All right, you guys, I'll get right into this. A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter that

changed my life. Certainly changed the course of my life in politics, and I'm going to read

you that letter now and let you know that the author of it is sitting across from me. It reads,

my name is Philip Turney. I am 77 years old today. On June 8, 1967, I was just 20 years old when the gallant crew of the USS Liberty was savagely attacked. Our American flag was proudly flying on our ship in the Mediterranean Sea that day. The designation A-G-T-R-5 was clearly painted on the bow,

port, and starboard sides. USS Liberty was written in English on her stern. When we arrived on

June 7th, we were overflown by Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, and the same activity was repeated

on the morning of June 8th. We were positively identified

as American and friendly by the IDF. We had requested a destroyer escort long before we entered

the Mediterranean, but we were denied twice. Our captain assured us that we were clearly marked as

American, and we therefore had nothing to fear. We were alone,

12 and a half miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, always in international waters.

The Israeli reconnaissance aircraft were clearly marked with the star of David. We therefore felt

secure, seeing a flying box car and other smaller recon propeller aircraft taking good care of us.

The attack began at 2 o'clock on a beautiful, bright, sunny day by French-made Mirage and

Mr. A. Jets painted black with no markings. We had no clue who was attacking us, but assumed it

was an Arab state. During the first pass by, the jets took out all but one of our transmitting antennas, as well as every watertight door above the water line.

The air attack lasted about 25 minutes, killing and maiming our firefighters and any sailor who moved.

Our radio man took one antenna offline, so it wasn't transmitting and wasn't hit.

He ran a long wire to it,

and the SOS went out to the 6th Fleet. It was even picked up as far away as Vietnam.

Rockstar, Rockstar, under attack by an unknown jet aircraft, help us, help us. Captain Tully,

skipper of the USS Saratoga, sent jets to come to our aid.

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