“Remember the Maine!”, was the cry back in 1898 from William Randolph Heart’s New York Journal – a forerunner the modern Murdoch press. Then, some 274 men lost their lives as a result of the explosion which sunk the USS Maine in Havana Harbor.
Hearst even told a story of how the enemy had planted a torpedo beneath the Maine and detonated it from shore. The only problem was – it never happened.
Nonetheless, the event used as the popular pretext for the United State’s entry into the Spanish-American War, and ultimately, the acquisition of Cuba itself by the US. This was now the modern blueprint for using propaganda in conjunction with, what is accepted by many historians, a type of false-flag event.
Some 70 years later, on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, a similar event took place off the coast of Egypt.
It could well have been, “Remember the Liberty!”, following an event which saw 34 US men killed and 170 wounded when the USS Liberty was attacked by both the Israeli Air Force and Israeli Navy torpedo boats. History now reveals that Israel’s slaughter of the USS Liberty crew was designed as a false flag event, but luckily Russia intervened at the last minute before Israel could sink the decorated American ship. Had it worked, it could have been used to drag the US and her allies into a new regional, or even a third world war - with who knows what consequences.
If a conflict is to ignite in the Persian Gulf in 2012, it is highly likely that the US or Israel will use the false flag option. Two reasons support this. Firstly, Iran lacks a motive to want to engage in a suicidal first strike against the axis powers – a move which would no doubt cost them thousands of innocent lives and billions in infrastructure. Frankly, it’s safe to say that it’s not at all in the Iranian national interest to start such a conflict. History does show however, that the US and Israel can – and will, employ the technique of the false flag attack, where they would engineer an incident and then blame it on the Iranians. By all accounts, this is also how the US was able to fake their way into the costly and bloody Vietnam War, via the infamous Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
Recent weeks have seen a massive build-up of naval assets in the Persian Gulf by both the US and the British. The irony of surface naval power in the 21st century is that it is only good for one thing, and that is the ‘projection of force’. In fact, Naval Power ceased to be a major factor geopolitical power-play since the dawn of the 20th century, when it was usurped by Air Power.
As Great Britain learned in the Falklands War back in 1982, even a single French Exocet missile can sink a battleship, or aircraft carrier. Iran has more than this capability, so for all practical purposes, any American ships in the region are nothing more than bait – large, slow sitting targets. Which begs the obvious question: why would the US be sending its soon-to-be decommissioned, rusty chess piece – the 50 year old nuclear-powered USS Enterprise carrier into the line of fire in the Persian Gulf? A very large and expendable, floating museum, and one which, interestingly enough with its six on board nuclear reactors… would probably cost a fortune to dispose of.
If other sides are drawn in to a conflict, most experts agree that it has the danger of escalating into a WWIII situation, and both sides would surely be losers in such a scenario, not to mention the global economy.
However, we have the ideal set of conditions for a New Cold War to emerge in the early 21st Century – one where the Western Axis powers of the US, Europe, Israel and GCC countries sit on one side, and with Iran, Syria, Pakistan, China, and perhaps Russia sitting on the opposite side. This New Cold War will be more about the projection of power and securing sub-regional dominance in terms of economics – natural gas, mineral and trade relationships, as well as petroleum – than it will about the political ideologies that seemed to dominate the previous 20th Century Cold War.
On the surface, this latest spat between the US and Iran looks like a step closer to war, but on closer examination however, the present conditions are not at all ideal for a preemptive strike against Iran by the US, or Israel. Why? In a time when fuel consumption is down worldwide, and oil supplies are high, oil prices are defying economics and maintaining strength above $100 per barrel. It’s also worth noting that defense contracts – particularly in the GCC countries – are way up, meaning there is still much money to be made from this current crisis – on both sides, including Iran.
Still though, we must keep our eyes open for that false flag from the west.
I have just read a blog article at http://goo.gl/mlgjS that, if true, we find insulting to the officers and crew of the USS Liberty.
In that article we are told that, “When the Israeli ambassador visited the U.S. Naval Academy last week, students were instructed not to bring up the USS Liberty incident.”
Could you tell us if that statement is correct and, if it is, could you give me the fax number or email address of the Superintendent of the USNA to whom I can direct a more detailed response?
“But it’s not okay to bring up grievances like the USS Liberty, if you are familiar with that incident.”(The USS Liberty cover up never stops even in 2012. The cover up is now more dangerous than the 34 murders and 1967 deliberate attack. - jd)
When the Israeli ambassador visited the U.S. Naval Academy last week, students were instructed not to bring up the USS Liberty incident, reports one midshipmen.
That may sound like simple courtesy — except that the diplomat’s subject apparently was the history of friendship between the American naval service and his country. “His speech was primarily aimed at convincing a group of young midshipmen that Israel was their eternal and greatest ally,” the midshipmen says. “Drawing on historical anecdotes, he was able to create a sense of kinship between not just America and Israel, but the U.S. Navy and Israel.”
The midshipmen says the pre-visit instructions were along the lines of, “It is not appropriate, in a setting like this, to bring up any major points of contention during conversation, current or historical. It is okay to talk about issues like Iran or the two state solution, where our nations have a largely common view. But it’s not okay to bring up grievances like the USS Liberty, if you are familiar with that incident.”
GRASONVILLE William Mark Kram of Grasonville died peacefully Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, at home. He was 65.
WILLIAM M. KRAM
He was born Sept. 6, 1946, in Baltimore, the son of the late Melvin Kram Sr. and Mary Gourley.
Mark graduated from Towson Catholic High School before joining the Navy in 1965. During his time in the Navy, he served as an electronics technician aboard the USS Liberty and was a crewmember during the June 8, 1967, attack on the Liberty. After his service, Mark graduated from UMBC in 1973, and was employed as a drug sales representative in southern New Jersey. During this time he met his future wife, Karen, who was a pharmacist in Cape May, N.J. They married in August 1975, and later moved to Annapolis.
Mark completed his accounting certificate from the University of Baltimore and was admitted as a C.P.A in 1981. He started his own practice on Kent Island that same year and later moved to Grasonville. He later met long time friend and business partner Thomas J. McCarthy. Kram and McCarthy combined their C.P.A. practices in 1986. Mark graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1993, and was admitted to the Bar later that year and began his law practice.
Mark earned his private pilot’s license in 2009 and enjoyed flying his Cessna Cardinal. He also was an active member of Grasonville VFW Post 7464, where he was a past Commander. He enjoyed his frequent trips to Ocean City, where he liked to go fishing, and spend time with his family, especially his two grandsons.
He is survived by his wife Karen; sons, Andrew and his wife Stacey, and Bradley; his grandsons, John Henry and Zachary; siblings, John Kram Sr. and his wife Pauline, Maris Stella Harrison and her husband Richard, and Kathleen Thomas; brother-in-law Frank T. Cimino; sisters-in-law, Marianne Kram, Joanne Kram and Nanette Gebhardt-Kram; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, Mark was preceded in death by his siblings, Cecelia Cimino, Melvin Kram Jr., Paul Kram Sr. and Richard Kram, and his grandson Andrew M. Kram Jr.
Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home P.A., in Chester. A Funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Queenstown.
Burial will follow at St. Peter’s Catholic Cemetery.
Memorial donations for cancer research at the National Institutes of Health may be made to W. Mark Kram Cancer Fund, c/o Bank Annapolis, 1245 Shopping Center Road, Stevens-ville MD 21666.
For online condolences, please visit www.fhnfuneral home.com
Honest honorable men fighting a severe injustice against their own supposed representative government’s love affair for the benefit of a foreign country, its disloyal Israel First supporters and campaign contributions they receive from themselves. It’s enough to make you vomit. Remember the USS Liberty. Israel is not worth it. -jd
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:31:57 -0500 From: Ernie Gallo Subject: Fwd: [Liberty] NSA release To: jgidusko (and others)
———————-
FYI, cheers, Ernie
————Original message——————
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:50:21 -0500 From: “Jim Ennes” Subject: Re: [Liberty] NSA release To: “Ernie Gallo” (and others)
Thanks to Ernie Gallo for forwarding the “new” and claimed-to-be-complete list of NSA links to Liberty information
USS Liberty turning while under attack by Israel in international waters . Attacked without warning.
Sadly, NSA still ignores and claims not to have or to be aware of any of the several known and verified intercepts of communications between the attacking jet pilots and their headquarters before, during and after the attack as described by Richard Block, Stephen Forslund, Ron Gotcher, Patrick Lane and Dwight Porter in reports told independently, separately and often under oath or otherwise certified as factual. Sadly, the release of such data would “embarrass an ally,” which is not permitted under any circumstances.
Why is it that the risk of “embarrassing an ally” takes priority above the death of 34 men, the loss of a United States Ship, multiple documented war crimes and the violation of international law and US law?
The earliest such report, though not the first to reach us, came from US Air Force Captain Richard Block who, as duty watch captain with the USAF 6931st Security Squadron on the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, about 350 miles from the Gaza Strip. Captain Block’s presence of mind was fortuitous. Recognizing the intercepted instant-translations between Israeli pilots and their controllers as important, he took immediate action to forward the translations not only to national authorities in Washington at the highest precedence for intelligence material (CRITIC), also to Air Force All Source Intelligence Centers around the world. People who saw these translations were stunned by what they read, yet they were sworn to secrecy by the most stringent security restrictions and for the most part, while horrified, kept the story and their feelings to themselves for many years. Years later, these people started to come forward, as recounted below.
