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During the 1950's he achieved the rank of Rear Admiral under the Eisenhower Administration, serving in the Korea War. In 1964 he became the Commander of the Pacific Fleet during Viet Nam; in 1965 he assumed the helm of NATO's allied command, the U.S. Unified Atlantic Command and the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. and later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970-1974. 

Admiral Moorer, born in Alabama in 1912, died February 5th, 2004 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 91 years of age and leaves a wife, three sons and a daughter.

The cause of death was not disclosed.

Hardly a retirement wallflower, Admiral Moorer combined forces with several politically powerful retired officers to continue addressing concerns in the military. He used his retirement to assist in educating Americans about military policy and political policy commenting on everything from the Tailhook to the Carter Administration's kowtowing to Castro.  Moorer maintained an outspoken advocacy against giving away the Panama Canal and vigilantly fought to keep Soviet Union in check during the Cold War.  TOP

Feisty and forceful to the end, Moorer's final public statement of January 9, 2004 (below) took on the unspoken US double standard, daring to bring up the inequities, loyalties to a favored nation and treatment of the USS Liberty and its survivors,  stirring up the usual hornet's nest of protests from Israel Firster's in the United States.  Moorer, as with anyone who questions this policy, received the moniker of  "anti-Semitic" for making the statement below. A true defender of the US, its principles and its people,  he refused to cave to the slander/libel intimidation tactics of Washington's most powerful special interest lobby.

As with most accusations of anti-Semitism, there is nothing anti-Semitic about his statement or the act of asking Congress, the White House and Senate to take care of its own, Americans,  first before bowing to the agenda and cultivated vanity of a foreign power.  Moorer's great legacy to America  illustrates the measure of a leader and a true patriot, someone willing to go against fastidiously molded public opinion and foreign lobbies, despite threats and maintain an advocacy of honoring the needs and interests of his country before all others.

The death of Admiral Thomas Moorer leaves a vacancy within forceful activism toward US values and true patriotism, advocating for due recognition and respect for all of those who have given their lives defending and upholding the Constitution of the United States of America, while defending its borders, principles and freedoms.  His voice, conviction, advocacy and energy will be sorely missed and his stand for American patriotism as legacy emulated, a prophetic and positive direction for us all. TOP

Betrayal behind Israeli
attack on U.S. ship
By ADM. THOMAS MOORER
Moorer was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 1970 to 1974

After State Department officials and historians assembled in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, I am compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history's most shocking cover-ups. On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship -- the USS Liberty --killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then betrayed and left to die by our own government. U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled, not once, but twice, through direct intervention by the Johnson administration. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty, which I personally confirmed from the commanders of the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga, was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career. To add insult to injury, Congress, to this day, has failed to hold formal hearings on Israel's attack on this American ship. No official investigation of Israel's attack has ever permitted the testimony of the surviving crew members. A 1967 investigation by the Navy, upon which all other reports are based, has now been fully discredited as a cover-up by its senior attorney. Capt. Ward Boston, in a sworn affidavit, recently revealed that the court was ordered by the White House to cover up the incident and find that Israel's attack was "a case of mistaken identity." TOP

Some distinguished colleagues and I formed an independent commission to investigate the attack on the USS Liberty. After an exhaustive review of previous reports, naval and other military records, including eyewitness testimony from survivors, we recently presented our findings on Capitol Hill. They include:

• Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the ship.

• Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility.

• The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and numbers on its bow.

Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with a small Egyptian transport, the Liberty was conspicuously different from any vessel in the Egyptian navy. It was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world in 1967. With its massive radio antennae, including a large satellite dish, it looked like a large lobster and was one of the most easily identifiable ships afloat.

• Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.

• Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most seriously wounded. TOP

As a result, our commission concluded that:

• There is compelling evidence that Israel's attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew.

• In attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against U.S. servicemen and an act of war against the United States.

• The White House knowingly covered up the facts of this attack from the American people.

The truth continues to be concealed to the present day in what can only be termed a national disgrace. What was Israel's motive in launching this attack? Congress must address this question with full cooperation from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the military intelligence services. The men of the USS Liberty represented the United States. They were attacked for two hours, causing 70 percent of American casualties, and the eventual loss of our best intelligence ship. These sailors and Marines were entitled to our best defense. We gave them no defense. TOP

Did our government put Israel's interests ahead of our own? If so, why? Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli interests? These are important questions that should be investigated by an independent, fully empowered commission of the American government. The American people deserve to know the truth about this attack. We must finally shed some light on one of the blackest pages in American naval history. It is a duty we owe not only to the brave men of the USS Liberty, but to every man and woman who is asked to wear the uniform of the United States.

Statement was originally published in the Houston Chronicle, 9 Jan 2004
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Remembering our fallen heroes: Spotlight: June 8^th, 1967 The USS Liberty
 

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