Gov. Ehrlich: Don’t Forget the USS Liberty

112

Robert L.. Ehrlich, Jr., the Republican governor of the state of Maryland, plans to attend a “trade mission,” next week in Israel. This will be paid for by the taxpayers. He also intends to meet with Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel "Bloody" Sharon. Let me give the governor one good reason why he should not meet with Sharon: William B. Allenbaugh!

William B. Allenbaugh was born in Baltimore, MD on Jan. 23, 1944, at old St. Joseph Hospital. He graduated, in 1962, from my alma mater, Calvert Hall College H.S., a facility run by the Christian Brothers. Later, Allenbaugh, became a Petty Officer, on the USS Liberty, a US Navy intelligence vessel. It was deliberately attacked, in international waters, by the Israelis on June 8, 1967. On that day, the Israelis murdered Allenbaugh, and 33 of crew mates, and they seriously wounded 172 others. That foul war crime has been covered up, until last week.

On Oct. 22, 2003, a press conference was held on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC. It was presided over by Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, US Navy, (Ret.), the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The purpose of the press conference was to release the findings of the "Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty" (See, for details of the report, the USS Liberty’s web site at:ussliberty.org).

The conclusions of the prestigious Commission-which included Gen. Raymond G. Davis, US Marine Corps; Rear Admiral Merlin Staring, US Navy, (Ret.); and the ex-Ambassador to Saudi Arabia; James Akins-were stunning. Their report revealed, and documented, too, that the Israelis had known the USS Liberty was an American vessel. Nevertheless, they attempted to sink it. That vicious, criminal and terror-filled onslaught is fully corroborated in Lt. James M. Ennes, Jr.’s riveting book, "Assault on the Liberty."

At the conference, a U.S. Navy lawyer, Ward Bond, confessed that the treacherous attack was "deliberate and not an accident." Boston was the senior legal counsel to the Navy’s original 1967 review of the attack. He said he felt compelled to "share the truth" following the publication of a recent book, "The Liberty Incident," which concluded the attack was unintentional. The Israelis were looking to sink the Liberty and "blame" it on the Egyptians, according to Ret. Adm. Moorer. Then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, however, had ordered a cover-up of the attack ("Cover-Up Alleged in Probe of USS Liberty," Jennifer C. Kerr, "AP," 10/22/03).

Before last week, the Israelis, including Sharon’s ruling Likud Party, had claimed: The Liberty attack was "an accident." On Oct. 22nd, after the shocking revelations of Moorer’s press conference, they sang the same deceptive tune. An Israeli Embassy spokesman, one Mark Regev, bellowed, "The Liberty tragedy was a terrible accident." Oh, sure!

Keep in mind, this is the same Israel that repeatedly lied about the Zionist traitor Jonathan Pollard being in its pay, while he was stealing our most valuable military secrets. This is the same regime that also laid waste to the village of Jenin, in 2002, (and buried people alive); and on March 16, 2003, ran over with a bulldozer and killed, Rachel Corrie, at the Rafah camp. She was an activist, age 23, from Olympia, Washington.

Ehrlich’s refusal to meet with Sharon would speak volumes. By doing so, he would be taking a stand against the fascist nature of the present Israeli regime, under the hawkish Sharon (Amnesty.org). The gross militancy of this Israel government is so bad that in a recent poll, authorized by the European Commission, a majority of Europeans, said that, "Israel presented the biggest threat to world peace" (10/30/03, EUobserver.com).

Many Americans would agree with that poll and feel that our unconditional support for Israel contributed to the 9/11 tragedy and makes us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. There is also a growing conviction that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was instigated by Israeli Firsters, like the cunning Neocon, Richard Perle, and others of that ilk.

If, however, Ehrlich does cave in and meet with Sharon, it would have just the opposite effect (Check out Baruch Kimmerling’s book, "Politicide: Ariel Sharon’s War Against the Palestinians," for an analysis of Sharon’s ignoble career). The governor would be giving his stamp of moral approval, by implication, to all of the egregious evils of Sharonism, and to the willful wrongs done by the Israelis to the US Navy’s Allenbaugh, and to the other mostly forgotten heroes of the ill-fated Liberty.

Getting back to Allenbaugh, he was only 23 years of age when he died on the Liberty. He was married to Sandra Lee Scheler, with two young children, Bill, Jr. and Patricia Ann. He enjoyed following the NFL’s Baltimore Colts, his home town team. He was also hoping to one day to return to work with the Maryland State Police, as a teletype operator.

Here are just some of what the Israeli predators did to Allenbaugh, and to the gallant crew of the Liberty, as a result of a two-hour air and naval attack. It included: jamming their radios, so they couldn’t call for help; dropping napalm canisters on its bridge; launching 30 mm cannons and rockets into the ship, which caused 821 holes of rocket-size; flying at least 30 or more sorties, with a minimum of 12 "unmarked" Israeli planes; using torpedoes, too, and for the coupe de main, machine gunning the crew’s firefighters, and, at close range, its "life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded."

Oh, by the way, the flag the Liberty was flying on that fatal day is on display at the National Cryptologic Museum, near Fort Meade, MD. The Israelis have always claimed, despite "eight hours of aerial surveillance," that they didn’t see it. Well, I’ve seen that flag. The Israelis are lying!

With these secrets uncovered, the least Gov. Ehrlich can do is not to meet with Ariel "Bloody" Sharon next week in Israel. This would show his respect for the sacred memory of Baltimore-born William Bernard Allenbaugh, and, too, for all of the USS Liberty’s dead and survivors.