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| 2006/7/24-28 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Israel, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Others] UID:43771 Activity:low |
7/24 I got a problem and I need you guys' advice on how to help without
myself being locked up in Cuba somewhere. Hezbollah runs a lot of
hospitals, bomb shelterss and other Humanitarian organization.
Right now, there are about 600,000 accused terrorist being displaced
by Israeli forces. 200,000 of them are already fled to Syria, which
is not a wealthy nation at first place and its subject to US economic
embargo since 2003. If I want to help those what I call refugees
(jews [ed. Israelis] probably would disagree), where can I send money to without
being accused of providing material support to Terrorist / Terrorist
Organization? I don't think International Redcross has a strong
presence there. Thanks
\_ You were sounding reasonable up to the anti-Jewish remark. Now
I'm going to log your entry and report you to DHS.
\_ Medecins Sans Frontieres is my suggestion--they're generally
politically neutral and do good work. http://www.msf.org -John
\- i believe the RedCross/Crescent is interested in going to
south lebanon, but israel has refused to "guarantee" safe
passage, but they have been willing to notify hizbolla
if the RC wants to head down. in this case i dunno if there
is really a difference between "guarantee safe passage"
and a cease fire. i dont believe israel is saying "we will
physicallyt block you from going in" but saying "you take
physically block you from going in" but saying "you take
your chances".
\_ A lot of people take issue with the RC for its perceived
"hands-off" approach. -John
\_ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/25/MNGJCK4N0A1.DTL
\_ http://csua.org/u/gj5 (sfgate.com)
How hands-off should they be?
\_ Don't ask me, I don't know. However, the RC does not,
as a matter of policy, publicize its findings from
prisoner camps, that sort of thing. They do
provide ambulance and emergency care services, which
is a Good Thing, I wasn't thinking of that. -John
\- wow. has israel claimed that was a mistake
or "we're not going to make exceptions for
trucks that say Red *"? i can see they may
believe some civilians are helping Hizbolla
on the sly by playing a covert military role
but surely they arent saying the RC is helping
Hizbolla.
\_ If it was a mistake, it was a pretty deliberate one.
According to the red cross personel, they made a
second pass to take out the second ambulance. Did
you see the pic in the article? Dead center on the
cross. That's pulitzer material...
\_ Why not? They helped the PLO last time.
\_ Dude, that's a serious charge. Please provide a
URL. TIA.
\_ It isn't a "charge". It is historical fact.
The RC showed up in ships to take the PLO to
Tunis. It wasn't a secret. It was broadcast
around the world. I still recall seeing the
PLO thugs firing guns in the air in
celebration of the RC rescuing them from the
Israeli army. I believe that's why the first
thing the Israelis did this time was establish
a navy blockade and bomb the bridges and roads
to Syria. It wasn't about keeping their
soldiers from being taken out of Lebanon, but
to prevent escape for Hezbollah thugs the way
they made a mistake with the PLO.
\_ An "historical" "fact" that no one here has
ever heard. Provide. A. Link.
\_ Sorry you can't remember but that doesn't
make me a liar. It just means that you
can't remember. From the Washington Post
archives:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/125498852.html?dids=125498852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&fmac=&date=Aug+31%2C+1982&author=By+Andriana+Ierodiaconou+Special+to+The+Washington+Post&desc=Greece+Welcomes+Wounded+Palestinian+Guerrillas
And here's one for the gun fire I said
I remembered:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/127698492.html?dids=127698492:127698492&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&fmac=&date=Aug+22%2C+1982&author=By+Leon+Dash+Washington+Post+Foreign+Service&desc=400+Arrive+In+Cyprus
\_ First, thank you for posting the links
as I requested. However, apart from
these two articles in the Washington
Post, I can't seem to find any other
context for this. Why did the RC
evacuate the PLO guerillas? Can you
provide a link with historical
context? This is fascinating, but in
and of itself demonstrates nothing.