One such analyst was Air Force Captain Stephen Forslund on duty as a US Air Force intelligence analyst at the 544th Air Reconnaissance Technical Wng, Offut Air Force Base, Omaha, Nebraska. Forslund eventually retired from the Air Force after 26 years of service, and told us the story after reading Assault on the Liberty.
A statement by former Air Force analyst James Ronald Gotcher, who saw the same intercepts as a US Air Force Intelligence Analyst with the 6924th Security Squadron, Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam.
Statement by Army Colonel Patrick Lang who saw the intercepted material at an advanced cryptology course at Fort Holabird, Maryland, a few months after the attack.
Ambassador Dwight Porter describes seeing the intercepted materials described by Gotcher, Forslund, Block, Lang and others.
Just as Lyndon John [sic] declined to “embarrass an ally” by allowing US jets to defend USS Liberty, so the US government ever since as declined to “embarrass an ally” by releasing the full story of the attack on our shi
–attacked the USS Liberty (1967) and killed almost three dozen [34] American sailors. (with impunity -jd)
–has stockpiled numerous atomic and hydrogen bombs.
–engages in organized espionage in America’s government, military, and industry.
–is one of the world’s largest arms exporters.
–discriminates against its citizens of Arab ethnicity.
And, now, Israel wants to deny its citizens one of the rights we hold most dear–the right to speak freely, even when it offends others.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Survivor of Israeli Attack Reveals Secrets of 1967 High Seas Massacre
January 13, 2012
By Victor Thorn
from Dennis Eickleberry
AMERICAN FREE PRESS and its predecessor, The Spotlight, are the only national newspapers that have regularly given coverage over the past quarter-century to the Israeli naval and air attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. During a Dec. 30, 2011 interview with Phil Tourney, a Liberty survivor and co-author of the book What I Saw That Day, the Navy veteran revealed to AFP one more bombshell that few have ever been willing to discuss about the duplicitous attack.
“Forty-four years after the fact, I can only come to one conclusion about what happened on June 8, 1967,” said Tourney. “The USS Liberty was set up by the U.S. government to be sunk by the Israeli military so that they could blame it on Egypt. After this attack, two American aircrafts were launched carrying nuclear-tipped missiles in order to bomb Cairo. That city was within three minutes of being obliterated. Without a doubt, it would have started WWIII.”
Blood pooling in a USS Liberty gun tubs after the attack.
Tourney lived through what has become the greatest military cover-up and conspiracy in this nation’s history. Thirty-four crewmembers were killed during this Israeli assault, and 174 were wounded, most of them critically.
One of the subjects discussed during this interview was, what would happen if the American public finally had their eyes opened about this unmitigated act of war perpetrated by the nation of Israel.
“If the truth ever came out,” Tourney began, “it would change history and how people felt about the Israeli state. If the mainstream media devoted an entire week of stories to the USS Liberty and exactly what happened, the American people would be up in arms, begging for blood. Even though I’ve been accused of being an anti-Semite for trying to tell the truth, everyone should remember one important point—USS Liberty crewmembers didn’t murder anyone. The state of Israel did. The truth will change history.”
USS Liberty 14 hours after attack linping towards Malta
When asked to elaborate, Tourney said: “Things would change drastically in regard to Zionism. There would no longer be any money, aid or weaponry being sent to Israel. If people were interested enough to study this subject, they’d find out further that Adm. [Thomas] Moorer and Capt. Ward Boston wrote scathing articles to the Navy Board of Inquiry saying its report [on the Liberty] was a complete lie and sham.”
Tourney added that “Israel ruined many lives that day—not only survivors, but families that lost loved ones, too. Many of the wounded have long since died, taken their own lives, been thrown in prison or are messed up in the head.”
USS Liberty immediately after the attack 17 hours when the resue ships arrived.
Today, Tourney’s feelings on how government officials turned their backs on him and his shipmates are heartfelt, sincere and poignant.
“It’s like parents hiring a hit man to kill you,” he added. “Then they go to the prison and spring your killer. That’s exactly what the U.S. government did to us. When they put a gun to our heads, they put a gun to everyone’s head.”
LEAD-UP TO THE ATTACK
As one of the self-described “walking wounded,” Tourney explained what transpired in the hours leading up to this pivotal event:
“On June 7, one day before the attack, I was aboard the Liberty, which was the world’s most sophisticated spy ship,” said Tourney. “We were heading toward the Mediterranean to monitor the Six-Day War so that we could communicate our findings directly back to the National Security Agency in Fort Meade. They received our communications immediately because we bounced microwave signals off the Moon.”
Only 20 years old at the time, Tourney took immense pride in his ship and its mission. He also felt safe in the supposed notion that Israel was our ally.
“I’d heard all through life how badly the Israelis had been treated,” he said. “I never knew any better. I never did any research. So, I believed it. But later I found out that historians were either wrong or they lied. Even on the morning of June 8 while on sound and security watch, I felt safe because our good friend Israel was protecting us. In the distance, I could see black smoke rising from bombs being dropped, yet gave little thought to being attacked, especially since large U.S. flags flying from the Liberty gave us cover.”
At 2 p.m. on June 8, Tourney’s life would be forever changed. His words are fueled by the sheer horror of what he endured that day:
“Jet aircrafts came in firing and strafing our ship,” he said. “Within minutes they took out hundreds of antennae and all of our .450-caliber machine guns. We were defenseless.”
But all those aboard were not without hope. Utilizing true American ingenuity and never giving up their fighting spirit, Tourney described a miraculous effort.
“About half-an-hour into the attack,” he said, “one of our men stretched a long wire so that we could transmit a message to the Sixth Fleet: ‘Under Attack by Unmarked Fighters. Send Help.’ A number of ships received this SOS, and soon Capt. Joseph Tully of the USS Saratoga ordered planes to rescue us.”
However, in an act that goes well beyond betrayal into the realm of full-fledged treason, Tourney laid out how Liberty became a ship without a country.
“Defense Secretary Robert McNamara contacted the Saratoga and recalled the fighters, telling them not to aid our ship,” he said. “But, showing true courage, Tully re-launched the jets, without authorization . . . After the second set of fighter jets were dispatched, the president of the United States—Lyndon Johnson—personally recalled them,” said Tourney.
Tourney says Johnson told Tully: “I don’t give a [expletive] if that ship goes to the bottom and every sailor is lost. We will not embarrass our ally, Israel.”
Phil Tourney's book
If the audacity of this heartless command wasn’t bad enough, Tourney interjected with his own appraisal of the situation.
“The only message we’d sent from the makeshift wire that had been strung was: ‘Attacked by unmarked aircraft’,” he added. “We never initially identified the attackers. So how did LBJ know Israel was behind the assault?”
Following a hellish two-hour attack where Israeli jets dropped napalm on Liberty, pierced its sides with 850 cannon holes and blasted open a gaping 40-foot-by-40-foot hole with torpedoes, a “prepare to abandon ship” order had been given. But Tourney tells what ensued: “The [Israelis] immediately shot our life rafts in the water. They sunk two of them and took a third aboard their boat as a trophy.”
When asked what he did in the aftermath, Tourney replied: “We kept looking for American help because we knew they got our message. But none ever arrived. So that night, I held a lantern as a doctor operated on my good friend Gary Blanchard. I could tell he wasn’t long for this world.. . . [T]he doctor cut Gary open from his chest to groin. . . . [H]is kidneys were shot up. He died a few moments later.”
AFP inquired as to Tourney’s state of mind at that moment, surrounded by death and chaos.
“You have to remember,” he began. “our ship had been on fire with napalm, and Liberty’s fuel tanks were burning. I was filled with rage and anger. We’re the greatest nation on Earth, and no one came to help. . . At that point I realized: We’re going to have to do this on our own. My biggest fear, though, was that the Israelis would return and finish us off. Plus, let’s be clear, every crewmember knew Israel was responsible, because we saw their flag on the torpedo boats.”
A day or two later as Liberty limped toward a port in Malta, Adm. Isaac Kidd assembled the survivors in small groups and, after removing his stars, demanded to know what occurred.
After learning the truth, a red-faced Kidd pinned his stars back on his uniform and said, “If any of you ever repeat a word, I’ll make sure you end up in the penitentiary, or worse,” Tourney said.
Stunned by these remarks, Tourney told AFP: “I thought he was going to say that America would make sure that Israel paid for what it did to us. But instead, I think the government hoped that our ship would sink before it ever reached Malta.”
Get Your Copy of What I Saw That Day: (softcover, 282 pages, #WIS, $30 plus $5 S&H) available from AFP’s FIRST AMENDMENT BOOKS. Call (888) 699-NEWS to charge. Send cash, check or money order to FAB, 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, #100, Washington, D.C. 20003.
