January 31
GUEST: Jack Beattie, survivor of the attack on the USS Liberty by Israeli war planes and ships that killed 34 sailors and wounded 174, talks about that day in June, 1967 which saw the largest Navy death toll since World War II."USS Liberty: Dead In The Water"
This picture is not of Jack, but of another veteran, Bryce Lockwood, who is also a survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Few pictures of the survivors or their vessel can be found since there has been a news blackout about the incident for fifty years.
Jack is a great storyteller. He was below deck when the attack happened. When the ship was hit by a torpedo and about to go down, he rushed to the deck only to find the ship had also been napalmed too and the ship was ablaze. Listen to the interview above; he certainly puts you back in the moment when his ship was sinking and there was no way to escape.
He also tells the story of how the admiral of the fleet spoke to him after the attack, warning him never to discuss the event with anyone or face time in Leavenworth Prison. Jack was an E3 at the time, the lowest rank on the ship.
Which brings me to the importance of the attack on the USS Liberty. Why did Israel try so hard to sink the ship with all hands on board? Why did President Johnson order the US Fleet to call back the attack planes sent to defend the Liberty? Some plan was made between Israel and the White House that was to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of U.S. sailors. Was the sinking of the USS Liberty to be a way for America to ender the 1967 War against Egypt?
In a functioning democracy we would have had these answers many years ago. And since very little of what our government tells us now ends up being the truth, we are left with conspiracy theories instead of facts. Tell us the truth about the Liberty. We, as the nation's overseas veterans, demand that the country we served come clean with us and with the American people.