\_ Oh, come on. You have any idea how
long it took to find an obscure
reference to a pre-web story? All
the content from that time is
behind for-pay links, but along
the way I was wading through
literally hundreds of pages that
described the entire war in
tedious detail from all
perspectives using such uncommon
search terms as "beirut", "plo",
"red cross", and "1982". The
wikipedia entry posted below has a
very limited but not entirely
untrue version of events since
you're incapable of performing the
most basic search, I suggest you
start there, but in no way does
the story end there. That's the
super cliff notes version of
events. If you really care you'll
go do your own reading.
\_ Thanks for the bile. I already
answered myself in the post
below.
\_ Bile? Sensitive much?
\_ After all that, you're
asking me?
\_ After all what? Its
not my fault you're a
lazy ass and I called
you on it. That isnt
bile, that's truth. Get
a thicker skin. The
truth shouldnt hurt
so much.
you on it while also
suggesting you do some
real research if you
actually want to know
what happened in Beirut
in 1982.
\_ Niggah, please. I
googled the terms in
your archived WP
story and got bupkis
so I politely asked
for more info. Then
I found and posted
the info below. Then
you accused me of
not doing research.
So I informed you
that I had. So now,
you know that I know
that your statement
implying that the RC
was aiding PLO was
grossly overstated.
\_ And now, the rest of the story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
Although not specified here, it
appears that the the Red Cross
transported the PLO to Tunis at the
request of Americans, the French,
and the Italians, not simply as a
favor to the PLO. |
| 5/25 |
|
| www.msf.org Subscribe to MSF podcasts here MSF first steps in Lebanon One MSF team is already in Lebanon, others are arriving in Lebanon and in the surrounding countries. The teams are assessing the needs of the civilian population, focusing on displaced people, in order to organize health relief activities. Alarming medical and sanitary situation in Ituri (DRC) The situation remains tense and volatile in the northeastern district of Ituri, one of the epicenters of violence in the country. Attacks and clashes between Congolese army forces and militia groups are ongoing, causing significant population displacements. The 39,000 displaced persons living in Gety are particularly vulnerable. After weeks spent in the bush following attacks and the destruction of their villages, people are in an extremely weakened state. They now live in largely unsatisfying sanitary conditions. African sleeping sickness in the DRC Until now, the only antidote available to most patients in the DRC was Melarsoprol, a derivative of arsenic. But it is so toxic that it melts plastic syringes and can kill patients before they die of the illness - on average about one in 20. MSF is testing a cure that could ease the pain and bring relief. A hard return to peace in Sudan Lars Schwed Nygaard As refugees and internally displaced persons are returning home by the thousands, humanitarian needs in southern Sudan remain massive. MSF has taken charge of a hospital that was in ruins in the town of Bor to alleviate the health needs of a rapidly growing population. Rohingyas in Bangladesh: Unwanted and homeless on a small stretch of marshland Photo gallery by Greg Constantine In the most southern part of Bangladesh, near the city of Teknaf, live 6,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar (Burma). Classified by the Bangladesh government as illegal immigrants, the people have not received any support until very recently. Since the end of May, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been operating a small healthcare centre and improving the water supply and sanitary conditions in the camp. More empty promises: Abbott fails to supply critical new AIDS drug formulation to developing countries "This is a classic case of how monopolies hurt patients," said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer of MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. "We need generic competition for these newer essential drugs, because it's the only way to make them affordable and widely available. It should not be up to a CEO in Chicago to decide who has access to a life-saving medicine." MP3 file Sustained improvement in the psychological health of the population remains hard to achieve while the situation remains insecure. Marieta Gudieva, the MSF mental health program manager in Ingushetia feels that: "At the moment people are trying to survive. The real consequences of war will be evident when people once more begin to live normal lives - the lives they are living now are not normal." |