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McCain, Bachmann Confronted Over ‘Incident’
By Victor Thorn
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) knows the truth about what happened to the USS Liberty, because his father was directly involved in the cover-up. During a Jan. 4 interview with AFP, James Morris, the editor of a news and commentary website entitled “America Hijacked,” referenced a monumentally historical event when Liberty survivor Capt. Ward Boston approached McCain at a political fundraiser and told him he’d worked with his father.
According to Morris, McCain’s face abruptly turned white before he ushered Boston away and moved on to the next person in line.
“McCain and his admiral father covered up the USS Liberty attack on orders that came down from the highest corridors of the U.S. government,” Morris said. Liberty survivor Tourney agrees. “McCain has been part of the cover-up and knew exactly what happened to us,” Tourney said. “This fact has been documented since at least 1981. But his reaction leaves a lot to be desired. He claims: ‘It was a tragic mistake. Forget it. Get over it. Israel paid reparations.’ . . . McCain won’t tell people that most of the crewmen only received $200 or $250 in compensation.”
On Dec. 29, 2011, during a national radio broadcast from DesMoines, Iowa that was simulcast on C-SPAN, host Jan Mickelson had as his guest Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who at the time was still vying for the Republican presidential nomination. After a brief introduction and a few pleasantries, Mickelson took calls from his listeners.
The first to dial in was Morris, who addressed the guest with a taboo subject.
“I suggest Michele Bachmann do a Google search for Cindy McCain and the USS Liberty,” Morris told listeners to the radio show. “Israel is not an ally of America. They deliberately murdered American sailors and Marines on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. Michele Bachmann is willing to overlook that. She’s also spreading lies about Ron Paul, who is not going to put our country at risk militarily. Michele Bachmann is a neocon Israel firster. She’s willing to get us into World War III by initiating a war with Iran. [Iran’s president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad never threatened to wipe Israel off the map.”
At this point, Mickelson abruptly cut off Morris and snidely remarked, “He’s on a Ron Paul rant there.” He then asked Mrs. Bachmann if she had any comments.
Completely ignoring all references to the Liberty, Mrs. Bachmann instead repeated a mantra indicative of her slavish devotion to Israel.
“I do believe Israel is our ally, and we need to stand for Israel,” she said.
Yet again, the unprovoked attack by a foreign power on an American ship remained the 800-pound gorilla in the room—ignored by the media and politicians that are supposed to stand with our servicemen against such hostilities.
—— Victor Thorn is a hard-hitting researcher, journalist and the author of many books on 9-11 and the New World Order. These include 9-11 Evil: The Israeli Role in 9-11 and Phantom Flight 93 and Other Sept. 11 Mysteries Explored.
The USS Liberty was attacked by Israel with the intention to make it look as if the ship was destroyed by Egypt, thus giving the USA a reason to enter the Six-Day-War. However, the Israelis failed to sink the ship and the sailor aboard managed to get out an SOS, enabling the USS Liberty to limp to safety.
Now many people blame Israel and view the USA as the victim, but that wasn’t probably the case. The USA wanted to enter that war, they had the aircraft carriers with the nukes ready to attack Cairo ‘in retaliation’ for the presumed sinking on the USS Liberty. The war planes were actually lauched, but when it turned out that the USS Liberty was still afloat and had survivors aboard that could testify, the planes were hastily called back and told not to interfere. Lyndon B. Johnson himself said he wanted the USS Liberty sunk, ordering the aircraft carriers to NOT help her. Well, watch the documentary above, it’s an eye opener.
Today we have another situation where the USA wants to engange in a war and craves for a reason that would justify it. And I’m really afraid there might be another USS Liberty soon, and maybe one that isn’t so ‘lucky’ as the last one.
I wish the USS Liberty would be better remembered, the documentary above spread around, in the shaky hopes it might show that people nowadays are more aware and less likely to buy such a sham.
Our AIPAC Congress -- "ISRAEL FIRST ABOVE ALL OR ELSE"
With the exception of Ron Paul, Republican candidates are engaged in one-upsmanship as they fawn over Israel.
Voters should consider what such a “friend” of the United States has been up to over the years: taking billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars for decades with an open palm and a closed mind; spying on the United States repeatedly and being caught at it. (Jonathan Pollard for one); firing on a U.S. Navy vessel, the USS Liberty, and killing 34 American sailors with impunity; not once offering military troops in any of our previous wars, not one Israeli soldier; abusing “Made in the USA” weaponry (F-16 jets, Apache helicopters, Caterpillar bulldozers) to ravage Palestinian villages, homes and farmlands; tarnishing our image dearly in the eyes of people in the Middle East as we veto any resolution in the United Nations Security Council that dares to condemn Israeli illegal and immoral actions; pressuring the U.S. to always dismiss such actions as “not helpful” while the oppressed Palestinians look to America in vain for an honest broker.
Instead they see us today as nothing more than a pusillanimous Israeli surrogate.
Politicians Want your Kid’s Blood and Guts Spilled in Iran
Tim King Salem-News.com
Attack Persia… and We’ll Break America in Two
What possible sense would it make to wage more war?
(SALEM) – The seemingly inevitable war with Iran that warmongers are calling for must be something we all deserve- as the human cretins who have ruined this planet with ways of war and violence and enslavement and trafficking. The recent words of a friend keep ringing; “People are increasingly moved by fear, they aren’t moved by love.”
American politicians want more of this.
Regardless of how nonsensical it is, or how little sense it makes, American politicians who are parading as Christians, are piling on the propaganda about Iran and they are leaning into the wind, trying oh-so-hard to gain sufficient momentum to plunge this already pathetic country into its final showdown: World War Three.
What can we say, apparently one war isn’t enough for Uncle Sam, we’re the land of deadly redneck troops who call the people they are said to assist “towel heads” and “sand niggers” because American soldiers are all too often, uneducated idiots. They know about rifle squad tactics, but not that men shouldn’t ever strike women.
It’s more than wrong, and not one single thing the average American believes is true about ancient Persia- Iran. It is like the United States, an imperfect place, it has a government that does things it should not do, against its own people, just like the Americans with the Occupy Movement. The price will be dead sons, daughters, mothers and fathers.
Eventually they wear the peace people down, that is what I am seeing. If the attack is inevitable then I hope that Iran is able to defend itself fully and that allies join this country in its defense against the western and Israeli military and geopolitical interests.
Someone I care a great deal about who served in Iraq told me that he and his friends strongly believed Iran was supplying weapons to aid the Iraqi resistance. Now, I ask you to recall the movie ‘Red Dawn’ and tell me that if Canada were under attack, that the Americans would not send them military supplies? It isn’t a question of if they did but only a question of why, and the answer is that neighbors take care of each other, and a threat against one sovereign nation is certainly a threat to the one adjacent to it.
America historically trades its national friends and enemies around as if it is playing a board game with the world that it will always cheat to win.
Western History with Iran
The history of our problems with Iran date back to the post WWII period and the story is extremely important in gaining an understanding of the current Iran crisis.
Iranian PM Mohammad Mossadegh. Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
The Brits were up to their elbows in Iranian crude oil during the years following the war in what was supposed to be a cooperative, international agreement. Iran’s government pleaded with the British “Anglo Iranian Oil Company” to open the books and work with them to ensure Iran was being paid the agreed upon price per barrel of oil. The company refused to comply and viewed the Iranian demands to be paid a fair market price as a threat and a hostility, as Iran was gravitating toward the nationalization of oil as a counter measure.
U.S. President Harry Truman refused British calls for assistance in striking out at Iran over the oil issue, but the election of Dwight Eisenhower represented a new opportunity for cooperation, and soon the U.S. government secretly agreed to work with the British SAS and overthrow the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, PM Mohammad Mossadegh. As Salem-News.com Associate Editor Daniel Johnson wrote in his article, Iran 1953, Mossadegh, educated in France and Switzerland, was the first Iranian to achieve a doctorate in law from a European university. He was descended from royalty on his mother’s side and his father had been Iran’s finance minister for more than twenty years.
He was a pro-Iranian idealist who believed that the Iranian people deserved more than the 16% of oil royalties they had been getting from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Both houses of parliament voted unanimously to nationalize the oil company. They also proposed reimbursing the British for the money it had spent building its wells and refinery. This is the kind of thing that the electorate in both Britain and US should have applauded. But the leaders, President Eisenhower and the two Dulles brothers, who had the power, rejected it.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
The CIA removed the Shah, Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, from the country and placed him in a sort of reeducation camp for nine months. After that, the Shah was reinstalled as a puppet leader for Iran who agreed to U.S. demands and for many years, there were peaceful relations between Iran and the west.
That all came to a screaming halt during Iran’s Revolution in 1979. Islamic fundamentalists kidnapped a number of Americans, holding them for 444 days, and relations between the two countries grew bitter and hostile. A failed rescue attempt that claimed the life of a number of U.S. Marines added to the tension. The American hostages were released as the United States Presidency was changing hands between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Many believe that the timing was completely engineered by the Reagan team.
After that, in retribution for the hostage taking, the U.S. funded Saddam Hussein and prompted him to launch the Iran/Iraq War. Iraq was defeated and Iran retained its status as a foe of great power.
