USA/ISRAEL USS LIBERTY

Toronto Star: Lyndon Johnson ordered cover-up: Former navy lawyer

WASHINGTON — A former navy lawyer who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former president Lyndon Johnson and his defence secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.

In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired captain Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the navy's inquiry to "conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary."

Boston was senior legal counsel to the navy's original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he's a military man, and "when orders come, I follow them."

UPI: New charges vs. Israel in '67 ship attack

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A private commission investigating the
1967 attack on the U.S. spy ship USS Liberty on Wednesday released the sworn
testimony of one naval investigator that the Israelis knew the ship was
American and intended to "murder its entire crew." Israeli aircraft
and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 U.S.
sailors and injuring 172 others in one of the deadliest attacks
suffered by a U.S. ship that remained afloat.

The Israeli government claimed it was a case of "mistaken identity" and
that their pilots were gunning for a 1937-era Egyptian freighter, but
this claim set off a 36-year controversy between the two countries. Both
U.S. and Israel groups have investigated the attack over the years, but the
issue has never been settled. Coming now, the evidence becomes part of
a controversy over Israelis influence in Washington and whether it has
tilted the Bush administration toward Jerusalem.