The Honorable Blake Farenthold 2110 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Farenthold: USS Liberty Veterans Association Survivor/President 4322 Wood River Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78410-5643 FAX (425) 675-5646 joe@ussliberty.com http://www.usslibertyveterans.org Blog: http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/blog October 8, 2012 We cordially invite Mr. Farenthold to attend our annual memorial service honoring those killed during the attack on the USS Liberty at noon on June 8, 2013 in Section 34 of Arlington National Cemetery. If he cannot attend we would appreciate it if he would provide a statement to be read to the attending survivors and families of our shipmates. This invitation is arguably early but since Mr. Farenthold couldn t bring himself to either attend or provide us with a written statement for the 2012 memorial service we thought this early request was warranted. Since Members of Congress are well aware of the events surrounding the attack even though they have refused to conduct an investigation we are asking that he indicate his support for our efforts to persuade Congress to conduct just such an investigation which will take a step to remove the stigma of the crew of the USS Liberty being held in contempt and unworthy of honor and support by Mr. Farenthold, his colleagues in Congress as well as the Department of Defense and some members of the American public. I am also still anticipating a response to my request for a statement from Mr. Farenthold honoring Larry Toenjes in his effort to sail from Galveston, TX to the site of the June 8, 1967 attack on the USS Liberty to hold a memorial service honoring the 34 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country which will be included in the Congressional record. Likewise I am still anticipating a copy of the transmittal letter Mr. Farenthold appended to the letter I sent to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus (attached). Can I expect a timely resolution of these outstanding issues? Since you are a Member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform we have a request to make of you. During the attack on the USS Liberty, a US Navy ship US government property was totally destroyed. The cost of the ship was in the $20,000,000 range and the electronics stuffed into the
ship weree state of the art so it is impossible to place a dollar figure on their loss but in all likelihood doubled the cost of the ship. The $6,000,000 allegedly paid by Israel is a gross underestimate of the true cost of the USS Liberty. Since it is Congress that is in charge of US property on behalf of the taxpayers we are asking that your subcommittee conduct a thorough investigation on behalf of US taxpayers of the loss of the USS Liberty, including an investigation of thee amount of this alleged settlement which we believe is a gross underestimate and a disservice to the US taxpayers. Sincerely, President attachment
Ray Mabus Secretary of the Navy 1000 Navy Pentagon Washington, DC 20350-1000 Dear Ray, USS Liberty Veterans Association Survivor/President 4322 Wood River Drive Corpus Christi, TX 78410-5643 FAX (425) 675-5646 joe@ussliberty.com http://www.usslibertyveterans.org August 2, 2012 We have received Susan Raser's letter of July 6, 2012. In my email to you we made a specific request for the NCIS to conduct an investigation of the allegations contained in the War Crimes Report we filed on June 6, 2005 and to be put in touch with an NCIS Special Agent with whom we could coordinate submitting evidence to support the allegations contained in the War Crimes Report. Instead of responding to that request, Ms. Raser provided us with the 2012 edition of the standard DoD drivel that we find sanctimonious, condescending, patronizing, treasonous and that bears no resemblance to the facts available or to the request we made. We suspect that this is the first time in NCIS history that upon receiving allegations of very serious crimes committed by and against the United States by over 200 victims of those crimes the NCIS refused to contact any of those victims during their investigation and chose instead to allow persons alleged to be accessories after the fact and to being complicit in the ongoing coverup of those crimes the opportunity of submitting a self-serving statement that will not stand up to even a cursory cross examination. This is nothing new to us. For decades you have refused to listen to us. You have refused to hear our account of being attacked by unmarked aircraft. You have refused to hear our account of having our radios jammed on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies. You have refused to hear our account of having our life rafts deliberately machine gunned in the water. You have refused to hear our account of being circled by attacking torpedo boats as they fire with machine guns and canons from close range at our shipmates who were trapped
topside or who ventured topside to help our wounded shipmates who could not make it to relative safety below decks. You have refused to hear our account of being ordered abandoned by Sixth Fleet aircraft while we were still under attack and calling for help. For decades you have refused to be seen in public with us. I cannot count the times we have invited the US Navy's official attendance and participation in annual memorial services we hold at Arlington National Cemetery on the anniversary of the attack. Nor can I count the number of times we have invited the US Navy's attendance at and participation in reunions we have held in Washington, DC. Each time that invitation was refused or ignored. Ray, I was recently told that your calendar for June 8, 2013 is full and that you will not be able to attend that memorial service. I suspect your calendar for June 8 th will be full for the remainder of your tenure and of the tenure of your successors. I also suspect in the entire US Navy there will be no one available to attend and represent you at any USS Liberty memorial service. After reflecting on our invitation for you to participate in a USS Liberty memorial service I feel that it would be insulting to USS Liberty survivors and our families for you to share our podium and am withdrawing our invitation. You, your predecessors, your colleagues and your subordinates in the Navy Department have destroyed too many USS Liberty marriages, have destroyed too many USS Liberty families and have destroyed too many USS Liberty lives to be considered for the honor of sharing a USS Liberty podium. We do not consider inviting those who deliberately machine gunned our life rafts in the water nor will we consider inviting you or your subordinates who condone the deliberate machine gunning of our life rafts in the water and who place your tacit stamp of approval upon what patriotic Americans consider to be an outrageous act against a US Navy ship deliberately condemning the entire crew of a US Navy ship to death had the enemy forces attacking our ship succeeded in their strategy of napalming us to drive USS Liberty crew below decks, firing 5 torpedoes at the ship, deliberately machine gunning our life rafts in the water and departing the scene for over an hour. In her response Ms. Raser writes, soon after the attack, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, convened a Court of Inquiry with a wide mandate to investigate áll pertinent facts and circumstances leading to and connected with the armed attack 'on the USS LIBERTY. Apparently her research consisted solely of reading the orders authorizing and instructing the US Navy Court of Inquiry on the scope of their investigation. The obvious intent of her research was to imply that the Court investigated the allegations contained in our War Crimes Report.