The defeat was apparently not recognized by Saddam Hussein on a public level, as thousands of Iranian military helmets are embedded in concrete on his parade ground in Baghdad where massive crossed swords tower overhead. On the parade ground, Iranian helmets are half sunken into the ground to signify his forces “marching over the heads of the Persians” in victory.
But there was no victory. No victory, no WMD’s, and Iran consistently says it has no nuclear weapons program. Want more? Israel, a country settled under very controversial circumstances, that Americans feel they should defend at all costs, has had nukes all along. For decades the Israeli’s paraded as a non-nuclear entity falsely under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and as it turns out they at least 150 of them. (see: Carter Reveals Israel’s Possession of 150 Nuclear Weapons)
Israel’s 1967 Attack on the U.S.S. Liberty
Israel is also the country that attacked the U.S. Navy ship Liberty during the Six Day War in 1967. Sailors aboard the vessel that day have told Salem-News.com and other entities consistently that they were flying the American flag. (see: The Day Israel Attacked the United States)
The U.S.S. Liberty after an attack
by Israeli jets and torpedo boats in ’67
The Israeli’s didn’t just attack it once either. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 and wounded more than 170 crew members, while damaging the technical research ship severely.
The jet fighters and torpedo boats fired over and over again killing and injuring innocent American “allies” who had waived to the jet pilots after identifying them as Israeli. The issue over the U.S.S. Liberty has never adequately been resolved between the United States and Israel.
In the end, our government effectively ignores an attack on our nation that claim American lives, and yet we demonize Iran which has never fired a shot at us. One of our fighter jets even mistakenly blasted an Iranian airliner out of the sky that led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. The U.S. government came up with several stories before finally confessing to the mistake. As angering, wrong and unnecessary as it was when Iran took Americans hostage in 1979, it was bloodless.
Israel was formed by terrorizing Palestinian people from their land in the years following WWII; that is a fact. Many of the first residents of Israel were survivors of the Holocaust; a group that survived unspeakable inhumanities and genocide at the hands of the Nazi’s. Their plight is tragic, but the tragedy was pushed onto Arab people in the Mid East and that is the source of the resentment towards the Jewish State.
Dead U.S. sailors aboard the USS Liberty- killed blatantly by Israel.
All of these nations, regardless of their religious and cultural differences and leadership, have good points and bad points. The key toward moving forward is reducing violence and injecting money into food, health and education programs. The history may be harsh but new generations are growing up and people can be reached. The constant paranoia about nuclear weapons that Iran says it doesn’t have, just keeps emotions in TV viewers stirred up through the one dimensional western media treatment of the subject. Even if they were aspiring to build nuclear weapons, how do we justify Israel’s recently revealed position of possessing these weapons when it officially does not?
Kinder actions among governments and broader cultural understandings are the key elements that can stabilize this part of the world. Iran’s position as a political and military power is bolstered by the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. His government flexed its muscles and kept relations between the nations stable and aggressions at bay. That is what I was told by Iraqi people that I interviewed.
Posturing, lies… it almost sounds like an elementary schoolyard issue, but the players are countries. Each government referred to in this article, including the U.S., has exhibited serious behavioral issues that conflict with any real notion of world peace. The people who like to beat the war drum; politicians like John McCain, Joe Lieberman and more recently Sarah Palin, seem at times like they really and seriously believe attacking Iran is something to consider.
This is another country that has not struck out at us. Their controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wanted to lay flowers at Ground Zero in New York City and he was denied. That is a rotten example of sportsmanship in any context. He can not make a statement and have it properly translated into English either very often either. Networks put their own spin on his words, causing him to sound more aggressive and dangerous toward Iran than he in reality is.
One of the favorite propaganda lines from FOX in particular, is that the Iranian President “denies the Holocaust”.
The interesting fact that conflicts with that often repeated accusation, is that Iranian government TV recently ran a multi-episode series on the Holocaust; taking into account the the plight of the Jews and others during WWII. It was government sponsored, that sure doesn’t sound like a place that is trying to re-write history.
Ahmadinejad has stated repeatedly that the Holocaust affected far more than just the Jewish people; it is very true when you measure the millions of civilians in Europe who were killed directly or indirectly by Hitler’s war machine. He does not deny the Holocaust; he just doesn’t want all the people who weren’t Jewish or in concentration camps denied.
Another interesting fact is that the people of Iran like Americans; they enjoy our styles, music, etc.
When the U.S. was attacked by terrorists on September 11th 2001, the second largest candlelight vigil in honor of the Americans killed that day was in Tehran, Iran.
Iranian people are a distinct culture, they are Persian. They live under a mix of traditional Islamic and modern western cultural values. Women are not nearly as subjugated as they are in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia; two American allies.
I have developed friendships with a number of people in Iran via MySpace in an effort to better understand their culture, lifestyle, freedoms and ambitions.
One friend in Iran who has shared a good deal of information about Iran’s culture and religion from a woman’s perspective, Roya, explains that religions “accepted” in Iran are ones that grant the people a right to have social health insurance, free education and parliament members.
Zorastrians Tamouz praying at a Summer Festival
She says people are primarily divided among the three Semitic religions, branches of Abraham monotheism religions: Muslims (Shia/Sunni); Christians; and Jews.
She says the religion of all the Iranians before Arabs invaded Iran and converted people to Islam, was Zorastrian.
“We don’t have Buddhists, Taoists or Hindus…and Iran’s government doesn’t consider any right for Bahia people.” (Bahiasm is an Iranian religion).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is much like President Bush in that he is a fundamentalist conservative who bases policy off supposedly religious values. Of course in reality George W. Bush, who has driven this nation into debt like a fast ball, has very few apparent real conservative values.
Ahmadinejad’s reign in my opinion, is the backlash of the U.S. and Great Britain treating these people like dirt in the 1940′s and early 1950′s. All of this, like Vietnam, could have been avoided if we had been fairer nations then. Why are we not accountable for those mistakes? It is time to lay down our egos and suspicions and let the truth be what it is. The price of pushing a conflict carries unimaginable costs and the world is tense right now. It is time to let things cool down and be prepared to search for better answers.
Finally, our military is tired and greatly understaffed. I don’t care what anyone says, I know because I have seen it in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Our military forces are faithful, it is time for this nation to be faithful in return and not consider any sort of military action or threat against Iran.
Oil and Israel
The only Mideast nations that have felt the wrath of western forces in recent years, directly or indirectly, with the exception of Afghanistan, are the countries that refuse to accept the legitimacy of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, or endorse Israel’s cruel treatment of the Palestinian people, complete with apartheid laws that govern and punish Jewish and non Jewish people in distinctly different ways.
Those countries that objected to this cruelty include Iraq and Iran.
The British occupied country after country in previous centuries; exploiting their people and products. Iran, the classical Persia – a culture thousands of years old, was in the sites of the west over oil for much of the 20th century.
Combine the oil with objections to Israel’s war crimes, and you have the two reasons Iran is perpetually demonized by western media and politicians, especially by Israel’s.
The western theft of Iran’s profits was going strong in the early 1950′s when the British ‘Anglo Iranian Oil Company’ – known simply as BP today; refused to pay the Iranians the agreed upon revenues for oil or even open the books to them.
By 1953 Iran’s first democratically elected President was talking about nationalizing oil, and that is when the US and UK conspired to take out the Iranian president and ultimately replace him with the Shah who functioned as a western puppet leader for Iran until the Revolution of 1979.
No wonder they were angry by that point; having little or no control of their own nation’s wealth and resources for decades.
These were the years when problems between Arab and Israeli people were in full swing. Israeli Zionists believe that ‘God gave them the land” (Palestine) that is now called Israel and they use a Biblical interpretation to justify the theft of land from families who have lived in Palestine for endless generations.
It is taking place right this second; Israeli settlers are becoming increasingly violent toward Palestinians and Israel is also seeing the persecution of darker skinned Jews. The place is a mess.
Prior to the huge numbers of refugees moving to Palestine in the late 1940′s and building settlements; Muslim, Christian and Jewish people live here in peace. At that time there was a relatively low number of Jewish people, but they had been there consistently to some degree along with everyone else, however most had left long ago.
Today Israeli propaganda machines spin tale after tale meant to excuse the extremely illegal acts their military is constantly accused of. They don’t have to be the way they are; using illegal weapons like white phosphorous to destroy the civilian population of Gaza, where Israel murdered over 1400 people in the cruelest way two years ago during ‘Operation Cast Lead’ which is regarded as little more than a series of aggressive war crimes by the United Nations.
Muslims Replaced Communists as US ‘Enemy’
Starting with Ronald Reagan and the covert funding of Iraq’s attack on Iran that is known as ‘The Iran-Iraq War’, the US has been on a roll to draw former allies in the Middle east into a fight.
A US diplomat had given Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait in 1990; then the first US President Bush, who came into power when the US lacked a substantial enemy like the collapsed Soviet Union; found Iraq to be an easy target.
90% of Americans hadn’t even heard of Kuwait.
Propaganda peddled at the time about Iraqi soldiers tossing babies from incubators has been exposed to be a hoax, as was Saddam Hussien’s ‘meat grinder’ in Baghdad; grade A bullshit. The US Air Force mowed down retreating Iraqi soldiers after choking them in a bottleneck which prevented their escape.
