Chapter 10. Tall Tales vs. Reality
1.USS “Liberty” Newsletter, May 1984, 4. The USS “Liberty” Newsletter was published until September 1986. The next issue, in December 1986, was renamed the “Liberty” News.
2.Jim Anderson, “New Light Shed on Israeli Attack on U.S. Ship,” United Press International, Washington, March 18, 1984.
3.No one in the IDF could identify a general with this name.
4.Roland Evans and Robert Novak, “Remembering the Liberty,” Washington Post, November 6, 1991.
5.A. M. Rosenthal, “Anatomy of a Scoop,” New York Times, November 8, 1991, A-27.
6.Seth Mintz, “Attack on the Liberty: A Tragic Mistake,” Washington Post, November 9, 1991, A-26.
7.Jonathan Schachter, “Source: I Was Misquoted about ’67 Liberty Attack,” Jerusalem Post, November 13, 1991. Schachter wrote: “But in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Mintz said he had been ‘badly burned’ by the columnists who ‘distorted’ his remarks into a ‘lie.’”
The article also states: “In an apparent attempt to justify their story, the two columnists yesterday quoted an article in the [leading Israeli morning newspaper] Ha’aretz, written after their original column appeared, in which Mintz reportedly expressed ‘grave anxiety over the media interest in him,’ adding: ‘Everyone is after me now and that is what I’m afraid of. I don’t need the Mossad and Shin Bet knocking at my door.”
Schachter’s concluding comment: “At no time during his interview with The Jerusalem Post, however, did Mintz speak of any fears of danger or reprisals, but he did complain about the unwanted publicity the Evans and Novak column had thrust upon him.”
8.Roland Evans and Robert Novak, “The Liberty Quotes,” Washington Post, November 11, 1991.
9.Hirsh Goodman, “Messrs. Errors and No Facts,” Jerusalem Report, November 21, 1991, 42.
10.Stephen Green is the author of Taking Sides: America’s Secret Relations with a Militant Israel (New York: William Morrow, 1984).
11.Goodman, “Messrs. Errors and No Facts,” 41.
12.Fax dated August 6, 1992, from Maj. Gen. (Res.) Daniel Matt to this author in response to a detailed letter to the general dated June 26, 1992. The fax said:
Dear Judge Cristol,
I would like to inform you that a General by the name of Benni Matti is not known to me and that I myself am not the person in question, for the reasons raised in your letter dated 26 June 1992.
May I add that I do not know Messers. Mintz and Dagan.
Yours faithfully,
Major-General (Res.) Daniel Matt.
13.USS “Liberty” Newsletter, May 1984, 4.
14.Interview of Adrian Pennink by this author on August 30, 1989, in London.
15.Undated transcripts of the Stephen Green interviews of Seth Mintz ultimately came into the hands of Pennink of Thames TV, probably from David Walsh, and then passed from Pennink to this author.
16.Green, Taking Sides.
17.This author called Seth Mintz at his listed telephone number on November 8, 1991, and requested an interview. The man who answered the telephone identified himself as Seth Mintz but declined to be interviewed.
18.Interview of Seth Mintz aired on NBC, The Story behind the Story, January 27, 1992.
19.Telephone conversation between Rich Bonin and this author on March 10, 1992, in Miami, Florida.
20.This author requested the search through Col. Raanan Gissen (Res.), Deputy IDF spokesman.
21.The U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners opened in 1933. It is a federal detention facility located at 1600 West Sunshine, Springfield, Missouri.
22.Judge Thomas P. Griesa was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Richard M. Nixon and was sworn in on September 22, 1972. He took senior status on March 13, 2000.
23.This author communicated with Shimon Nachama of Israel TV Channel 1 on July 26, 2001, and was advised that the search for Tavni was still in progress but that the trail was cold.
24.Hamermish was flying a Tsukit twin-engine jet trainer aircraft and attempted a slow roll too close to the ground.
25.Interview of Kursa Wing by this author on June 17, 1990, in Israel; interview of Royal Flight leader by this author on July 2, 1992, in Israel.