It didn't. ADM McCain signed a statement acknowledging that the Court didn't investigate all pertinent facts and circumstances leading to and connected to the attack on our ship as did ADM E.P. Holmes, CINCLANT. The Court's own Legal Advisor has repudiated the Court of Inquiry Report and knew it was totally rewritten in Washington, DC after it was signed. Ms. Raser's motives in deliberately misleading you and in deliberately ignoring over 200 victims of the crimes alleged in our War Crimes Report are open to conjecture. In closing her letter Ms. Raser claims to... imagine the suffering and loss you and other survivors endured during that tragic event and in the years subsequent to that day... Patronizing Nonsense! In investigating the allegations contained in our War Crimes Report she had over 200 living USS Liberty survivors to choose from. How many did she contact during her investigation? None! How many questions did she ask those 200 plus USS Liberty survivors regarding the allegations we made in our War Crimes Report? None! Not a single question! We were attacked by unmarked aircraft. Our radios were jammed on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies. Our life rafts were deliberately machine gunned in the water. We were ordered to be abandoned by two flights of rescue aircraft that had been launched from Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers. Lloyd Painter's sworn testimony about the machine gunning of our life rafts was removed from the record of the US Navy Court of Inquiry. Written statements provided to the Court by 65 USS Liberty survivors at the Court's request have disappeared. A detailed written statement from Jim Ennes, OOD of the morning watch, which was hand delivered to an officer of the Court, has disappeared. There is nothing in the record of the Court about the use of unmarked aircraft despite the fact that it is clearly within the scope of the investigation. There is nothing in the record about the two flights being recalled. There is nothing about the machine gunning of our life rafts in the water. There is nothing about the NAVCOMSTAs that had been listening to the attack in real time despite it being well within the scope of the investigation. There is nothing about the testimony of US Ambassador Dwight Porter whose personnel in Beirut were listening to the attack as it happened.
For decades we have asked DoD hundreds nay, thousands, of questions. None have been acknowledged or answered. All have been ignored. Ms. Raser cannot think of a single question to ask the more than 200 living USS Liberty survivors. None! Not a single question! If the cover-up of War Crimes committed by and against the United States during the deliberate attack of a US Navy ship by an enemy of the United States and the ordering of that ship to be abandoned by rescue aircraft while that ship is under attack and calling for help does not warrant a criminal investigation by the NCIS, nothing does. I submit that the refusal of Ms. Raser and the NCIS to initiate an investigation of the allegations contained in the War Crimes Report we filed on June 8, 2005 warrants an investigation in and of itself. We know that we were attacked by unmarked aircraft, that our radios were jammed on both US Navy tactical and international maritime distress frequencies, that our life rafts were deliberately machine gunned in the water and that we were ordered to be abandoned while we were still under fire and calling for help. We know that none of these facts have been included in the Report of the US Navy Court of Inquiry that was conducted in the wake of the attack. Ray, we have lived with these facts for over 45 years. We have also lived with the fact that the US government has participated in an ongoing cover-up of these facts. Evidence of this cover-up is immediately available to you in Ms. Raser's letter. Living with that cover-up for over 45 years has been devastating to us. To our families. Don't you think it is time to end the cover-up of the attack on the USS Liberty and finally conduct an investigation that should have been done 45 years ago? You have a choice. You can continue the cover-up or you can conduct an investigation of the War Crimes Report we filed on June 8, 2005. Which do you think is the honorable thing to do? Isn t it time to help us mend our lives and our families lives that have been destroyed by your ongoing cover-up? We come to you on bended knee. Sincerely, President