The chief counsel to the Navy's Court of Inquiry into Israel's attack on the U.S. Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty in 1967 repeats in today's edition of the San Diego Union a charge he first made in 2004 that Lyndon Johnson ordered a cover-up of the truth.

The Liberty was attacked on June 8, 1967 during the Six-Day War. 34 died and 171 were injured. Israel claimed it was an accident. But in an op ed today Ward Boston Jr. says "I know from personal conversations with the late Adm. Isaac C. Kidd – president of the Court of Inquiry – that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity.' "

Ward goes on to say:

For decades, I have remained silent. I am a military man, and when orders come in from the secretary of defense and president of the United States, I follow them. However, attempts to rewrite history and concern for my country compel me to share the truth.

Adm. Kidd and I were given only one week to gather evidence for the Navy's official investigation, though we both estimated that a proper Court of Inquiry would take at least six months.

We boarded the crippled ship at sea and interviewed survivors. The evidence was clear. We both believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew.

I am certain the Israeli pilots and commanders who had ordered the attack knew the ship was American. I saw the bullet-riddled American flag that had been raised by the crew after their first flag had been shot down completely. I heard testimony that made it clear the Israelis intended there be no survivors. Not only did they attack with napalm, gunfire and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned at close range three life rafts that had been launched in an attempt to save the most seriously wounded.

I am outraged at the efforts of Israel's apologists to claim this attack was a case of “mistaken identity.”

Adm. Kidd told me that after receiving the president's cover-up orders, he was instructed to sit down with two civilians from either the White House or the Department of Defense and rewrite portions of the court's findings. He said, “Ward, they're not interested in the facts. It's a political matter, and we cannot talk about it.” We were to “put a lid on it” and caution everyone involved never to speak of it again.

I know that the Court of Inquiry transcript that has been released to the public is not the same one that I certified and sent to Washington. I know this because it was necessary, due to the exigencies of time, to hand-correct and initial a substantial number of pages. I have examined the released version of the transcript and did not see any pages that bore my hand corrections and initials. Also, the original did not have any deliberately blank pages, as the released version does. In addition, the testimony of Lt. Lloyd Painter concerning the deliberate machine-gunning of the life rafts by the Israeli torpedo boat crews, which I distinctly recall being given at the Court of Inquiry and including in the original transcript, is now missing.

Ward's charges have been rebutted by Jay Cristol, the author of The Liberty Incident: The 1967 Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship. Cristol, a judge, concluded after 17 years of research that Israel did indeed attack the Liberty in error.

Related Links

HNN Hot Topics: The Attack on the USS Liberty

Ward's affidavit from 2004 in which he first charged there was a cover-up

Stephen Kislock - 6/22/2007

The term "jew hater", is a Blinding Light, that the TRUTH, must be Hidden and the Billions of Dollars from the American taxpayers must continue, or israel will Flounder, like must supported Fascist States!

George Robert Gaston - 6/14/2007

Did you know that the NSA was founded by a Jew?

Joseph Mutik - 6/10/2007

1) First lie was in 1967 when the U.S. government declared that no U.S. ship was in the area.
2) The second lie is the false argument about Israel trying to cover up the intentions to attack Syria. It is very clear now that Israel informed, through diplomatic channels, that Israel intended to attack Syria and it happened before the attack on the on the USS liberty.
These are the two of the most basic lies used by the Jew hating USS Liberty crowd. That's one of the longest Jew hating actions in the U.S. history. There are many friendly fire incidents, involving U.S. personnel, but no one is talking about any of them, only because Jews were involved the blaming them for no reason is fair game.
In the very good thriller, directed by Robert De Niro, "The Good Shepherd" the general supervising the beginnings of the OSS (the precursor of CIA) says that the organization has to be "clean" which means ”No Jews, no Negroes, no Catholics”. The Jew hating crowd is still in charge of of the information gathering entities of the U.S. government (CIA, NSA, etc.). That's the reason the USS liberty liars are allowed to say whatever they want about Israel and the Jews. I am sure they signed non-disclosure agreements with NSA but if one blames the Jews everything is fair game.
Also the Jew hating leadership of the U.S. information gathering entities is the reason Jonathan Pollard got a much harsher sentence than Ames or Hanson who caused the death of many agents who worked as spies for the USA. If a Jew spies for Israel he is going to be smashed!
The State Department and the Intelligence leadership are, probably, the most anti-Jewish parts of the U.S. government. They both are in a, very slow, process of change but hating Jews is still fair game in these communities.