LIBERTY, Bamford argued,
to cover up the massacre of Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai.
President Johnson's administration then hid the facts to avoid
harming ties with Israel.
Bamford, whose book BODY OF SECRETS includes a chapter on the
LIBERTY, charged that there never has been an independent invest-
igation of the attack -- in sharp contrast to painstaking, if in-
conclusive, investigations after attacks on the USS COLE, U.S. em-
bassies, or the Khobar Towers. Israel investigated the attack,
Bamford acknowledged, but said that was like asking Enron to in-
vestigate itself. He concluded by calling for a full investigation
of the attack on the LIBERTY while those who were there could still
tell their story.
Dr. Michael Oren, author of SIX DAYS OF WAR: JUNE 1967 AND THE
MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST, said he'd hoped his research
into hundreds of pages of Israeli documents would provide the last
word. Oren, who works for the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center, said
he sympathized with LIBERTY survivors because he, too, had sur-
vived a tragic "friendly fire incident" when he was a paratrooper
with the Israeli army. He also noted that in 1967 the U.S. en-
dured 5,000 friendly fire incidents in Vietnam.
Oren shifted the blame for the LIBERTY "accident" directly onto
the shoulders of Washington, DC, because the U.S. government
didn't know the ship was still in the area. The National Security
agancy should have notified Israel that its spy ship was in inter-
national waters nearby, Oren charged.
Numerous Israeli overflights observed by sunbathing LIBERTY
survivors prior to theattack were made by Israeli cargo planes,
not surveillance planes, Oren claimed, and therefore Israel had
no reports that the ship was in the area. According to Oren, no
Israeli planes had noted the ship's American flag or the huge
Latin -- not Arabic -- letters on the hull.
The Israeli author -- who sounds like he was born and bred in
this country -- then stretched attendees' credulity by saying the
marker noting the LIBERTY as a friendly vessel had inexplicably
been removed from the Israeli war board. Oren claimed that
Israeli fighters were so exhausted by the war they may have com-
mitted unfortunate errors, but the they certainly weren't crim-
inally negligent.
Oren characterized Americans who still believe the attack on
the LIBERTY was intentional as belonging to anti-Israel hate
groups or as religious extremists. It would be impossible to
hush up evidence of Israeli wrongdoing, he claimed, due to the
"porousness of Israeli society."
Oren, too, called for an independent investigation -- although
he promised nothing new will turn up. The U.S. would have to
answer to why a lightly armed U.S. spy ship was sent into a war
zone, he warned.
Dr. Smith summarized the common ground, disagreements and
flaws in panelists' interpretation of historical documents.
There is still evidence, he suggested, that the government is
reluctant to reveal.
Newspaper accounts of the conference concluded that Israel and
the U.S. share the blame for Israel's attack on the LIBERTY.
Although the conference was broadcast live on C-SPAN 2, most
mainstream media reports did not include the very moving comments
and questions posed by LIBERTY survivors in the audience. Joe
Lentini said he was appalled to hear "gentlemen who were in
diapers in 1967" justify what happened to his shipmates. When
panel moderator Susser asked Joseph Lentini to ask one question
instead of making a comment, Lentini responded there were so many
half-truths and misstatements spoken at the conference, he didn't
know which question to ask first.
Josie Toth Linen, whose brother Stephen was killed as he tried
to identify the marking on the attacking planes, said she had
questions about how Israelis knew which frequencies to jam if they
didn't know the ship was American. She wondered who recalled the
planes sent from the 6th Fleet to help the ship. She asked about
the think tank that financed Oren's book... until an irate Susser
abruptly cut her questions short and brought the session to a
close.
The moderator's treatment of survivors bordered on abusive,
according to former Congressman Paul Findley, who watched the
session from his home in Illinois. Frustrated audience members
shouted, "Let's hear from another survivor [referring to USS
LIBERTY Survivor Association President Phil Tourney, who was wait-
ing to speak], one more survivor! Two Israelis and one survivor
.... one more survivor has the right to talk."
Others angrily accused the State Department of helping cover
up Israel's actions. Few of those in the long line at the mic-
rophone had the opportunity to pose their questions in the 15
minutes allotted.
As attendees filed out, journalists swarmed around survivors
and their supporters, who finally were given the chance to
speak -- even if not by representatives of their own government.
A young man wearing a YARMULKE was heard to comment, "I can't
believe people are still so upset after all these years!"
While LIBERTY survivors and their supporters were prepared
and eager to present their evidence and eyewitness accounts of
the Israeli attack on a lightly armed American intelligence ship,
they instead were witness to a cover-up in action by the U.S.
State Department.
Americans who had the chance to watch the hearing might won-
der why their government is afraid to release every document
in its possession, no matter how damaging, and hold a congress-
ional investigation in order to set the historica record straight
-- once and for all.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on
Middle East Affairs.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Note: The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is one of
the few magazines in the world that supports the Liberty
survivors and where you can get the truth about the Middle
East. It supports the UN resolutions and traditional American
support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play.
If you've never seen this magazine, call 1-800-368-5788.
They'll send you a free sample copy, and hope to welcome you
as a subscriber.
-------------------------------------------------------------

__________________________________________________ _____________

o__ I'll tell you the truth about the USS LIBERTY, visit
_./)_
(_) \(_) http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/

_____________________(updated constantly)______________________


DECLARATION OF WARD BOSTON, JR., CAPTAIN, JAGC, USN (RET.)

I, WARD BOSTON, JR. DO DECLARE THAT THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS TRUE AND
COMPLETE:
1. 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.
2. HOWEVER, RECENT ATTEMPTS TO REWRITE HISTORY COMPEL ME TO SHARE THE TRUTH.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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."
6. 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.
7. 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
*******S." 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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."
14. 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.
15. IT IS CRISTOL'S INSIDIOUS ATTEMPT TO WHITEWASH THE FACTS THAT HAS PUSHED ME
TO SPEAK OUT.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.

25. 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.
26. CONTRARY TO THE MISINFORMATION PRESENTED BY CRISTOL AND OTHERS, IT IS
IMPORTANT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT IT IS CLEAR