In his screed about the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, “The Liberty Incident Revealed,” Capt. Jay Cristol paints a picture of an attack different from one that USS Liberty survivors lived through. Despite being highly touted by the US Naval Institute Press, the book doesn’t live up to the hype. It’s obvious purpose is to serve as an Israel apologia.
But it fails miserably.
by Joe Meadors
The USNI Press does yeoman’s work in advertising Jay Cristol’s book, “The Liberty Incident Revealed” That is IF you are into blatant pro-Israel propaganda.
The Liberty Incident Revealed is the complete and final story about the Israeli Air Force and Navy attack on the USS Liberty during the Six Day War in June 1967.
US Naval Institute Press
It is “the complete and final story” about an attack on a US Navy ship that the US government hasn’t investigated in the past 54+ years and shows no inclination to do so now. How can the USNI Press claim Cristol’s account is “the complete and final story” when our own government hasn’t bothered to find out what happened.
Cutting through all of the controversy and conspiracy theories about Israel’s deadly attack, Cristol revises his well-regarded book about the event with an expanded and in-depth analysis of all of the sources, including the released tapes of the National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts.
US Naval Institute Press
The NSA tapes should be the gold standard that proves the attack was as Capt. Cristol (and obviously the USNI Press) wants you to believe. That the Israeli military conducted the attack in accordance with international law and US statutes.
But they don’t. In fact, what the NSA has released is virtually worthless when it comes to determining what happened during the attack. Cristol mentions the NSA as if just mentioning the name gives his account credibility.
But it doesn’t. And it is so obvious that it doesn’t that it makes one wonder why the USNI Press included the claim in their advertisement.
The first recording (104) is 15 minutes.
The second recording (105) is 32 minutes.
The third recording (106) is 4 minutes.
The NSA would have you believe that their radio intercept officers turned on their tape recorders for 15 minutes, then turned them off and on again for 32 minutes, then off and finally on again for 4 minutes, then off.
Is that how the NSA works?
Cristol’s successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the NSA, while resulting in the release of those tapes, has been greeted by anti-Israel sources insisting that the NSA tapes are fraudulent and are part of a larger conspiracy to deceive the American public.
US Naval Institute Press
This comment is obviously not directed at us since we don’t insist the NSA tapes are fraudulent but that they are incomplete.
And we don’t believe that a conspiracy exists to deceive the American public.
What we DO believe is that an opposing force committed War Crimes during the attack on the USS Liberty. Further, we believe that the US government has not investigated the attack which makes this the only attack on a US Navy ship since the end of WWII NOT to be the subject of a Congressional investigation, or as the Congressional Research Service tells us, not the subject of a US government investigation.
I will continue this analysis in a subsequent blog entry.
We live to educate the American Public about the attack on our ship and to ensure the US government finally investigates it. To do this, we must enlist those who follow this blog to ask their followers to do the same, etc.
To participate in our effort, please encourage your friends and colleagues to visit our Landing Page and subscribe to our blog updates.
You can also ask the NSA to release all the tapes of the attack. They admit they have them but won’t release them. I’ve asked them so many times they have told me they will simply discard any further requests from me to have them released.