Customer Reviews

Operation Cyanide-Why the Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Nor was the attack on the USS Liberty. The Liberty was a sacrificial lamb (or in the words of those candid few on the inside, a "guinea pig") whose sinking was to be a pretext for the US to nuke an airbase outside Cairo at which Soviet bombers were based. The IDF tried their damndest to sink her and eliminate the entire crew, but could not, and someone, thank God, put a stop to it before they eventually succeeded. Hounam's research follows on that of survivor Jim Ennes and Pearson and is quite comprehensive given the intense, massive, and on-going cover-up (an example of which is the many pans offered by others on this page). Although after one recognizes the absurdity of the "accidental friendly fire" cover story it is easily surmised that the US must have put Israel up to the attack on the Liberty for some reason, it becomes fairly speculative as to precisely what the US aims were. Hounam's research indicates that the US may have been after more than simply removing Nasser as a threat to the Saudis and thwarting the USSR from assuming control of the Suez Canal. Hounam's thesis - and it is well supported - is that the onset of WW III may have been avoided by a mere three minutes. The story is not yet complete - and may never be - but Hounam's detective work has yielded a remarkably extensive picture - the most compete thus far. King David owned up to his culpability in the murder of Uriah, but LBJ, MacNamara and their co-consipirators never did own up to their responsibility, leaving all the blame on Israel. The Liberty was not the first USN vessel intended to be sacrificed as a pretext for war; the USS Maine was precedent sixty-nine years earlier. And one can speculate as to whether the Stark and Cole may have been intended tp serve some similar purpose. But in the case of the Liberty, nukes were sent aloft with aircraft launched from the USS America. Could it happen again?

Aloha, Paul Driscoll,Waikoloa,HI. this book will make you crazy.
It is a book to be read, not speed read, READ!! The US has labored under a myriad of excuses and suppositions, all of which seem to be, Class A,Profile One, Lies. The motive was enmeshed
in, you guessed it, A CONSPIRACY. And,you would need 20 years in a rubber room to come up with this one. This one is a Beauty!!The Motive for the Attack on the USS Liberty was not Mistaken Identity, not the ship heard something,or was going to hear something, or it was too close to the 6 Day War. The war was almost over. The motive was deception. Sink the ship, blame the Egyptians, NUKE Egypt, get rid of Nasser.All in a tight little package. But as luck would have it. The ship, wouldn't sink. That which followed, was 2 clicks away from being an operation that resembled a Soup Sandwich. The excuses,would have been done better,by Larry,Moe, and Curly. This book makes the 13 days in October, seem like a Mrs Filberts Margerine Ad. This book makes me stutter.
34 guys died in the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty. 171,went
to the hospital. The reason, not mistaken identity, they were
bait, US Sailors were bait, Chum, so Lyndon Johnson, could get
rid of Gamel Abdel Nasser, with an A Bomb. Think you have read
some amazing stories, this is AMAZING to the 10th power.
is so well investigated, it will make you re-read it as soon
as you finish.

Book was well researched and provided great insight regarding the attack On the USS Liberty.

This book reflects "BUSINESS AS USUAL", when it comes to Washington. I found the book to be thought provoking and in line with other accounts by Liberty survivors. The negative reviews are using very phony sounding names and their intention is obvious; they should make you want to read this book even more. Highly recommended.

"Operation Cyanide: Why The Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III," is an extraordinary spy story with tantalizing theories that unfortunately lack convincing proof. Highly regarded British author/journalist Peter Hounam does an exhausting study of the June 1967 attack on a U.S. naval high tech spy vessel during the Six-Day War. He diligently contacts and interviews many senior officials in the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom but fails to provide any credible documentation explaining why the USS Liberty was attacked. Moreover, he does not explain why nearby American planes failed to defend the crew while under attack for two hours. A total of 34 Americans died in the attack and 171 were wounded.

Key USS Liberty veterans helped the author's investigation. They are still furious that the United States government bullied them into silence and accepted Israel's explanation that the attack was a regretable mistake. Certainly this book offers a sensational side to the Six-Day War never told. However, the author does not provide convincing proof...only mountains of hearsay and speculation that the bombing of the USS Liberty nearly caused World War III. Having said that the narrative is easy to read and exciting. Unfortunately, much of the skulduggery is hard to swallow.