26.Interview of Kursa Flight leader by this author on June 10, 1992, in Israel.
27.Ronald M. Wade, “Israel Should Own Up to the Truth about the Liberty,” Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, July 1, 1997.
28.Ronald M. Wade, LVA listserver, “More on the USS Liberty,” January 8, 2000.
29.Through a contact in Israel, information on Yohanan Levanon was obtained, as well as an introduction to Levanon. He was interviewed by this author by telephone on March 21, 2000. This author was in Miami, Florida, and Levanon was in Israel.
30.Fax received by this author from Yohanan Levanon dated March 18, 2000.
31.Copies of the e-mail are in this author’s files.
32.At that interview, which took place in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., Bamford said to this author that “Israel was a charity state of the United States,” that “Israelis lie,” and that “the United States should cut aid to Israel,” as well as other comments that indicated Bamford’s dislike of Israel.
33.Bruce Edwards, “Cover: When Friends Look Like Foe,” Rutland (Vt.) Herald Sunday Magazine, March 11, 2001, 11.
34.James Bamford, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency through the Dawn of a New Century (New York: Doubleday, 2001).
35.Ibid., 220.
36.On June 8, 1967, Marvin Nowicki was a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy. Following the 1967 war he was promoted to warrant officer and returned from Navy squadron VAQ-2 at Rota, Spain, to NSA headquarters, where he was assigned to Group G and worked under Frank Raven. He became chief of G643, dealing with the Israeli military, and thereafter chief of G64, responsible for all Middle East “targets.” He was promoted to chief warrant officer (CWO-2) and then commissioned lieutenant (junior grade). He retired from the Navy as a lieutenant in 1990.
37.NSA press release of April 23, 2001, quoted in Scott Shane and Tom Bowman, “New Book on NSA Sheds Light on Secrets,” Baltimore Sun, April 24, 2001.
38.Bamford, Body of Secrets; Nowicki is referenced on 213, 216, 221, and 231.
39.Marvin Nowicki provided this author with a copy of his letter dated March 3, 2000, and the five enclosures mentioned therein, together with written permission to publish the same, on condition of not disclosing the names of his Navy and NSA colleagues that were set forth in the letter and enclosures.
40.Telephone interview of Clark Clifford by this author on February 9, 1989. Clifford was in Washington, D.C. He died October 11, 1998.
41.Telephone interview of George Golden by this author on March 11, 1991. Golden was in Norfolk, Virginia.
42.In an Associated Press article in the Los Angeles Times, November 23, 1984, 2, George Golden is quoted: “I had proof that they knew who we were. We had monitored the communications between the Israeli planes and gun boats and their headquarters in which they referred to us as an American ship. I turned my proof over to an admiral and I don’t know what was done with it.”
43.Telephone conversation with Roy Kirk, May 1993.
44.E-mail from Commander Bennett to this author, March 14, 2001.
Chapter 11. Did Dayan Order It?
1.“CIA Papers Cite Israelis in Attack on U.S. Navy Ship,” New York Times, September 19, 1977, 7.
2.See Central Intelligence Agency FOIA package on the USS Liberty incident. This package may be obtained by written request to the CIA.
3.The program Good Morning America was aired to the general public on September 19, 1977.
4.Moshe Dayan, Story of My Life (London: Sphere Books, 1976), 372.
5.An account of the trip to Hebron, “the City of the Patriarchs,” and an emotional visit to the Cave of Machpelah is set forth in Uzi Narkiss, The Liberation of Jerusalem (Tot
owa, N.J.: Vallentine, Mitchell, 1983), 271–73.
6.The site of some Israeli settlements captured and destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 war.
7.Interview of Uzi Narkiss by this author on June 19, 1990, in Tel Aviv. General Narkiss was interviewed again by this author in Miami, Florida, on July 13, 1991. He commanded the brigades that captured Jerusalem and the Western Wall; see Narkiss, Liberation of Jerusalem. The command post was located in the basement of a convention center at the western entrance to Jerusalem. The center was called in Hebrew Binyanei Ha’umah.
8.Eitan Haber was one of the closest aides to Yitzhak Rabin.