| www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/25/MNGJCK4N0A1.DTL Email This Article (07-25) 04:00 PDT Tyre, Lebanon -- Qassim Chaalan never knew what hit him. It was 10 o'clock Sunday night, and Chaalan, 28, a volunteer with the Lebanese Red Cross, was working quickly. He and his team of two medics had met another ambulance in the village of Qana, where Jesus Christ is said to have turned water to wine for a wedding. There, they picked up three generations of wounded civilians -- a mother, her son and a grandson. The Lebanese Red Cross is one of the few organizations in southern Lebanon still evacuating the injured. Qana was a convenient meeting point for the two Red Cross ambulances from Tibnine, a town about 12 miles southeast of Tyre. Since it had become too dangerous to make the run to Tyre directly, the drivers decided to meet in Qana to pick up the wounded. Both vehicles were plainly marked with Red Cross logos and flashed a blue emergency light to signal their humanitarian intent. The Israeli air force had been bombing civilian convoys, turning roads and tracks across the south into killing zones in an effort to weaken the Hezbollah militia. Earlier in the day, an evacuation convoy from a village to the southeast had been hit, killing three people and wounding 16. As he closed the back hatch on his white Toyota van, Chaalan's world became one of heat, light and concussion wave. A guided missile struck the vehicle with the three civilians inside. It was the first attack by Israel on a Red Cross ambulance in the two-week conflict, wounding five volunteers and three patients, according to the Red Cross. In previous conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has struck ambulances when it believed the vehicles were being used to smuggle weapons and personnel to militants. In a statement Monday, an Israeli army spokesman said the ambulances in Qana were attacked "in an area known to be one of the main sources of the launching of hundreds of missiles," according to Cox News Service. The Red Cross has asked Israel for a more detailed explanation. Chaalan said that while this was the first time the Lebanese Red Cross has been hit, it was not the first time it had been shot at by Israeli helicopters. "Sometimes they hit 100 meters, 50 meters away," he said. In Sunday's attack, Chaalan was thrown backward while the other medics rushed to pull the wounded from the smashed vehicle. As they pulled the child out, the Israelis struck again, blowing up the second ambulance. "I felt like I was dying," Chaalan said Monday, after his release from a hospital. After the attack, a Red Cross volunteer reached the organization's headquarters in Tyre, which relayed news of the assault to the International Red Cross headquarters in Geneva. After nearly two hours of negotiations, the Israelis guaranteed safe passage for the volunteers and the wounded back to Tyre. Despite a donation of blood from Chaalan, the wounded man, 40-year-old Ahmed Mustafa Farwaz, lost his right leg below the knee, while his son Mohammed Farwaz, 14, remained in serious condition with shrapnel wounds to his abdomen. The elder Farwaz's unidentified mother suffered severe nerve damage to her legs. The Sunday attack represented an escalation in Israel's campaign to drive the civilian population in the south beyond the Litani River and assault Hezbollah positions across the area. In their flight to the north, multiple civilian vehicles have been hit, many with white clothes affixed to antennas or tied over the roof, with an unknown number of casualties. At least 384 Lebanese have died since the fighting began July 12, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters. Twenty-two Israeli soldiers and 17 Israeli civilians have been killed. Despite the constant danger, Chaalan says he will continue driving ambulances rather than seeking shelter like most remaining southerners. "I would prefer to die while I'm helping people, not when I'm hiding," he said. |
| csua.org/u/gj5 -> www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/25/MNGJCK4N0A1.DTL Email This Article (07-25) 04:00 PDT Tyre, Lebanon -- Qassim Chaalan never knew what hit him. It was 10 o'clock Sunday night, and Chaalan, 28, a volunteer with the Lebanese Red Cross, was working quickly. He and his team of two medics had met another ambulance in the village of Qana, where Jesus Christ is said to have turned water to wine for a wedding. There, they picked up three generations of wounded civilians -- a mother, her son and a grandson. The Lebanese Red Cross is one of the few organizations in southern Lebanon still evacuating the injured. Qana was a convenient meeting point for the two Red Cross ambulances from Tibnine, a town about 12 miles southeast of Tyre. Since it had become too dangerous to make the run to Tyre directly, the drivers decided to meet in Qana to pick up the wounded. Both vehicles were plainly marked with Red Cross logos and flashed a blue emergency light to signal their humanitarian intent. The Israeli