http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/09/27/News/News.12914.html
Bush campaign steps back from supporter's criticism of Israel
By Janine Zacharia, Jerusalem Post, 09/27/2000
WASHINGTON
(September 27) - The George W. Bush campaign is distancing
itself from positions on Israel taken by a former chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has endorsed the Republican
Texas governor's bid for the presidency.
Retired Navy admiral Thomas Moorer has been an
outspoken critic of what he and others contend was an
American cover-up of the 1967 Israeli attack on an
American intelligence ship, USS Liberty, which killed 34
crew members and injured 171.
In 1985, Moorer was quoted in a book by Paul Findley, a
former congressman from Illinois who was a bitter critic of
Israel, as saying: "I've never seen a president - I don't care
who he is - stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles
your mind... If the American people understood what a grip
those people have got on our government, they would rise
up in arms."
A pro-Israel Democratic organization, The National Jewish
Democratic Council, included the quotation in a statement
protesting Moorer's inclusion on a list of 93 vice chairs of the
"Veterans for Bush-Cheney National Coalition," that was
released by the campaign last week.
A spokesman for Bush, Ari Fleischer, said Moorer's views
did not reflect those of the governor. "Governor Bush has
been unequivocal in his support for Israel and Israel's
security. Admiral Moorer's views about US-Israel relations
are entirely his own," Fleischer said.
Moorer said his critics were ignoring the assistance he
helped funnel to Israel during periods of war.
"The facts are that I have been very concerned about the
Liberty because I'm convinced that the attack was
deliberate. Thirty-four American boys were killed and the
Congress would not hold an investigation of the attack,"
Moorer said by telephone from his home in Bethesda,
Maryland.
"Having said that, the idea that I am antisemitic is a gross
overstatement. I am very critical of anybody who attacks an
American ship in peacetime. When Mrs. Golda Meir was
here for a visit, she thanked me very much for how I helped
Israel in 1967. I was very instrumental in getting supplies to
Israel when they really needed them and nobody every said
anything of that," he added.
Moorer described the NJDC criticism as an unfair attempt
to discredit Bush. "This is a political period and the... are
indirectly trying to attack Bush. Whoever made that
comment about me should forget about US politics for a
while and remember what I did to help Israel."
Frank Gaffney, a Reagan-era Pentagon official who is now
the director of the Center for Security Policy, a non-profit
think tank that deals with foreign affairs and defense issues,
described Moorer as a "very eminent and highly respected
military officer" and added: "I have no evidence that he is
antisemitic or anti-Israel per se."
Gaffney said he thought the Liberty incident "was deeply
traumatic for him and for a lot of people in uniform," but that
"to make much of his views on that episode," or to suggest
that it implies anything about George W. Bush, "is a stretch
and a disservice."