Muslim Deaths from the US Military
Possibly the world’s most important video- the UN’s
Declaration of Human Rights
When Stephen M. Wait wrote the article Why They Hate Us…How Many Muslims Have US Killed In Last 30 Years? in December 2009 for Canadian Content, he related an approach he learned that stands in sharp contrast to the George W. Bush ‘Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out’ style.
“I heard a different take on this subject at a recent conference on U.S. relations with the Islamic world. In addition to hearing a diverse set of views from different Islamic countries, one of the other participants (a prominent English journalist) put it quite simply. ‘If the United States wants to improve its image in the Islamic world,’ he said, ‘it should stop killing Muslims.’”
When he wrote his piece Wait was intentionally conservative in terms of numbers. Wait tabulated US fatalities from Muslims at 10,325; almost 1500 more than the figure I came up with. He conservatively estimated the number of Muslims killed by the US in Desert Storm, from sanctions on Iraq, fighting in Mogadishu, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (through 1 Dec. 2009) and the 1988 Iranian civilian airliner shot down by a US Navy fighter jet from the aircraft carrier USS Vincennes.
His figure for Muslims killed by the US: 288,000. I believe the number is at least four times larger than that, but say he is right: this places the death ratio at 30 to 1. In this ‘war on terrorism’ the Americans have killed at the very minimum, thirty times the number of human beings than their perceived enemies in the Middle east.
Enemies created to justify a massive American military industrial complex; that is what it all comes down to, and it helps to remember that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. The money is the only determinate.
Arab people do not worship money the way Americans and Israelis do, at least not the Palestinians; they’re too concerned with simply surviving. Israel increasingly uses American money to pillage and imprison this entire culture and Israel miserably fails at its obligation to uphold the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. This is unacceptable and must change.
Those with excessive greed and endless American taxpayer revenue use F-16′s to cause widespread murder and mayhem on civilian populations and those without it throw rocks and sometimes fire rockets.
The people with the F-16′s steal land from the people who throw rocks. Money is the root of all evil, you figure it out.
Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com’s Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.
Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer’s Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.
Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation’s only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 91 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
NEW YORK – On the fourth day of the 1967 Arab Israeli War, the intelligence ship ‘USS Liberty’ was steaming slowly in international waters, 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli armored forces were racing deep into Sinai in hot pursuit of the retreating Egyptian army.
‘Liberty,’ a World War II freighter, had been converted into an intelligence vessel by the top-secret US National Security Agency, and packed with the latest signals and electronic interception equipment. The ship bristled with antennas and electronic ‘ears’ including TRSSCOMM, a system that delivered real-time intercepts to Washington by bouncing a stream of microwaves off the moon.
‘Liberty’ had been rushed to Sinai to monitor communications of the belligerents in the Third Arab Israeli War: Israel and her foes, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
At 0800 hrs, 8 June, 1967, eight Israeli recon flights flew over ‘Liberty,’ which was flying a large American flag. At 1400 hrs, waves of low-flying Israeli Mystere and Mirage-III fighter-bombers repeatedly attacked the American vessel with rockets, napalm, and cannon. The air attacks lasted 20 minutes, concentrating on the ship’s electronic antennas and dishes. The ‘Liberty’ was left afire, listing sharply. Eight of her crew lay dead, a hundred seriously wounded, including the captain, Commander William McGonagle.
At 1424 hrs, three Israeli torpedo boats attacked, raking the burning ‘Liberty’ with 20mm and 40mm shells. At 1431hrs an Israeli torpedo hit the ‘Liberty’ midship, precisely where the signals intelligence systems were located. Twenty-five more Americans died.
Israeli gunboats circled the wounded ‘Liberty,’ firing at crewmen trying to fight the fires. At 1515, the crew were ordered to abandon ship. The Israeli warships closed and poured machine gun fire into the crowded life rafts, sinking two. As American sailors were being massacred in cold blood, a rescue mission by US Sixth Fleet carrier aircraft was mysteriously aborted on orders from the White House.
An hour after the attack, Israeli warships and planes returned. Commander McGonagle gave the order. ‘prepare to repel borders.’ But the Israelis, probably fearful of intervention by the US Sixth Fleet, departed. ‘Liberty’ was left shattered but still defiant, her flag flying.
The Israeli attacks killed 34 US seamen and wounded 171 out of a crew of 297, the worst loss of American naval personnel from hostile action since World War II.
Less than an hour after the attack, Israel told Washington its forces had committed a ‘tragic error.’ Later, Israel claimed it had mistaken ‘Liberty’ for an ancient Egyptian horse transport. US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, and Joint Chiefs of Staff head, Admiral Thomas Moorer, insisted the Israeli attack was deliberate and designed to sink ‘Liberty.’ So did three CIA reports; one asserted Israel’s Defense Minister, Gen. Moshe Dayan, had personally ordered the attack.
In contrast to American outrage over North Korea’s assault on the intelligence ship ‘Pueblo,’ Iraq’s mistaken missile strike on the USS ‘Stark,’ last fall’s bombing of the USS ‘Cole’ in Aden, and the recent US-China air incident, the savaging of ‘Liberty’ was quickly hushed up by President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
The White House and Congress immediately accepted Israel’s explanation and let the matter drop. Israel later paid a token reparation of US $6 million. There were reports two Israeli pilots who had refused to attack ‘Liberty’ were jailed for 18 years.
Surviving ‘Liberty’ crew members would not be silenced. They kept demanding an open inquiry and tried to tell their story of deliberate attack to the media. Israel’s government worked behind the scenes to thwart these efforts, going so far as having American pro-Israel groups accuse ‘Liberty’s’ survivors of being ‘anti-Semites’ and ‘Israel-haters.’ Major TV networks cancelled interviews with the crew. A book about the ‘Liberty’ by crewman James Ennes’ was dropped from distribution. The Israel lobby branded him ‘an Arab propagandist.’
The attack on ‘Liberty’ was fading into obscurity until last week, when intelligence expert James Bamford came out with Body of Secrets, his latest book about the National Security Agency. In a stunning revelation, Bamford writes that unknown to Israel, a US Navy EC-121 intelligence aircraft was flying high overhead the ‘Liberty,’ electronically recorded the attack. The US aircraft crew provides evidence that the Israeli pilots knew full well that they were attacking a US Navy ship flying the American flag.
Why did Israel try to sink a naval vessel of its benefactor and ally? Most likely because ‘Liberty’s’ intercepts flatly contradicted Israel’s claim, made at the war’s beginning on 5 June, that Egypt had attacked Israel, and that Israel’s massive air assault on three Arab nations was in retaliation. In fact, Israel began the war by a devastating, Pearl-Harbor style surprise attack that caught the Arabs in bed and destroyed their entire air forces.
Israel was also preparing to attack Syria to seize its strategic Golan Heights. Washington warned Israel not to invade Syria, which had remained inactive while Israel fought Egypt. Bamford says Israel’s offensive against Syria was abruptly postponed when ‘Liberty’ appeared off Sinai, then launched once it was knocked out of action. Israel’s claim that Syria had attacked it could have been disproved by ‘Liberty.’
Most significant, ‘Liberty’s’ intercepts may have shown that Israel seized upon sharply rising Arab-Israeli tensions in May-June 1967 to launch a long-planned war to invade and annex the West Bank, Jerusalem, Golan and Sinai.
Far more shocking was Washington’s response. Writes Bamford: ‘Despite the overwhelming evidence that Israel attacked the ship and killed American servicemen deliberately, the Johnson Administration and Congress covered up the entire incident.’ Why?
Domestic politics. Johnson, a man never noted for high moral values, preferred to cover up the attack rather than anger a key constituency and major financial backer of the Democratic Party. Congress was even less eager to touch this ‘third rail’ issue.
Commander McGonagle was quietly awarded the Medal of Honor for his and his men’s heroism – not in the White House, as is usual, but in an obscure ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard. Crew member’s graves were inscribed, ‘died in the Eastern Mediterranean..’ as if they had be killed by disease, rather than hostile action.
A member of President Johnson’s staff believed there was a more complex reason for the cover-up: Johnson offered Jewish liberals unconditional backing of Israel, and a cover-up of the ‘Liberty’ attack, in exchange for the liberal toning down their strident criticism of his policies in the then raging Vietnam War.
Israel, which claims it fought a war of self defense in 1967 and had no prior territorial ambitions, will be much displeased by Bamford’s revelations. Those who believe Israel illegally occupies the West Bank and Golan will be emboldened.
Much more important, the US government’s long, disgraceful cover-up of the premeditated attack on ‘Liberty’ has now burst into the open and demands full-scale investigation. After 34 years, the voices of ‘Liberty’s’ dead and wounded seamen must finally be heard.
The attack has never been investigated honestly to this day,,,why?
At least someone remembers because Congress is paid by AIPAC not to! -jd.
RE: “Grapevine,” Dec. 22
I missed a few issues of The Daily Times. I picked one up on Dec. 22 and in Grapevine, they were talking about veterans’ bonuses.
