Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty

The chairperson on the Independent Commission in 2004 was Admiral Thomas Moorer (Ret.). He had a storied career including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It concluded that...
· Israeli planes had observed the Liberty for eight hours before the attack
· June 8 was a clear day with unlimited visibility
· Survivors testify that a 5 by 8 American flag was flying all day on the Liberty until it was shot away and replaced by an even larger flag.
· The flag was flying in a 12-knot breeze for most of the afternoon.
· The Liberty's five American radio channels were jammed during the attack. The Egyptian military did not broadcast on those frequencies.
· The Israelis machine-gunned the three life rafts the crew put out when it appeared the attack had let up. (This would assure there would be no survivors).
· The Israelis claimed the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian ship. However the Egyptian ship, a 1920's era horse carrier was a quarter the size of the Liberty

clipped from www.counterpunch.org In an affidavit signed on January 9, 2004 Captain Ward (now retired) swears that, "Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. I am certain that the Israeli pilots that undertook the attacks, as well as their superiors who had ordered the attack were aware that the ship was AmericanI know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary." There's also the matter of obstruction of justice for ordering a cover-up. There was a hasty Naval Court of Inquiry set up to find out what happened to the Liberty. The senior legal counsel for the court was Captain Ward Boston. Admiral Isaac Kidd was president of the Court.