10. Not only did the Israelis attack the ship with napalm,
gunfire, and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned three
lifeboats that had been launched in an attempt by the crew to save the
most seriously wounded — a war crime.
Admiral Kidd and I both felt it necessary to travel to Israel to
interview the Israelis who took part in the attack. Admiral Kidd
telephoned Admiral McCain to discuss making arrangements. Admiral Kidd
later told me that Admiral McCain was adamant that we were not to travel
to Israel or contact the Israelis concerning this matter.
Regrettably, we did not receive into evidence and the Court did not
consider any of the more than sixty witness declarations from men who
had been hospitalized and were unable to testify in person.
Admiral Kidd told me, after returning from Washington, D.C. that he
had been ordered to sit down with two civilians from either the White
House or the Defense Department, and rewrite portions of the court’s
findings.
Admiral Kidd also told me that he had been ordered to “put the lid”
on everything having to do with the attack on USS Liberty. We were never
to speak of it and we were to caution everyone else involved that they
could never speak of it again.
I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement as I know
that the Court of Inquiry transcript that has been released to the
public is not the same one that I certified and sent off to Washington.
I know this because it was necessary, due to the exigencies of time,
to hand correct and initial a substantial number of pages. I have
examined the released version of the transcript and I did not see any
pages that bore my hand corrections and initials. Also, the original did
not have any deliberately blank pages, as the released version does.
Finally, the testimony of Lt. Painter concerning the deliberate machine
gunning of the life rafts by the Israeli torpedo boat crews, which I
distinctly recall being given at the Court of Inquiry and included in
the original transcript, is now missing and has been excised.
Following the conclusion of the Court of Inquiry, Admiral Kidd and I
remained in contact. Though we never spoke of the attack in public, we
did discuss it between ourselves, on occasion. Every time we discussed
the attack, Admiral Kidd was adamant that it was a deliberate, planned
attack on an American ship.
In 1990, I received a telephone call from Jay Cristol, who wanted to
interview me concerning the functioning of the Court of Inquiry. I told
him that I would not speak to him on that subject and prepared to hang
up the telephone. Cristol then began asking me about my personal
background and other, non-Court of Inquiry related matters. I endeavored
to answer these questions and politely extricate myself from the
conversation. Cristol continued to return to the subject of the Court of
Inquiry, which I refused to discuss with him. Finally, I suggested that
he contact Admiral Kidd and ask him about the Court of Inquiry.
Shortly after my conversation with Cristol, I received a telephone
call from Admiral Kidd, inquiring about Cristol and what he was up to.
The Admiral spoke of Cristol in disparaging terms and even opined that
“Cristol must be an Israeli agent.” I don’t know if he meant that
literally or it was his way of expressing his disgust for Cristol’s
highly partisan, pro-Israeli approach to questions involving USS
Liberty.
At no time did I ever hear Admiral Kidd speak of Cristol other than
in highly disparaging terms. I find Cristol’s claims of a “close
friendship” with Admiral Kidd to be utterly incredible. I also find it
impossible to believe the statements he attributes to Admiral Kidd,
concerning the attack on USS Liberty.
Several years later, I received a letter from Cristol that contained
what he purported to be his notes of our prior conversation. These
“notes” were grossly incorrect and bore no resemblance in reality to
that discussion. I find it hard to believe that these “notes” were the
product of a mistake, rather than an attempt to deceive. I informed
Cristol that I disagreed with his recollection of our conversation and
that he was wrong. Cristol made several attempts to arrange for the two
of us to meet in person and talk but I always found ways to avoid doing
this. I did not wish to meet with Cristol as we had nothing in common
and I did not trust him.
Contrary to the misinformation presented by Cristol and others, it is
important for the American people to know that it is clear that Israel
is responsible for deliberately attacking an American ship and murdering
American sailors, whose bereaved shipmates have lived with this
egregious conclusion for many years.
Dated: January 9, 2004
at Coronado, California.
Ward Boston, Jr., Captain, JAGC, USN (Ret.)
Senior Counsel to the USS Liberty Court of Inquiry