air force had been bombing civilian convoys, turning roads and tracks across the south into killing zones in an effort to weaken the Hezbollah militia. Earlier in the day, an evacuation convoy from a village to the southeast had been hit, killing three people and wounding 16. As he closed the back hatch on his white Toyota van, Chaalan's world became one of heat, light and concussion wave. A guided missile struck the vehicle with the three civilians inside. It was the first attack by Israel on a Red Cross ambulance in the two-week conflict, wounding five volunteers and three patients, according to the Red Cross. In previous conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has struck ambulances when it believed the vehicles were being used to smuggle weapons and personnel to militants. In a statement Monday, an Israeli army spokesman said the ambulances in Qana were attacked "in an area known to be one of the main sources of the launching of hundreds of missiles," according to Cox News Service. The Red Cross has asked Israel for a more detailed explanation. Chaalan said that while this was the first time the Lebanese Red Cross has been hit, it was not the first time it had been shot at by Israeli helicopters. "Sometimes they hit 100 meters, 50 meters away," he said. In Sunday's attack, Chaalan was thrown backward while the other medics rushed to pull the wounded from the smashed vehicle. As they pulled the child out, the Israelis struck again, blowing up the second ambulance. "I felt like I was dying," Chaalan said Monday, after his release from a hospital. After the attack, a Red Cross volunteer reached the organization's headquarters in Tyre, which relayed news of the assault to the International Red Cross headquarters in Geneva. After nearly two hours of negotiations, the Israelis guaranteed safe passage for the volunteers and the wounded back to Tyre. Despite a donation of blood from Chaalan, the wounded man, 40-year-old Ahmed Mustafa Farwaz, lost his right leg below the knee, while his son Mohammed Farwaz, 14, remained in serious condition with shrapnel wounds to his abdomen. The elder Farwaz's unidentified mother suffered severe nerve damage to her legs. The Sunday attack represented an escalation in Israel's campaign to drive the civilian population in the south beyond the Litani River and assault Hezbollah positions across the area. In their flight to the north, multiple civilian vehicles have been hit, many with white clothes affixed to antennas or tied over the roof, with an unknown number of casualties. At least 384 Lebanese have died since the fighting began July 12, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters. Twenty-two Israeli soldiers and 17 Israeli civilians have been killed. Despite the constant danger, Chaalan says he will continue driving ambulances rather than seeking shelter like most remaining southerners. "I would prefer to die while I'm helping people, not when I'm hiding," he said. |
| pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/125498852.html?dids=125498852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS&fmac=&date=Aug+31%2C+1982&author=By+Andriana+Ierodiaconou+Special+to+The+Washington+Post&desc=Greece+Welcomes+Wounded+Palestinian+Guerrillas Greece Welcomes Wounded Palestinian Guerrillas The Washington Post (1974-Current file) - Washington, DC Author: By Andriana Ierodiaconou Special to The Washington Post Date: Aug 31, 1982 Start Page: A12 Document Types: article Text Word Count: 303 ATHENS, Aug. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |
| pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/127698492.html?dids=127698492:127698492&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&fmac=&date=Aug+22%2C+1982&author=By+Leon+Dash+Washington+Post+Foreign+Service&desc=400+Arrive+In+Cyprus It was the start of a 14-day evacuation of thousands of Palestinian and Syrian fighters from this war-battered capital. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War According to the UN Secretary-General, the Israeli air force bombarded Palestinian targets in south Lebanon, and later that day Palestinian elements fired artillery and rockets into northern Israel. United Nations Secretary-General noted, "After several weeks of relative quiet in the area, a new cycle of violence has begun and has, in the past week, steadily intensified." He further stated, "There have been heavy civilian casualties in Lebanon; I deeply deplore the extensive human suffering caused by these developments." Niger, expressed "deep concern at the extent of the loss of life and the scale of the destruction caused by the deplorable events that have been taking place for several days in Lebanon." Gaza, and along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders, in which 29 Israelis were killed and more than 300 were injured. The Palestinian forces continued to