Transcription
Mr. Speaker, it's my great honor, maybe one of the biggest honors of my lifetime, to stand here on the floor and do something that's 59 years overdue, to recognize the survivors and those who gave their lives of the U on the USS Liberty 59 years ago today when they were viciously attacked by IDF jets and also after that by torpedo boats.
I'm going to tell you a little bit of their story. And there, by the way, there's at least a dozen of them here today with us. I just met with them in my office, and they related this story to me.
You know, uh, it was a clear day. The USS Liberty was one of the most technologically sophisticated ships in the Navy, but it was virtually unarmed, and it was sent to observe the six-day war going on in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors. It arrived on June 7th and the weather was clear. The uh planes came out to meet them to investigate. And then on the next day on June 8th, they started the day. The visibility was unlimited. The American flag was flying proudly on the USS Liberty. More planes came from Israel to surveil the boat, the ship. And they thought they were in good shape.
But what happened next? surprised them all. French mirage jets showed up and for 25 minutes strafed and attacked the USS Liberty. They shot rockets. They shot 30 mm cannons into the hull and into the ship. They even dropped napal on the bridge of the ship. This was an effort to kill everybody on board. There was no intention of taking prisoners.
After the 25 grueling minutes of attack on this virtually unarmed ship and they thought things were over and they could recover, the torpedo boats showed up. Three torpedo boats. They launched four torpedoes. One of them hit the hall of the USS Liberty and killed 25 people instantly. It blew a 40 foot by 40 foot hole in the side of this ship. They were intent on sinking it, but they were also intent on not having a single survivor.
According to eyewitness accounts, the Israelis machine gunned the lifeboats that they put down. They machine gunned the firefighters who were on the deck. They were bringing the wounded and the dead to the messaul to triage them. They had one doctor who was trying to help them all, put a few stitches in. It was harrowing and it's amazing. If not for that crew, they that boat would have sunk that day.
But it still wasn't over. Helicopters showed up, combat helicopters, and the USS Liberty, even though their signals were being jammed by the Israelis, got a signal out. And there were ships that tried to respond. The USS Saratoga, the USS America sent planes. Both of them sent planes to help the USS Liberty. And something happened that's never happened before. A ship under attack. The planes were recalled. This has never happened before. And they sat there for 17 hours. 34 dead, 174 wounded out of 294 crew members. That's over 70% casualty rate. Unheard of.
The Israelis were intent on leaving no survivor. And what about our own military? Why did they not send anybody for 17 hours to help these men?
So, what really happened? You know, the official reports say that it was a case of mistaken identity. But if you listen to Dean Rusk, former Secretary of State, Richard Helm, CIA director, Bobby Ray Enman, head of the NSA, Captain Ward Boston, who was the chief counsel of the Court of Inquiry. If you listen to Admiral Moore, who served in Pearl Harbor Midway, commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet, and was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. None of these distinguished men think this was an accident. They think it was intentional murder by the country of Israel, either as a false flag operation or because they simply didn't want anybody observing what they were doing that day.
Well, I've got a call to action for everybody here. Honor these individuals. Quit ignoring that they exist. Go to their website, ussliberty.org. support them. And while they're still alive, they need closure. Let's give them closure. Let's have an investigation. Let's pass a resolution honoring them. It's long overdue. And then they can have their justice.
With that, I yield back. And I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the declaration of Ward Boston declaring that the only official court of inquiry was invalid.
>> Without objection. So ordered.
>> I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the chair.