9.Rehav’am Ze’evi at the time of his interview was the curator of the Museum of the Land of Israel in Tel Aviv and a member of the Knesset as well as founding head of the Moledet (Homeland) Party. Rehav’am Ze’evi was assassinated on October 17, 2001, while serving as tourism minister.
10.The interview took place in Tel Aviv on June 11, 1992.
11.Interview of Yitzhak Rager by this author on December 17, 1991, in Miami, Florida. Rager became the mayor of Beersheva in 1982 and held the position until his death on June 16, 1997. In the 1967 war he commanded the battalion that captured Bethlehem and Gush Etzion.
12.Telephone interview of Sharett by this author on July 13, 1991. Sharett was in Israel, and this author was in Miami, Florida.
13.Former de facto military governor (Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Territories) of the West Bank and author of The Carrot and the Stick: Israel’s Policy in Judea and Samaria, 1967–1968, ed. Patrick R. Denker, trans. Reuvik Danielli (Washington, D.C.: B’nai B’rith, 1995). Gazit also served as Israel’s chief of military intelligence.
14.Interview of Itzhak Nissyahu by this author on June20, 1990, in Tel Aviv.
15.Aharon Bregman and Jihan El-Tahri, The Fifty Years’ War: Israel and the Arabs (New York: TV Books, 1998, 1999), 111.
16.Fax from Rubinger to this author, February 10, 1992, stating the time on Dayan’s watch.
Chapter 12. America Investigates
1.10 USC 935 creates Art. 135 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, enacted on August 10, 1956, which reads in part: “(a) Courts of inquiry to investigate any matter may be convened by any person authorized to convene a general court-martial or by any other person designated by the Secretary concerned for that purpose, whether or not the persons involved have requested such an inquiry.”
On June 10, 1967, Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Adm. John S. McCain Jr., signed an order directed to Rear Adm. Isaac C. Kidd Jr., USN, convening a court of inquiry to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the armed attack on USS Liberty (AGTR 5) on June 8, 1967. The order referred to section 0402 of the JAG (Judge Advocate General) manual. The court was “directed to inquire into all the pertinent facts and circumstances leading to and connected with the armed attack; damage resulting therefrom; and deaths and injuries to naval personnel.”
2.Admiral McCain’s father and Admiral Kidd’s father were contemporaries at the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain and Kidd were also Naval Academy graduates, but McCain graduated more than ten years ahead of Kidd.
3.Lt. Cdr. Allen Feingersch, USN, 612119/1100, was designated as assistant counsel to the court in the letter from Commander in Chief, Naval Forces Europe to Rear Adm. Isaac C. Kidd Jr., USN, 11645/1100, which created the court of inquiry. It is interesting to note that while Ward Boston was a lawyer, qualified in the sense of Article 27 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Allen Feingersch was not so qualified and held the designation of a line officer.
4.Although the other members of the court met the ship on June 14, 1967, the transcript of the U.S. Navy court of inquiry erroneously indicates June 13, 1967.
5.The U.S. Navy court of inquiry, list of witnesses called. Their testimony appears in the record beginning at the page indicated:
Witness
Page
Capt. R. L. Raith, USN
2
Ens. D. G. Lucas, USNR
12
Cdr. W. L. McGonagle, USN
31
Lt. (jg) L. C. Painter, USNR
55
Ens. J. D. Scott, USNR
59
Lt. G. H. Golden, USN
63
Ens. M. P. O’Malley, USN
68
Lt. (jg) M. M. Watson, USNR
72
Lt. R. F. Kiepefer, USNR (MC)
74
CTC H. J. Thompson, USN
87
CTC C. F. Lamkin, USN
91
RMC W. L. Smith, USN
94
Cdr. E. A. Flatzek, USN
99
Capt. R. L. Arthur, USN
101
CT2 J. P. Carpenter, USN
105
Lt. M. H. Bennett, USN
114
CT2 T. L. Long, USN
117
CWO J. B. Wickam, USN
122
Cdr. W. L. McGonagle, USN (Recalled)
124
Capt. R. L. Raith, USN (Recalled)
139
Cdr. C. J. Jorgensen, USN
154
6.Adm. John S. McCain Jr. was the father of U.S. senator John S. McCain of Arizona.