grow in Lebanon with full-time military personnel numbering around 15,000, although only 6,000 of these, including 4,500 regulars, were deployed in the south. They were armed with 60 aging tanks, many of which were no longer mobile, and 100-200 pieces of artillery (Sayigh, 1999, p 524). Ya'ari (1984), the PLO more than tripled its artillery from 80 cannons and rocket launchers in July 1981 to 250 in June 1982 (pp. The same authors also refer to Israeli intelligence estimates of the number of PLO fighters in southern Lebanon of 6,000 "divided into three concentrations; about 1,500 south of the Litani River in the so-called Iron Triangle (between the villages of Kana, Dir Amas, and Juya), Tyre, and its surrounding refugee camps; another 2,500 of the Kastel Brigade in three districts between the Litani and a line running from Sidon to northeast of Nabatiye; and a third large concentration of about 1,500-2,000 men of the Karameh Brigade in the east, on the slopes of Mount Hermon" (pp. The total forces deployed by Syria, the PLO and Israel during the conflict are detailed in the table below. On 21 April 1982, after a landmine killed an Israeli officer in Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Palestinian-controlled coastal town of Damour, killing 23 people. Despite this and numerous other attacks launched since 24 July, 1981 the PLO continued to observe the cease-fire agreement (Cobban, 1984, pp. Security Council (S/14789, S/15194) that from August 1981 to May 1982 inclusive, there were 2096 violations of Lebanese airspace and 652 violations of Lebanese territorial waters (Chomsky, 1999, p 195; Menachem Begin had been informed by Israeli intelligence that the PLO was not involved in the attack on Argov, but withheld this information from his Cabinet (Gilbert, 1998, p 503). PLO targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon killing 45 and wounding 150. For the first time in over ten months, the PLO responded by launching artillery and mortar attacks on civilian centers in northern Israel. Syrian influences in Lebanon, and possibly enable the establishment of a stable Lebanese leadership from the Christian population, which would strengthen a central Lebanese Army, restore security and agree to diplomatic relations with Israel. Yehoshafat Harkabi, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon was accompanied by deceit at the highest political levels. Harkarbi cites misleading statements to the cabinet by Ariel Sharon and Begin, inaccurate announcements by Israel's military spokesmen and the Likud government's gross exaggeration of terrorist acts conducted from Lebanon. citation needed that during the eleven-month ceasefire preceding the war, Israel's northern settlements had been attacked only twice and that during this period Israel had suffered a total of two killed and six wounded from terrorist attacks. Sidon (major cities in the south of Lebanon, still within the 40 kilometre limit) were heavily damaged, and the Lebanese capital Beirut was shelled for ten weeks, killing both PLO members and civilians. Ronald Reagan's envoy to Lebanon, provided an undertaking to the PLO that the Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps would not be harmed. However, the United States marines left West Beirut two weeks before the end of their official mandate. edit Casualties It is estimated that around 17,825 Arabs were killed during the war. There are different estimates of the proportion of civilians killed. Beirut newspaper An Nahar estimated that 5,515 people, military and civilian, were killed in the Beirut area during the conflict, and 9,797 military personnel (PLO, Hezbollah, Syrian, and others) and 2,513 civilians were killed outside of the Beirut area. security zone," which Israel considered a necessary buffer against attacks on its northern territory. The Israeli withdrawal to the security zone ended in June 1985. Meir Vilner, said in the Knesset plenary session that "The government is leading Israel to an abyss. She is doing something that in the course of time might lead to crying for generations". Only fastidious examination of the obituaries showed another picture: "on the death of Major Goni Hernik, in the time of the conquest of Beaufort, mourn Peace Now movement". disinformation of government leaders and the public by military and political advocates of the campaign, and lack of clear goals, led to increasing disquiet among Israelis. Organizers claimed 400,000 people participated in the rally, and it became known as the "400,000 rally", but actual figures are estimated to have been much lower. Such attacks revealed the limited utility of overwhelming superiority of conventional forces in providing immunity from highly visible losses when the attackers are willing and able to operate anonymously from the midst of noncombatant populations which the leadership of those conventional forces are unwilling to destroy. infrastructure, as well as increasing deterrence on other Arab terrorist organizations. The Syrian military was weakened by combat losses, especially in the air. Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction estimated the cost of the damage from the invasion at 7,622,774,000 Lebanese pounds, equivalent to US$2 billion at the time. |
