53 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
America's Hidden History: A must read for true Americans, January 19, 2006
This review is from: Operation Cyanide-Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III (Hardcover)
My own copy of this book contains the signatures of several USS Liberty Survivors whom I've interviewed and written about throughout the years. This book IS their story and the survivors proudly recommended it to me. Every American needs to read Operation Cyanide, the story detailing a horrendous crime against the American people and our sailors; a crime which for nearly forty years has yet to be addressed because of who purposely and with malice, committed it: the state of Israel.
As with all books, films, professors and speakers exposing Israeli atrocities, its protectors have attacked this book (see the one star analysis. This is standard procedure on all books exposing Israeli war crimes) and others in an attempt to prevent your reading this book. The attack on the USS Liberty was a war crime; Israel shot out the life boats, used napalm, lied about it, torpedoed the ship... AND still our sailors survived. Historically accurate, true and very much needing to be told Operation Cyanide's award winning British author Hounam, details the amazing escape and survival of the USS Liberty against all odds and how it came to be. It is what true heroism is about. You will be inspired by the story of the Liberty crew and disgusted by the cover-up now in its 38th year. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys espionage stories, historical novels or adventures. It is the perfect book for any patriotic American.
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50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Storytelling and Investigatory Work, February 9, 2004
This review is from: Operation Cyanide-Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III (Hardcover)
On June 8, 1967, the Israelis attacked the USS Liberty, in international waters, 13 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, and tried to sink it, and kill all 294 American on board the spy ship. The Israelis then falsely claimed it was just a case of "mistaken identity."
However, according to Peter Hounam, the author of the expose', "Operation Cyanide," the murderous Israeli attack was a set up to blame the Egyptians and bring the U.S. into the 1967 war on their side. The Liberty was a "sitting duck" for the Israeli jet planes' missiles and rockets and their torpedo boats. The attack lasted at least 75 minutes, killing 34 brave Americans and wounding 172 others. On first hearing of the Liberty attack by allegedly "unidentified aircraft," the U.S. launched planes from the Sixth Fleet carriers, then located in the Mediterranean, off Crete, armed with nuclear weapons. They were headed for Cairo to retaliate. Only minutes before reaching their target, they were recalled. Why? The Israelis had failed to sink the Liberty! According to Hounam's research, the White House knew within minutes of the Liberty attack, that the perpetrator was really Israel (p. 94). On two separate occasions, the White House recalled aircraft rescue missions for the Liberty. On the last attempt, LBJ told Rear-Admiral Lawrence Geis of the Sixth Fleet, "I WILL NOT EMBARRASS OUR ALLY." The Liberty was then left "dead in the water," without any assistance for over 16 hours.
At pp. 267-268, Hounam said, "Sinking the Liberty and blaming Egypt and the Soviets would have freed Johnson's hand to do almost anything-even to drop an atomic bomb on Cairo. Trouble only arose when the Israel operation failed - and the damned ship stayed afloat." Hounam revealed that within LBJ's hawkish administration, there was shadowy clique that met under the rubric of the "303 Committee." Richard Helms, the late CIA Director, said that entity was, "A device for examining covert operations of any kind and making a judgment on behalf of the President, so he wouldn't be nailed with the thing, if it failed." Out of the "303 Committee," came a project labeled, "Frontlet 615," which was furthered defined as, "A secret political agreement in 1966 by which Israel and the U.S. had vowed to destroy (Egypt's Gamal Abdel) Nasser." The military name for the operation was, "Operation Cyanide." The secrets of our government can kill.
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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Survivors' thoughts, June 22, 2009
This review is from: Operation Cyanide-Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III (Hardcover)
As a survivor of this horrendous intentional attack, I felt that this book provided some very interesting points as to why the attack occurred and why the United States Government did nothing to investigate this incident any more than it has. We, the crew of the USS Liberty, did everything we could to save our ship and our fallen shipmates only to have our Government exonerate the Israeli government of any wrong doing. Operation Cyanide puts into prespective several very compelling reasons why the US Government chose not to bring any further scrutiny to this brutal attack on the USS Liberty. I strongly encourage the readers of this book to keep an open mind and then form your own conclusions as to why this attack occurred and why our Government chose to keep the whole thing quiet. I for one know that the attack was deliberate and that the Israeli government knew where our ship was and why we were there. Hopefully, someday, the American people will get to the truth of the matter but up to this point our leaders have chosen not to shed any more light on the real story.
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