WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
January/February 2002-Vol. XXI, No.. 1

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REFUSAL TO INVESTIGATE ISRAEL'S 1967 ATTACK ON USS
LIBERTY A "NO-BRAINER" ONE LEGISLATOR'S STORY

SIDEBAR: I WAS (AND AM) CONSIDERING LEAVING THE
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OVER THIS ISSUE.

By Marlin Schneider


In the summer of 1998 I received an e-mail from a
Wisconsin citizen in Oshkosh who asked all the
members of the Wisconsin legislature to see if
anyone would introduce a resolution requesting
Congress to investigate an attack by the Israelis
in 1967 on a ship called the USS LIBERTY. This
seemed tolike a no-brainer that would be supported
by Wisconsin veterans wanting to help another
group of veterans denied their right to petition
their government for a redress of grievances. I
looked into the issue a bit and discovered that,
indeed the sjip had been attacked, an apology
offered, reparations paid - but that the veterans
of that ship were still being denied a full-scale
congressional investigation, which they believed
necessary to finally bring closure to the issue.

The LIBERTY veterans believed that the attack on
their ship was deliberate and not friendly fire,
and that it had been covered up by the United
States Navy and the State Department for years
because of reprisals by influential people who
would bring down any politician with the audacity
to ask questions about the attack. Some of the
people who later talked to me both within and
outside our own capitol warned me to beware of
massive political contributions against me and
even potential assassination. I laughed that off
because I have never been anti-Israel and, in
fact, the people who got me to run in 1970 were
Jewish constituents whom I admired because in the
1950's they had taken on Sen. Joseph McCarthy
right here in central Wisconsin. Moreover, one of
my former assistants was the daughter of a rabbi
incarcerated at Buchenwald who now works for a
Jewish organization in New York City.

I also thought that a lowly state legislator was
too small a potato for anyone to care much about.

In my naivite I learned that the only "no-brainer"
around here was me.. The resolution was introduced
in the 1999-2000 session and sent to our committee
on Veterans and Military Affairs. It got a
unanimous vote in committee after they heard
testimony about the incident. Curiously, however,
it suddenly got held up in the Rules Committee by
the Republican majority leader. I had promised the
people who had asked me to introduce the
legislation that I would make a motion to pull the
bill from the Rules Committee if the majority
leader wouldn't report it out. Little did I know
the trouble this would cause me in the Democratic
caucus. My Democratic colleagues became very angry
with me for wanting to move this bill, and
demanded that I not do so.

In my then-30 years in the Wisconsin Assembly,
this was the first time I had heard anyone ask
another member to go back on his or her word. I
refused. I made the motion on the floor in the
spring 2000 session and was soundly defeated by
both sides of the aisle. After the 2000 elections,
in a secret Democratic caucus, I was sacked as
assistant Democratic leader and removed from a
leadership position because I had had the audacity
not to back down earlier that year. Set free from
the constraints of “leadership,” I introduced the
resolution again in the current session. This
time, however, I toned down the rhetoric of the
resolution to try and satisfy its critics. Alas,
even that doesn't satisfy them. They do not want
this matter investigated. They called me an
“anti-Semite” and a “racist.” I told them that I
would not accept that line of bull, and the words
we had in caucus were very harsh. In November, on
the floor of the Assembly, after I was once again
even more soundly defeated, I told them I was
(and am) considering leaving the Democratic Party
over this issue. I could not in good faith faith
support a party which cannot see fit to support to
support me. Even more importantly, however,
neither the Democrats nor the Republicans can see
fit to provide this group of veterans their just
due in seeking their Constitutional right to
petition their government for a redress of
grievances.

Amid all this rancor I had the most marvelous
opportunity last summer to meet with five USS
LIBERTY veterans in Grafton, Wisconsin, where a
library is named in honor of the ship. I watched
as men now in middle age still break down and cry
over the events of 34 years ago. My colleagues
told me that we should just forget this because it
happened 34 years ago. I replied that I could not
recall anyone saying that the Israelis should have
just forgotten Adolf Eichmann because World War II
had long since been over. To that I received no
response. When I met with the survivors of the
attack I told them that, if I had to go down, I
could think of no better reason than to go down
with the men of the USS LIBERTY.

Interestingly, one of those killed on the LIBERTY
was from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. One of the boys
killed on the USS COLE was from Fond du Lac.
Nobody said we shouldn’t have a full investigation
of that terrorist act. On the day the Assembly
took up the resolution on the LIBERTY we had taken
up and passed a resolution on Puerto Rico and had
a group of former Marines from Fond du Lac present
the colors. We then passed a resolution honoring
the members of our Assembly who also are serving
or who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Such
patriotism does not seem to extend to the veterans
of the USS LIBERTY.

It is very hard to deal with this issue because
the press will not cover it. Even when I wrote to
each and every major veterans organization,
including the American Legion and the Veterans of
Foreign Wars, I did not get even the courtesy of a
response. From Wisconsin’s congressional
delegation I either received State Department
drivel, or mostly no response at all. One member
did express an interest and I intend to share The
History Channel’s report on the LIBERTY with him.
I received no response when I wrote to the
previous Israeli government. When I wrote to
Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who hosted a meeting
of LIBERTY survivors, and to the majority leader
of the Minnesota Senate I likewise was
stone-walled, and am still awaiting a response.
Maybe Jesse just doesn’t correspond with
cheeseheads.

I am very angry about this. These were American
sailors. They are still loyal to their country.
Their country is disloyal to them. History is
replete with examples of cover-uo and scapegoating
by those in power. Pearl Harbor, the USS
INDINAPOLIS, the USS IOWA, the USS STARK, the
Tonkin Gulf Resolution, the USS PUEBLO - all are
examples of scapegoating or flat out cover-up. The
USS LIBERTY is just the worst example. These men
and their families deserve as much and respect and
honor and love as all others who have served our
country Their country - especially those who
“serve” in the Congress of the United States -
doesn’t have the guts to stand up for them. These
sailors and intelligence officers deserve “the
love and thanks of man and woman.” The summer
soldiers and the phony sunshine patriots in
legislative bodies from Madison to Washington
deserve nothing but contempt for letting them
down. 

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Marlin Schneider is a former assistant Democratic
leader of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

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