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident Both the Israeli and American governments have conducted multiple inquiries into the incident, and have issued reports concluding that the attack was a tragic mistake, caused by confusion about the identity of the USS Liberty. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of the NSA, and the senior legal counsel to the US Navy Court of of Inquiry into the incident. The matter is officially closed for purposes of Israeli-American relations, but remains controversial in the public debate. Six-Day War, and that no concrete motive existed for Israel to initiate a surprise attack against a country that was quickly becoming its most powerful and important ally. Others claim that the attack was premeditated and deliberate; they note, among other things, that the Liberty was four times larger than the El Quseir, and was clearly designated with Latin rather than Arabic letters and numbers. Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States and Israel exchanged diplomatic notes after several inquiries. Though the United States never officially accepted the Israeli explanation, it agreed to accept indemnities of $13 million, for damage and casualties. citation needed , since the Liberty was just entering the Mediterranean Sea at this time. In addition, five messages had been sent by the US Navy to the Liberty, warning it to come no closer than 100 nautical miles (185 km) to the Sinai coast. Tel Aviv, that Israel would defend its coast with every means at its disposal, including sinking unidentified ships; thus the Americans should either reveal which ships it had in the area, or remove them. June 6, Admiral Martin replied: "Liberty is a clearly marked United States ship in international waters, not a participant in the conflict and not a reasonable subject for attack by any nation. He promised, however, that in the unlikely event of an inadvertent attack, jet fighters from the Sixth Fleet could be overhead in ten minutes. citation needed Many Liberty crewmen gave testimony that one of the aircraft flew so close to Liberty that its propellers rattled the deck plating of the ship, and the pilots waved to the crew of Liberty, and the crewmen waved back. After a series of passes an Israeli pilot, who wondered why the Liberty had not returned fire, made a close pass and noted that the ship had Western (not Arabic) lettering. Rabin immediately feared that the ship was Soviet, ordered the planes and a three torpedo boat squadron, which had been ordered into the area, to withhold fire pending positive identification of the ship, and sent in two helicopters to search for survivors. Morse code signalling attempts by one of the boats (but being unable to see what was being sent, due to the smoke of the fire started by the earlier aircraft attack), McGonagle gave the order to cease fire. This order was apparently misunderstood in the confusion, and two heavy machine guns opened fire. Subsequently, the Israeli boats responded with fire and launched at least two torpedoes at Liberty (five according to the 1982 IDF History Department report). starboard side forward of the superstructure, creating a large hole in what had been a former cargo hold converted to the ships research spaces, causing the majority of the casualties in the incident. Tel Aviv about the incident and provided a helicopter to fly a US naval attache to the ship. Though Liberty was severely damaged, with a 50-foot (15 m) hole and a twisted keel, her crew kept her afloat, and she was able to leave the area under her own power. edit Investigations of the attack Several official US and Israeli investigations maintained the initially published conclusion that the event was a tragic mistake through misidentification. citation needed was to decide whether or not anyone in the Israeli Defense Forces should be tried on crimes (no criminal wrongdoing was found), accepting as a premise that the attack was a mistake. The scope and performance of US congressional investigations and four other US investigations subsequent to the US Navy Court of Inquiry did not satisfy some parties. The Israeli government said three crucial errors were made: the refreshing of the status board (nullifying the ship's classification as American), the erroneous identification of the ship as an Egyptian vessel, and the lack of notification from the returning aircraft informing Israeli headquarters of markings on the front of the hull (markings that