The first commenter was talking about his son returning from Iraq with six figures in the bank and not needing any help, plus how he can get a free education.
What about the free education he received in Iraq? Apparently the father did not serve in any branch of the service.
The second commenter said he sold cars on the I-95 corridor and how he has seen dozens of young men returning to buy cars and motorcycles.
You know, I was one of them. I joined the U.S. Navy in 1962 and re-enlisted in 1966, for four more years. I received a bonus for a car; however, I had to commit to eight years and stay at sea, off the coast of Vietnam, then transfer to the East Coast to see the U.S.S. Liberty shot up with 34 dead.
That was my free education.
Mine was easy compared to members of the Army and Marine Corps who were being shot at, day in and day out.
Take your buying of cars and your free education and walk in a veteran’s shoes. Talk to me as a 25 year military veteran.
Blood stains from the attack and a continuing cover up
When Marcellus, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, famously says, “Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark”, he means that the body politic is rotting from the top down and the corruption stinks to high heaven.
410 years later the Bard’s words are especially applicable to the so-called political élite of the Western world. The stench of their corruption is assailing the nostrils of more and more people and causing mass nausea.
Thankfully some small but effective relief is available in the United States courtesy of the Council for the National Interest Foundation (CNIF), an independent non-profit concern that provides information and analysis on the Middle East and its relationship to the United States. The CNIF has been doing an excellent demolition job on US foreign policy and exposing how it is dangerously at odds with American values and national interests. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/11/23/the-cost-of-israel-to-americans/
The CNIF hammers home the necessity for voters and their elected officials to be free from the undue influence and pressure of foreign countries and their lobbyists.
The US’s uniquely massive support for Israel, says CNIF, has cost trillions of dollars and multitudes of lives. It has diminished America’s moral standing in the world, lessened its domestic freedoms, and exposed the American people to unnecessary and growing peril.
And yet America’s taxpayers give Israel over $8 million per day. And since the US is in deficit, this means borrowing the money, handing it to Israel, then paying interest on it for evermore afterwards. 10 million American families are reportedly sliding into foreclosure; but the US administration continues to heap tax money onto Israel.
It is not as if Israel is a close ally. The Israeli regime spies on America incessantly. Its forces have killed and injured numerous Americans with impunity. And Israel has repeatedly stolen US technology and passed it on to other nations, some of them America’s enemies.
In 1967 Israel attacked the USS Liberty, killing or injuring over 200 American servicemen. A high ranking independent commission in 2003 found that Israel had committed an act of war against the United States. Yet the US President at the time (Johnson), and his secretary of defense (McNamara), are said to have recalled rescue aircraft and ordered a cover-up.
Israeli aggression and defiance of international law, human rights conventions and UN resolutions, have created enormous hostility throughout the world, much of which is directed at the US as Israel’s number one buddy, funder and protector. Furthermore Israel’s nuclear arsenal is a menace both to the region itself and far beyond. It has refused to sign the nuclear proliferation treaty and the British American Security Information Council has found that in Israel “nuclear weapons are being assigned roles that go well beyond deterrence.”
The fact that such weapons are in the hands of Israel’s psychopaths makes it perfectly understandable that other nations in the region wish to acquire them as a deterrent.
US intelligence agencies have so far found no concrete proof that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Iran, of course, is not happy to be constantly threatened with sanctions and pre-emptive strikes. It demands that the American authorities publicly apologize to the Iranian government and its citizens “for the false accusations they publicized against Tehran in violation of international norms and regulations”. In a letter handed to the Swiss Embassy, which represents US interests since Iran and Washington severed diplomatic relations in 1980, Tehran also demanded compensation for material and moral damages caused by America’ anti-Iran publicity campaign.
You’d think that a supposedly responsible superpower like the US would seek to re-establish diplomatic links rather than stay in a sulk for 30 years and spitefully snipe and intimidate through third parties. America is seen to have the unmistakable hallmarks of a playground bully who could drag us all into another world war.
As for Israel’s war crimes in Jerusalem, the West Bank and especially Gaza, the racist regime uses American weapons in violation of US laws, killing and maiming huge numbers of civilians, women, and children.
This endless killing spree funded by American taxpayers and shielded by the US government has caused a burning hatred of the US throughout the Muslim world.
Britain, as America’s and Israel’s bitch, is also feeling the heat and putting herself in peril.
A red rag cover-up
Meanwhile, on the British side of the Atlantic former ambassador Craig Murray has numerous well-placed informants and is busy blowing the lid off one of the slimiest intrigues ever exposed at Westminster.
”There is a huge government cover-up in progress over the Werritty connection to Mossad and the role of British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould, and their neo-con plan to start a war with Iran,” says Murray. He had made a Freedom of Information request for all communications between Gould and Werritty and was astonished to receive a midnight reply that his request was refused because it was “likely to exceed the cost limit”.
This was like a red rag to a bull. And it coincided with attempts to obstruct MP Paul Flynn while questioning Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell on the Gould-Werritty connection at the House of Commons Public Administration Committee. Flynn was repeatedly interrupted by Robert Halfon MP who, says Murray, receives funding from the same Israeli sources as Werritty and was formerly Political Director of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
Murray’s concerns centre on the numerous meetings between Fox, Werrrity and Gould, and especially their “private dinner” in Tel Aviv with Mossad. Murray claims that Gould met Werritty many times more than the twice that O’Donnell listed in his “investigation” into the affair.
Murray observes: “It is now evident that not only did Fox, Gould and Werritty have at least five meetings while Fox was in power – with never another British official present – they had several meetings while Fox was shadow Foreign Secretary.” He acknowledges that O’Donnell was correct in saying that what Fox and Werritty were up to in opposition wasn’t his concern. But what Gould – a senior official – was doing with them most certainly was. “A senior British diplomat cannot just hold a series of meetings with the opposition shadow Defence Secretary and a paid zionist lobbyist. What on earth was happening?”
O’Donnell, replying to Flynn’s questions about the dinner date with Mossad, said: “The important point here was that, when the Secretary of State had that meeting, he had an official with him—namely, in this case, the ambassador. That is very important, and I should stress that I would expect our ambassador in Israel to have contact with Mossad. That will be part of his job. It is totally natural, and I do not think that you should infer anything from that about the individual’s biases. That is what ambassadors do.”
But Murray is adamant. “I know from a mole that the plot involves a plan to attack Iran.”
Many will feel it is intolerable for a Christian country like Britain to be represented by a Jew, especially in the Middle East and more especially in Israel where there is bound to be a conflict of interest. There used to be a rule in the Foreign Office, I understand, preventing such person being appointed. Why was that rule disregarded?
Gould has been photographed wearing a Union Jack kippah in a tacky attempt to convince us he’s batting for Britain. Can an ardent zionist Jew be anything but an Israel-firster? You may well ask… Fox and Werritty are both zionist sympathisers, as are foreign secretary Hague and prime minister Cameron.
All of them appear firmly wedded to the principle expressed in Fox’s idiotic declaration that “in the battle for the values that we stand for… Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together…” Fox was the man the Jewish Chronicle hailed as “a champion of Israel within the government”, though of course there are many others – 80 percent of Conservative MPs for a start.
Mad, mad world of diplomacy
The American and British publics have been shamefully caught up in more than enough zionist warmongering plots. Iraq, which we subjected to 12 years of cruel sanctions and subsequently bombed back to the Stone Age, killing hundreds of thousands, was never our enemy. Libya was not our enemy. Iran is definitely not our enemy. Nor is Afghanistan; nor Syria; nor Lebanon; nor Palestine; nor Egypt.
As I write, reports are coming in that Iran’s parliament has voted to expel the British ambassador, presumably in retaliation for the British chancellor George Osborne’s announcement last week of fresh punitive measures targeting Iranian financial sectors, including the Central Bank of Iran. The bill now needs the approval of the Guardian Council.
The UK Foreign Office says it will to react “robustly” if Iran expels its ambassador. “This unwarranted move will do nothing to help the regime address their growing isolation or international concerns about their nuclear programme and human rights record. If the Iranian government acts on this, we will respond robustly in consultation with our international partners.”
However, for some seven months this year the Foreign Office didn’t bother to send an ambassador to Tehran when the last one finished his stint in March. Hague and Cameron, like Obama and Clinton, apparently think it unimportant to maintain senior level contact with the country they say is dangerous and must be crippled by sanctions or smashed by war.
Welcome to the mad, mad world of zio-British and zio-American diplomacy. Shouldn’t they be straining every sinew to strengthen links with Iran, too long neglected? Or are we supposed to applaud this supremely casual attitude in the matter of key relationships that could mean life or death for millions?
The stench of “something rotten in the state” is becoming unbearable. Would the Council for the National Interest Foundation care to set up a branch here in the UK, please, and help clean up and disinfect?
-###-
Stuart Littlewood’s book Radio Free Palestine can now be read on the internet by visiting www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk
Our AIPAC Congress -- "ISRAEL FIRST ABOVE ALL OR ELSE"
Letter to the editor:
There’s no conspiracy behind U.S. support of Israel
Phyllis Friedman, Las Vegas
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 | 2:03 a.m.
