General Mark A. Milley
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
9999 Joint Staff Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20318-9999

General Milley:

In a letter dated 10 June 1967, CINCUSNAVEUR ADM John McCain authorized a US Navy Court of Inquiry “to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the armed attack on USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5) on 8 June 1967.” (See https://bit.ly/3yRXN1R)

He further directed the Court “to inquire into all the pertinent facts and circumstances leading to and connected with the armed attack; damage resulting therefrom; and deaths of and injuries to naval personnel.”

In a January 10, 2004, declaration prepared by the Court’s Legal Advisor, CAPT Ward Boston, Boston writes, “[We] were given only one week to gather evidence for the Navy’s official investigation into the attack, despite the fact that we both estimated that a proper Court of Inquiry into an attack of this magnitude would take at least six months to conduct.” (See https://bit.ly/3Fk9FuI)

Elsewhere in his declaration, “The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 (sic) others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew.”

These directly contradict the first Finding of Fact of the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report: “Available evidence combines to indicate the attack on LIBERTY on 8 June was in fact a case of mistaken identity.” (See https://bit.ly/3sMf1tG)

The reason for this Finding of Fact being included at all and in such a prominent place in the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report is explained by CAPT Boston in his statement in the Congressional Record, "I know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of 'mistaken identity' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary." (See https://bit.ly/39KOHsU)

An October 31, 2006, letter from CAPT Joseph A. Baggett, USN, JAGC to Thomas Reynolds is egregious bordering on criminal in CAPT Baggett’s description of what is included in the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report. (See https://bit.ly/3PAYLFl).

CAPT Baggett refers to USS Liberty Survivor Lloyd Painter’s testimony but omits the fact that Painter’s testimony about witnessing the deliberate machine gunning of life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship has been removed from the Report of the US Navy Court of Inquiry. (See https://bit.ly/3ME6Zuu)

He also fails to mention the fact that USS Liberty Survivor Glenn Oliphant also witnessed the deliberate machine gunning of our life rafts in the water but was not called to testify. (See https://bit.ly/3MDK3vC)

CAPT Baggett also writes that the aircraft that had been launched from Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers were recalled after being informed by the forces attacking our ship that they had attacked by mistake. While that closely mirrors the IDF version of the attack, CTF60, RADM Larry Geis tells us that is not the case. According to RADM Geis the two flights of rescue aircraft were ordered recalled by President Johnson and SECDEF McNamara. (See https://bit.ly/3LvibZj and https://youtu.be/EjglYisp9pU)

That recall led directly to the death of 25 of our shipmates killed by the torpedo.

In closing his letter, CAPT Baggett writes, “We recognize and honor the sacrifice and uncommon bravery demonstrated by the officers and crew in LIBERTY on that fateful day.”

We have had to live with that and similar patronizing and outrageously condescending statements from the Department of Defense for over 55 years.

What is our crime?

We want to be treated exactly the same as every other US Navy crew attacked by a hostile force since the end of WWII.

Every other attack on a US Navy ship has been investigated by the US government.

As we have shown, the attack on our ship has not been accorded the investigations that followed the attacks on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark and the USS Cole as well as the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut.

That has resulted in letters from the DoD and Members of Congress similar to the one created by CAPT Baggett. Full of claims not supported by the facts available but in agreement with the claims of the hostile forces that attacked us.

Our request in writing you is to ask you to do something that should have been done over five decades ago. Conduct a complete and comprehensive public investigation of the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on our ship—the USS Liberty (AGTR-5).

If you do actually “recognize and honor the sacrifice and uncommon bravery demonstrated by the officers and crew in LIBERTY on that fateful day” doesn’t America deserve to know the truth about the attack on our ship? Don’t the families of our fallen shipmates deserve to know the truth about the attack on our ship?

Respectfully,

The Officers and Men of the USS Liberty (AGTR-5)