would not be found on an Egyptian ship). As the general root of these problems, Israel blamed the combination of alarm and fatigue experienced by the Israeli forces at that point of the war. citation needed were not investigations into the attack at all, but rather reports using evidence only from the US Navy Court of Inquiry, or investigations unrelated to the culpability of the attack but rather discussing issues such as communications. In their view, the US Navy Court of Inquiry is the only investigation on the incident to date. They claim it was hastily conducted, in only 10 days, even though the court's president, Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd, said that it would take 6 months to properly conduct. affadavit (pdf) in which he claimed that Admiral Kidd had told him that the government ordered Kidd to falsely report that the attack was a mistake, and that he and Kidd both believed the attack was deliberate. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. Each evening, after hearing testimony all day, we often spoke our private thoughts concerning what we had seen and heard. However, there is no record of Kidd publicly expressing such opinions in his lifetime. In particular, A Jay Cristol, who also served as an officer of the Judge Advocate General in the US military, suggests that Boston was responsible in part for the original conclusions of the Court of Inquiry, and that by later declaring that they were false he has admitted to "lying under oath." Critics also note that Boston's claims about pressure on Kidd was hearsay, and that Kidd was not alive to confirm or deny them, and they note that Boston did not maintain prior to his affadavit and comments related to it that Kidd spoke of such instructions to him or to others. Supporters of the intentional-attack theory believe that Boston's statement invalidates the conclusions of the Court, and that Boston would not have made such an accusation if he did not know it to be true. they hold that a proper investigation has never taken place and that all previous reports are incomplete, mention the incident in passing, and either that they are intended to exonerate Israel or that they do not even question the culpability of the attack (instead, they hold, it focuses on other topics, such as American communication problems). Six Day War when Israel was engaged in battles with three Arab countries, creating an environment where mistakes and confusion were prevalent. For example, at 11:45, a few hours before the attack, there was a large explosion on the shores of El-Arish followed by black smoke, probably caused by the destruction of an ammunition dump by retreating Egyptian forces. The Israeli army thought the area was being bombarded, and that an unidentified ship offshore was responsible. Enlarge Aircraft pelted the superstructure with machine-gun and rocket fire. Virtually all of the survivors of Liberty, some US government officials and some US military officers have asserted that the attack was premeditated. Jim Ennes, a junior officer (and off-going Officer of the Deck) on Liberty's bridge at the time of the attack, has published a book titled Assault on the Liberty. Ennes and Joe Meadors, another survivor of the attack, run a web site that was built "with support and encouragement from the USS Liberty Veterans Association." Meadors states that the classification of the attack as deliberate is the official policy of the association, to which all known survivors belong. Several books and the BBC documentary USS Liberty: Dead in the Water tried to ... |
| sfgate.com Friday, May 14, 2004 Updated: 12:07 AM PDT ' I'm guessing that the best way to hail a cab or a bartender in Athens will not be by waving an American flag." Sorensen Capital group He's already got more money than god, but that isn't stopping Steve Young (above, right) from embarking on a second career in business. Gov's Balancing Act Schwarzenegger unveils revised budget containing spending cuts and (as promised) no new taxes. Wedding Date's Still On Same-sex marriage opponents lose bid to halt gay nuptials, scheduled to begin Monday in Massachusetts. Researchers say they've found evidence of impact greater than the one that probably caused the dinosaurs' extinction. Wars' $50 Bil Price Tag "It's a big bill," says Wolfowitz, who estimates the cost of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. No Plea From Anderson Using a wheelchair, the haggard-looking suspect is arraigned in the murder of Xiana Fairchild. Giants Left Stranded G-men leave 12 men on base, including two in the bottom of the 9th, and drop series to Philly. Sex, Drugs, And Then 5 Deaths Playboy Playmate tells how she got involved with 2 suspects, but left in just the nick of time. Pixar Growth Plan Wins Fans 20-year proposal for Emeryville site gets flak from activists, but city says go for it. |