Bert Ruiz

This book supplies the motive that is missing from "Assault on the Liberty" by James Ennes and even from the USS Liberty veterans website. Those who dislike Israelis tend to fill in the missing motive something like the following. "Those awful Israelis want to rub our faces in it. They are brutal, cruel people. " Even if one dislikes Israelis intensely, this motive is completely unsatisfying. Why the Liberty? What could the Liberty spies know that airborne spies did not? Why would the Israelis CARE what the Liberty or any other spies knew? Israel had an enthusiastic supporter in Lyndon Johnson. Nothing the Liberty might have discovered would have reduced LBJ's support for Israel. Murdering prisoners of war? Israeli aggression disguised as victimhood? Nothing would have surprised the ruthless psychopath Lyndon Johnson. Even those of us who find the official story laughable, and dismiss the "accident" excuse out of hand, have always had to admit there was no good motive. Until "Operation Cyanide."
In summary, "Operation Cyanide" was Lyndon Johnson's plan to set up the Liberty off the Sinai coast so the Israeli military could sink it and blame Egypt, or worse, the Soviet Union. Had the Israelis succeeded, Lyndon Johnson could have entered the war in the middle east. At worst, the war might have escalated to an all out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Fortunately for all of us, the Israelis failed to sink the Liberty before the brave crew could rig up an antenna under fire and call for help. When the US Sixth Fleet received the Liberty's distress call and promised to send help, the Israeli forces had to break off their attack. They were stuck with the lame "accident" excuse. Operation Cyanide makes the Israeli side look better than the "gratuitous cruelty" motive. Perhaps they felt they had to go along with Lyndon Johnson's hare-brained scheme. In any case, the real blame belongs to Lyndon Johnson, the mastermind, more than to his Israeli henchmen. On the Israeli side, there might have been only a handful of people who knew the overall plan and were actual war criminals who deserved to be suspended. By a rope. Around their neck. Right next to Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. On the American side, it appears the USS Liberty skipper was told to expect an attack and blame it on "unidentified" aircraft. He appears not to have expected the all-out attempt to sink the ship and murder the entire crew.
Knowing Lyndon Johnson as we do today, "Operation Cyanide" is a "ho-hum, what else is new" story.

I believe other outstanding books and reports have established beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel deliberately attacked the U.S.S. Liberty ([...]). Hounam's book goes beyond them in attempting to answer the question of motivation.

Hounam mixes a lot of facts with loads of conjecture to develop a controversial conclusion: Israel's goal was to entice the U.S. into helping them invade Egypt and overthrow it's leader, Gamal Abdal-Nasser. They intended to sink the ship, kill all aboard, and then pin the blame on Egypt; kind of a Mediterranean Tonkin Gulf incident. Hounam also suggests that a handful of U.S. officials (Johnson, McNamara) had prior knowlege of the Israeli plan and may even have sanctioned it in a Top Secret plan named Operation Cyanide.

My personal research indicates Hounam spun a lot of conclusions that are not completely supported by the evidence. Yes, the Liberty was deliberately attacked. Yes, 34 sailors were killed and over half the crew of 294 men were wounded. Yes, the ship was nearly sunk as the Israeli's certainly intended. Yes, there was a Top Secret plan called Cyanide. Yes, the U.S. did covertly provide photo reconnaissance & other intelligence to help Israel during the 6-Day War. Yes, President Johnson did everything he could to cover-up US assistance to Israel and the facts behind the attack on the Liberty. However, none of that proves why Israel attacked Liberty or that Johnson was in on it.

I gave Hounam's book 3 stars because it is a laudable and entertaining effort to publicize the story of the U.S.S. Liberty. However, readers who really want to sort facts from fiction should look to more credible works (e.g. Assault on the Liberty by James Ennes Jr. and Attack on the Liberty by James Scott) while avoiding obviously Israel-First propaganda like that by Jay Cristol. Even better would be to ask Congress and the Navy to finally declassify all remaining documents on the attack and conduct a full unhindered investigation.