Tom Friedman’s recent column: “Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir” insulted the American people when he said that the reason Mr. Netanyahu was received with a standing ovation when he spoke before Congress is that “the ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”
Recent polls, including one by the Anti-Defamation League, show strong support for Israel by the American public and by the U. S. Congress.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Friedman chose to fuel the conspiratorial notions about Jewish control of American institutions.
The author is the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
replies:
…with the American flag flying above in broad daylight, on june 8 1967 the USS Liberty was attacked without provocation by the nation of israel with the loss of 34 American sailors and crew along with 170 wounded. President johnson did not pursue the incident and accepted israels explanation of ‘ mistaken identity.’ phyliss, why would any true american have any doubts about our great ally, israel?
By fosimmons (frank simmons)
Dec. 18, 2011 5:16 a.m.
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Come on Phyliss … you and I and the world knows how insulted America is and was by over supporting Israel with that standing ovation … look at that American Jew who spied against his very own country now in prison in N.C. and their blowing up of our ship Liberty … also footnoted by dipstick
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Yes, we want them as a valued ally, but we need to funnel all those billions into OUR country … Israel is a rich nation, a powerful nuclear nation and has trillions in support from New York City … why does our tattered almost nothing left of our middle class have to send tax money to Israel
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And this is not discrimination at all … here everyone has a place deserved of respect, Jews, Blacks and Asians and anyone I might have left out – Muslins and whomever
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A standing oveation is completely uncalled for and was embarrassing … will the next one be for Tony Blair …. the AwolBush lap dog?
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Ola. Good try Phyliss, but no Valentine or Pink Teddy this time, girl, maybe next year at the Academy Awards – however, you will recieve a Pink Diplomatic Pouch as a consulation award for your effort at chastising America.
Ron Paul was recently banned from a debate with the Republican Jewish Coalition, a bolshevic communist front to maintain the welfare status of israel. What people fail to realize israel is no friend of the US. Terrorist attack from 1967 when radical israeli terrorists without provocation attacked the USS Liberty, an unarmed reconnaissance vessel monitoring activities during the infamous 6 day war. 34 American servicemen lost their life that day and 174 more were wounded. Before the attack Israel …
If our national leadership weren’t held hostage by campaign contributions and insider special interests, they would challenge the excessive influence of Israel and its 5th column allies. Iran is no threat to America.
The Iranian hostage crisis perhaps is a good example of Iranians’ ability to control themselves and their behavior under trying circumstances. For 444 days 60 American diplomats were held hostage by a group of Iranian students outraged by America’s behavior. None of those diplomats were killed! Many Americans have died, however, in close proximity to the time when they attempted to seriously challenge Israel. President Kennedy, for example, tried his best to prevent Israel from bringing nuclear weapons to the Mideast.
Twelve years before the hostage crisis 297 American sailors and their ship, the unarmed USS Liberty, were held hostage effectively by the Nation of Israel for 2 hours, during which time every effort was made to kill and bury at sea each and every one of those 297 American sailors. The Israeli’s bombed the ship, they strafed it, and finally they torpedoed it. Only because of the exceptional bravery and luck of one sailor, who was able to jerry-rig an antenna enabling a radioed call for help to get through, was the death toll just 34 American seamen and officers. Just 34! It was Israel’s 1967 war and it wanted to take Syria’s Golan Heights unimpeded.
None of us dare call it treason when we read President Johnson recalled the rescue planes sent by a nearby Aircraft Carrier responding to that SOS which luckily got through. We didn’t want to upset our friendship with Israel which says it respects us so much. Of the 127 wounded and the others who survived, they were sworn to secrecy as if their life depended on it not to say a word about what happened during those horrible two hours they were held hostage by Israel’s demonic cruelty.
Now, again, none of us dare call it treason when we ask and are NOT told the truth about why we have been bringing such death and destruction to the Mideast. Like the German citizenry before us which caved in to their Leader’s propaganda, we sheepishly accept the hegemonic agenda of Israel in the Mideast – not to be equal – but to dominate, along with their traitorous partners in the US government, military, and business community, which share Israel’s desire not to be equal, but to dominate. These are the people holding all of us hostage.
Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. Our leaders, drunk with power, and with the financial power of their Israeli/American co-conspirators (70 to 80% of Israeli citizens hold dual passports), are trying every trick to destroy Iran, If they can’t get Iran to accept “regime change” and accept domination willingly by the US and Israel.
We Americans will not have a better country, a better life for our families and ourselves, if we accept this perversion of our principles, allowing ourselves to be manipulated by the main stream media allies of this unholy alliance. Iranians who are Americans should not be intimidated and pressured to accept the devastation of their family homeland, their friends and loved ones in Iran, to facilitate American/Israeli domination, even if they detest the Islamic Republic.
The demonstrators against the British, like the students who held the diplomats hostage, were demonstrating against foreign meddling. This is a far different thing entirely, for example, than the Israeli’s completely unjustified attack on the USS Liberty, and the obvious intent to murder each and every one of the sailors and officers aboard, and to sink the ship. That is an attack patriotic elected officials would get excited about. Our Congress and other leadership chooses to show us what they are made of, however.
What a load of Israeli First apologist horseshit. After all these years and lies, conflicts, unanswered questions, new revelations and this stupid UPI shill reporter still totes the party line like a dutiful ignorant puppet. That’s a bought corporate press. -jd
Published: Dec. 13, 2011
By JAMES ZUMWALT, UPI
HERNDON, Va., Dec. 13 (UPI) — It has proven to be the deadliest “friendly fire” incident in the 10-year Afghan war.
NATO, responding Nov. 26 to a U.S.-Afghan patrol’s request for air support after triggering a border clash, inadvertently killed Pakistani troops. Both the U.S. and Pakistan governments are investigating exactly how 24 Pakistani soldiers manning border outposts were drawn into the nighttime air strike.
But the incident brings to mind chilling memories of a similar friendly fire attack, 44 years earlier, involving two allies — that had U.S. forces on the receiving end. The 1967 attack claimed 34 American lives — leading to the only time a Medal of Honor was awarded for bravery under “friendly” fire.
Despite the heated emotions the attack generated in Washington in its aftermath, an important, albeit tacit, understanding was realized by the two allies. It is one Islamabad should embrace, despite the heated emotions in play there in the aftermath of this incident.
In early June 1967, hostilities were about to erupt in the Middle East. A U.S. Navy intelligence gathering ship, USS Liberty, having an electronic eavesdropping capability, was sent to the eastern Mediterranean to monitor communications among the soon-to-be-warring parties.
On June 5, after Arab troop movements suggested Egypt, Jordan and Syria were preparing to attack, Israel struck first. Although an ally of Israel, the United States remained neutral.
On June 8, Liberty was in international waters, just 6 to 7 miles off the coasts of Israel and Egypt. In response to Arab complaints at the United Nations the United States was helping Israel, Washington ordered Liberty to operate no closer than 120 miles of those coastlines. The order, however, was never received.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union supported the Arab tri-party effort to supplant U.S.-Israeli influence in the region.
At 1:57 p.m., June 8, Israeli decision-makers — saying they were unable to identify Liberty and that they thought it was Egyptian — authorized an air attack. Nearby Israeli gunboats joined in.
Smoke billowed from hits on Liberty, obfuscating visibility for both sides. At one point, Liberty’s commanding officer, Cmdr. William McGonagle, saw an Israeli flag on an attacking boat. He was caught in a “perfect storm” of conflicting interests — defending his ship on the one hand, not wishing to kill “friendlies” on the other, all while desperately attempting to communicate his ship’s identity to a “friendly enemy.”
But the attack was so intense, McGonagle had to turn his attention to his top priority — defending his ship to limit U.S. casualties. For his efforts, he later received the Medal of Honor.
After two hours, the Israelis broke off the attack. Only then they said they discovered the ship’s identity. Israeli officials immediately notified the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv as to what had happened. Forty minutes later, the same Israeli gunboats which had attacked Liberty, returned to offer assistance. The offer was declined.
Investigations into the Liberty incident by both the U.S. and Israeli governments determined the attack was a case of mistaken identity — the result of a series of blunders by others on both sides who weren’t involved in the actual fighting. However, for some Liberty crewmember survivors, emotions ran high as they said they believed the attack was intentional.
While the fog of war can obfuscate intentions, the fact remains no coherent rationale has ever been offered to suggest what the Israelis stood to gain by an intentional attack as it was far outweighed by all the negative fallout that followed.
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk was livid over the incident, communicating with the Israeli ambassador two days later, “The USS Liberty was flying the American flag and its identification was clearly indicated in large white letters and numerals on its hull … Experience demonstrates that both the flag and the identification number of the vessel were readily visible from the air. … Accordingly, there is every reason to believe that the USS Liberty was identified, or at least her nationality determined, by Israeli aircraft approximately one hour before the attack.”
In the end, however, both governments realized their best interests dictated the incident quickly be put behind them to focus on a more serious threat to both — the Soviet Union’s effort to maximize its influence in the Middle East by supporting Arab efforts to minimize U.S.-Israeli interests.