7.Cdr. Merwin Staring, staff judge advocate to Admiral McCain, was a perfectionist. He objected to the form of the document, but his objections were overruled by Admirals McCain and Wylie, McCain’s deputy. They were much more concerned with the conclusions and with forwarding the report to the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington. Staring later became Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, serving in that capacity from 1974 to 1976.
8.To be technically correct, it was to be delivered to the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon, which is located just across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, not in Washington, D.C. It is common to refer to the Pentagon as being in Washington, and the press and the public seldom make the distinction. Unless there is some significance in the location of the Pentagon in Virginia, the common reference to Washington is used.
9.First Endorsement to the Report of the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry, Liberty Incident, Record of Proceedings, by Adm. John McCain, U.S. Commander in Chief Naval Forces Europe.
10.Interview with Adm. Isaac C. Kidd Jr. on April 18, 1991, in Washington, D.C. When this author interviewed Vice Adm. Don Engen, Engen asked if he had interviewed Admiral Kidd. When Engen was advised that Kidd had a history of not talking about this subject, Engen offered to make an introduction. As a result of that introduction, this author arranged a meeting with Admiral Kidd at the Army-Navy Club in Washington, D.C. This was the first of many meetings, visits to the Kidd home, and telephone conversations between this author and Admiral Kidd. The assistance of Admiral Kidd in the completion of this research project has been of immense value.
11.When this author interviewed Admiral McDonald on June 29, 1990, the admiral described Admiral Kidd as his “right-hand man.” When Ike Kidd was told of this description he commented, “I was McDonald’s trash can.”
12.The court did receive communications from Israel, usually routed through the Israel Foreign Military Liaison Officer, Lt. Col. Michael Bloch, to the U.S. naval attaché, Cdr. Ernest Castle.
13.News release, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs), Washington, D.C., No. 594–67, June 28, 1967.
14.CIA, Directorate of Intelligence, Intelligence Memorandum, “The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty, 13 June 1967, SC No. 01415/67.” Declassified in redacted form “per # 058375” on August 31, 1977. The June 13, 1967, memorandum consisted of seven pages plus a chronology of three pages and a map of the area.
15.The chronology and the map each show local and Washington time, with a spread of seven hours. The Washington, or EDT, times are accurate. This confirms the conclusion that the preparers of the memorandum overlooked the fact that daylight time was not in effect in Israel, Sinai, or the Liberty operating area. This discrepancy
has been called to the attention of the CIA by this author, but no corrective action has been taken.
16.See the CIA Liberty file.
17.The Egyptian ship is named in Arabic, and when the name is transliterated to Latin script there is opportunity for great creativity. The ship has been called El quseir, El Quiser, El Kasir, and possibly other spellings.
18.CIA, “Israeli Attack,” 4.
19.The fact-finding team was not formally approved until June 15, 1967, when Lt. Gen. B. E. Spivy, USA, director of the Joint Staff, signed a memorandum to General Russ, which he received on board the Sixth Fleet flagship in the Mediterranean. By that date he and his team had almost completed their fact-finding mission. Specifically, what the team was to study included the means used to issue and transmit operational directives of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the USS Liberty and circumstances attending any conflicting directives, inordinate delays in the receipt of messages or other proper orders, or their nonreceipt.
Further, the fact-finding team was told: “The Court of Inquiry convened by CINCUSNAVEUR to inquire into the circumstances leading to and connected with the armed attack on the USS Liberty will inquire into administrative, disciplinary, and internal matters within that command which are not within the scope of the examination by the fact finding team. This fact-finding team will not infringe upon the prerogatives of the Court of Inquiry.”
The members of the team were Maj. Gen. Joseph R. Russ, USA; Rear Adm. Francis J. Fitzpatrick, USN; Col. William A Garrett, USAF; Capt. William D. Owen, USN; and Maj. Harlan E. Priddle, USAF.
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