Eyewitness to an Act of War… A US Air Force Intelligence Officer Speaks with AFP About the USS Liberty
By Mark Glenn
The outrage in his voice was made all the more striking by his New England accent and Yankee assertiveness that long ago brought about the American Revolution. ‘I couldn’t believe it…One minute, nothing, and then the next minute they were attacking our ship in broad daylight…We had no warning that it was coming, and then ‘boom,’ there it was, and our guys were being slaughtered.’
Like hundreds of other individuals who have particular stories to tell concerning their actions and whereabouts on June 8th 1967 when the USS Liberty was attacked by the air and naval forces of Israel, Capt. Richard Block’s testimony is noteworthy, but in some respects much more important than others. At that time, he was in command of the 6931st Security Group of the USAF Security Services stationed on the island of Crete where his job was to act as the eyes and ears of the US intelligence community. What he and the others under his command heard that day obliterates the lie that has been foisted upon the people of the United States for the last 40 years that the attack was all the result of ‘mistaken identity’ and proves beyond any reasonable doubt that it was a deliberate and premeditated act of war.
‘We were getting the translations in real-time’ he said, speaking of the air-to-air and air-to-ground communications taking place between the pilots and C&C (command and control) on the ground in Israel. ‘They knew it was an American ship. We heard it with our own ears, several times. The story they have told for the last 40 yrs about the Liberty being mistaken for another ship is complete bull****.’
Like others who were material witnesses to the act of war that took place that day, Capt. Block was told in crystal clear terms that he was to keep his mouth shut concerning what he saw and heard. Shortly thereafter, individuals unknown to him showed up at his post, gathered up any documentation dealing with the Israeli intercepts and hauled them away to be destroyed. And lest anyone fall victim to the typical business that Israel’s defenders employ when attempting to cover up her crimes–namely that one man’s testimony is ‘insufficient’ evidence in refuting what has been the standard explanation for the last 40 years–keep in mind that he is not alone.
Two other individuals contacted by American Free Press for this story have related circumstances identical to those of Capt. Block, although (for obvious reasons) they insist upon remaining anonymous. According to their statements, they too heard the radio chatter between the Israeli pilots and those on the ground who were giving the orders to attack, and there was no doubt Israel knew unequivocally that it was an American ship and that it was her aim to sink the Liberty and leave no survivors, as dead men tell no tales. One individual interviewed for this piece told American Free Press that ‘bets were made’ amongst the men in his listening post as to which city in Israel was going to get ‘nuked first’ once the President was made aware of what took place.
As far as Capt. Block (who has remained silent these last 3 decades) the event prompting him to speak out was (as in the case of Capt. Ward Boston, chief legal council for the Navy’s Board of Inquiry) the publication of Jay Ahron Cristol’s book ‘The Liberty Incident’ which exculpated Israel of any wrongdoing. When Capt. Block was made aware of the contents in Cristol’s book and heard that the author was going to be at a book signing in a nearby town, he paid him a personal visit to speak his mind. In front of approximately 120 people there that day to hear Cristol run his mouth (including the upper-crust of the town’s intelligentsia and politicians) Capt. Block got up and said that the book was a pack of lies. ‘I was there the day that the Liberty was attacked, and you weren’t’ he told a shocked Cristol, whose drooling support for the Jewish state is well-known. ‘I got the raw milk of the intelligence and all you got was the processed cheese.’
Much to his surprise, nothing ill came of Capt. Block’s confrontation with Cristol. Capt. Block has his theories as to why, namely that right now what the ‘powers that be’ want (during a time when American support for Israel is crucial for her existence) is that no attention be drawn to the events of June 8, 1967. ‘In my opinion’ he told AFP ‘what they want is for all of us to just die off so that the whole Liberty thing will become forgotten history’.
For Capt. Block though, silence is no longer an acceptable option. ‘What I want is justice for those guys. What was done to them was an outrage. Personally I think it was divine providence the ship didn’t sink. I am not interested in any notoriety, just justice…justice for our men and for our flag. The bottom line is that this was an act of war perpetrated against the United States and the American people need to know about it.’
Many theories have been offered over the years concerning Israel’s motives for attacking the USS Liberty that day. Some say it was to cover-up her war crimes in the Sinai desert when she murdered over 250 Egyptian soldiers who had surrendered peaceably. Some say that it was because she was planning to take the Golan Heights in Syria and did not want the news of this impending attack to get out. When asked about what he thought Israel’s motives were, Capt. Block’s answer was simple–That Israel wanted to drag the United States into the war against the Arab countries so that the blood of America’s Christians would be spilled rather than that that of Israel’s Jews.
In interviewing other survivors of the USS Liberty, AFP has learned that some 15 years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached some of the servicemen (as well as former Congressman Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey) and revealed to them that as the lead pilot in the attack that day he recognized the Liberty as American and informed his headquarters. Nevertheless, he was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. As a result of his refusal to do so he was immediately arrested after returning to base. Backing up his damning statements are those of former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter who has also stated publicly that the Israeli pilot’s radio transmission was heard by US monitors in the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon.
The attack on the USS Liberty by the air and naval forces of Israel that resulted in the deaths of 34 of America’s young men was as much an act of war against the United States as was the sneak attack on Pearl harbor by the Japanese in 1941. The only difference between the two was that the Japanese did not have the machinery in place at that time to cover it up and lie about it as Israel has for the last 40 years. Rather than justice, what the American people have been given since that time is lies and further involvement in the tangled affairs of a gangster nation founded on duplicity, genocide and a mad thirst for world domination. As a reward for the murder of 34 sailors aboard the Liberty, Israel–rather than being given a declaration of war by the US Congress–has instead been given (by some accounts) over a trillion dollars with which to further endanger the liberty and security of the American people.
‘Better late than never,’ as the old saying goes, and with that in mind, being that the Congress of the United States refuses to execute its duty with respect to protecting and defending the people and interests of the United States, it is high time then that the American people themselves declare that a state of war exists between them and the Jewish state and take all steps necessary in prosecuting this war to a just conclusion. Anything short of this is national suicide, as events taking place today prove on a regular basis.]
Mark Glenn Correspondent–American Free Press
Read more Mark Glenn at The Ugly Truth
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