Emotions remain high in Pakistan following the Nov. 26 incident, despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s assurances the attack was unintentional. Whether Islamabad is seeking to placate an outraged population or is blinded by its own rage is unclear. But one thing is — the steps Islamabad is taking in response to the incident aren’t in the best interests of both countries.
Without awaiting results of the investigations, Islamabad has evicted the United States from its drone operations facility in Pakistan. That action won’t prove detrimental to the CIA’s Islamist targeting program in Pakistan’s tribal areas for, in anticipation of a shaky U.S.-Pakistan alliance, backup facilities had already been built in Afghanistan.
More worrisome, however, is Pakistan’s closing of a vital supply line entry point to Afghanistan. This will have a very detrimental impact for two reasons. First, obviously, it delays badly needed supplies for NATO; second, it presents militants with an attractive target of opportunity created by the massive build-up of trucks laden with fuel and supplies parked and awaiting entry into Afghanistan.
Militants wasted no time in pursuing this target, launching a rocket attack Dec. 9 at vehicles parked at a temporary terminal in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan. Within minutes, at least 20 oil tankers were destroyed. While it is unknown whether al-Qaida or Taliban were responsible, the attack fits Taliban’s modus operandi.
Also in protest of the Nov. 26 incident, Islamabad has refused to participate in an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn Dec. 5. The focus of the conference was to map out a road to peace and future international commitments to Afghanistan. Participation by two parties in particular was essential to the conference’s success — Pakistan and the Taliban. Both were “no shows.”
The Pakistani leadership should harbor no doubt as to what kind of world lies ahead for its citizens should Islamic extremists, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, not be eliminated.
In 2009, after moving into Pakistan’s Swat Valley and ousting officials, including police, lawyers and politicians — i.e., everyone essential to operating an organized government — Pakistan’s Taliban reached an agreement by which it would govern the region in exchange for its promise to disarm and not extend its reach further.
It never disarmed and continued its offensive toward Islamabad. Only after Islamabad launched a military campaign against it was stability restored to the area. But, in the interim, residents living in Taliban-controlled Swat Valley and elsewhere were subjected to its brutality — such as evidenced in a video of a woman beaten in public for refusing to marry a Taliban leader.
Islamabad well understands, the best treatment for the Islamic extremist cancer seeking to consume it is to gain control of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. This is the semi-autonomous tribal region along Pakistan’s northwest border with Afghanistan used as a safe-haven for militants on both sides moving between countries.
As Islamabad further understands, the best time for it to establish this control — a mission it has been unwilling to embark upon for several reasons — is now, while NATO is still actively involved. For there will come a time when Pakistan will be left to go it alone in dealing with the Islamist threat it faces.
Therefore, Islamabad must work hard to put the Nov. 26 incident behind it, if it truly seeks to negate the Islamist threat, while maximum international resources are still available to help achieve that result.
What we must come to understand is, if Islamabad fails to adopt the approach the United States took after the Israeli attack in working together to eliminate a common threat, then, perhaps, Pakistan’s true interests lie not in eliminating, but nurturing, Islamic extremism.
This is a position more outside observers are embracing due to Islamabad’s reluctance to seek treatment. By continuing to avoid such treatment, however, Islamabad may eventually find Pakistani democracy on life support — with Islamists looking to pull the plug. At that point, not even a “stat” call to the West can save it.
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(James. G. Zumwalt, is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer who heads consulting firm Admiral Zumwalt and Consultants, Inc. He has published many articles in various publications and is author of “Bare Feet, Iron Will — Stories from the Other Side of Vietnam’s Battlefields.”)
All objective fair-minded Americans owe it to those brave young uniformed men and women who stand tall on their battle stations to defend this country and its values (?) every day. To ignore their service and sacrifice yesteryear or today is not only ungodly, fractious and un-American but suggests an infatuation with a higher mythical cause that is unsettled and in direct conflict with the behavior of a free, independent and liberated people.
Aye, to allow a lawmaker’s passion for the acquisition of wealth through tenure in office to deny justice for some one hundred seventy aging USS Liberty survivors who have been ignored, abandoned and betrayed by minority controlled media and their elected representatives in congress for some forty-four years is not only heartless and mean-spirited but it speaks to one of the most profane acts of cowardice emerging from a corrupt body of elected officials in this nation’s history.
You think not? Then encourage Federal Judge, A. Jay Cristol, author of “The Liberty Incident” and any other Israeli apologists, including those Israelis who carried out the assault, Senator John S. McCain III and Christian clergy to debate the circumstances surrounding that assault on June 8, 1967 with USS Liberty survivors and their friends on prime time network television while undergoing a polygraph examination administered by independent world renowned polygraph examiners.
In Independence, Missouri on June 8, 2008 Presidential candidate, Barack Obama said and I quote: “We must remember, though, that true patriotism cannot be forced or legislated with a mere set of government programs. Instead, it must reside in the hearts of our people, and cultivated in the heart of our culture, and nurtured in the hearts of our children.”
Arguably the most polarizing world situation of the last 63 years, excluding the Cold War, has been the relationship between Israel and Palestine. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas brought the spotlight back to the issue during the United Nations General Assembly in September.
After years of what has been seen by many as soft action on the part of Abbas, the Palestinian president submitted a request for full-state status for Palestine.
Israel labeled the request as destructive to the peace process while the United States promised to veto it and called for a return to the negotiating table. However, the U.S. may actually be better off siding with President Abbas.
This assertion is not a product of anti-Semitism nor does it try to further it. It is meant to explore legitimate questions surrounding the conduct of a nation that happens to have a predominantly Jewish population — Israel. The majority creed of a nation should in no way dictate whether or not they are held accountable for their actions.
Israel hasn’t been the best ally. The U.S.-Israeli relationship is akin to that of a boy who’s fallen so head-over-heels in love with a girl that he’ll do almost anything she asks of him without question.
“On June 8, 1967 during the Six-Day War, the U.S. Navy’s USS Liberty, a technical research ship, was listening to wartime communications in international waters off the coast of Egypt. This ship was properly marked.
According to the National Security Agency, around 1:57 p.m., two Israeli fighter jets began strafing the deck of the Liberty with cannon and rocket fire while two bombers dropped napalm on the ship. The crew was virtually defenseless. Twenty minutes after the aerial attack began, the ship was approached by three Israeli torpedo boats.
As the stricken ship attempted to flee the area, the boats launched a total of five torpedoes with one striking the ship. Finally, as the boats approached the crippled Liberty, they realized they’d been firing on an American ship.
Thirty-four American sailors were killed. The attack was later called an accident, despite inconsistent testimonies from the Israeli pilots, torpedo boat crews and other officials. This remains the only maritime incident involving the deaths of American servicemen not investigated by Congress.”
Even if Israel hasn’t always been the best ally, some ask why we should instead champion the cause of the Palestinians despite their radical factions. What doesn’t get discussed is why they’ve radicalized.
The copout answer is to blame it on religious differences, but through the early stages of the Zionist movement, the two groups lived together in relative peace, so religion can’t be the explanation.
Palestinians revolted against the mass immigration of people onto their land and the rule of government in which they had no say rather than due to religious conflict.
In a nutshell, the Palestinian people are angry. They’re angry about being forced from their homes without their voices being considered. They’re angry that Israeli settlements are constantly built on what little land they have left and the international community’s response has amounted to little more than a vigorous wag of the finger.
They’re angry that at the end of the day, even their own governing bodies have been slow to act. Consequently, during the 2006 parliamentary elections, a radical, militarized faction, Hamas, ended up with 132 seats and a majority government.
What Hamas and groups like them have done over the years is indefensible, so why would normal citizens turn to them? Ultimately, the people feel they’re the only ones standing up for the right of the Palestinian people to exist. And sadly, that seems to have been the case, until now.
We have a golden opportunity, not only to actually make a major stride towards an ultimate solution in this conflict, but also to improve our standing in the Arab world.
If we’d hold Israel accountable, terrorist groups and radicals would lose their best recruiting tools. The Palestinian people would feel someone was finally championing their cause and turn away from detrimental forces like Hamas.
We have a choice: we can either veto this proposition and hope the parties return to the negotiating table as they have for 20 years, or we can make a stride that will possibly bring about real solutions and even make a dent in international terrorism.
FALSE FLAG USS LIBERTY – Israel’s forgotten war crime wakes up conservatives.
Video of Josie Toth Linden (Sister of LT Toth) being interviewed by Adam-vs-the-man on Nov 5, 2011 at the Americans For Prosperity annual convention uploaded by Prohumani Nov 7, 2011. Josie does a great job on this nearly 3-min. video!
This forum is public and its discourse is open and uncensored nor does it not have the approval or sanction of the USS Liberty Veterans Association in any way.
Monday, January 23, 2012 
American politicians want more of this.
Iranian PM Mohammad Mossadegh. Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
The U.S.S. Liberty after an attack
Zorastrians Tamouz praying at a Summer Festival
Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer
Much more important, the US government’s long, disgraceful cover-up of the premeditated attack on ‘Liberty’ has now burst into the open and demands full-scale investigation. After 34 years, the voices of ‘Liberty’s’ dead and wounded seamen must finally be heard.
The USS Liberty Memorial Website