USS Liberty attack featured in a new documentary on the Al Jazeera news channel

[JohnyCanuck]

The Day Israel Attacked America
Al Jazeera investigates the shocking truth behind a deadly Israeli attack on a US naval vessel.
Special programme Last updated: 30 Oct 2014 20:22

In 1967, at the height of the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, the Israeli Air Force launched an unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty, a US Navy spy ship that was monitoring the conflict from the safety of international waters in the Mediterranean.

Israeli jet fighters hit the vessel with rockets, cannon fire and napalm, before three Israeli torpedo boats moved in to launch a second more devastating attack. Though she did not sink, the Liberty was badly damaged. Thirty-four US servicemen and civilian analysts were killed, another 171 were wounded.

Later Israel apologised for what it claimed to be a tragic case of mistaken identity. It said that it had believed the ship to be hostile Egyptian naval vessel. US President Lyndon Johnson was privately furious but publicly the White House chose not to challenge the word of its closest Middle East ally and accepted that the attack had been a catastrophic accident.

However, as this exclusive Al Jazeera investigation reveals, fresh evidence throws new light on exactly what happened that fateful day - and the remarkable cover up that followed.

snip

The Day Israel attacked America can be seen from Thursday, October 30, at the following times GMT: Thursday: 2000; Friday: 1200; Saturday: 0100; Sunday: 0600; Monday: 2000; Tuesday: 1200; Wednesday: 0100; Thursday: 0600.

Sorry, I forgot to include the link to the program info in my post. Here it is: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2014/10/day-israel-attacked-america-20141028144946266462.html

You can find if AlJazeera is available in your area by entering your US zip code here: http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/schedule.html

[Scuba]

1. I have a friend who was wounded on the Liberty that day. His position is that mistaken ...

... identify was impossible as the American flag was clearly displayed as were other identifiers.

[JohnyCanuck]

2. "Mistaken identify was impossible"

I saw the documentary last night, and that is certainly the position of the crew members who were interviewed in the documentary as well. Israeli air force observation planes had made frequent low passes over the ship prior to the attack exchanging waves with the crew and the recordings of the radio chatter between the Israeli pilots and the controllers directing the attack operation from Israel showed that everyone knew it was a US ship that was under attack. As the attacks started, the Israelis were also jamming the usual tactical and emergency frequencies used by the ship to prevent any calls for help from going out (until a crewman was finally able to get out an SOS hours later after making a jury rigged, makeshift antenna). The program alleges that the reason the Israelis felt compelled to attack and try to sink the defenseless, intelligence gathering ship was to keep hidden from the US the amount of Arab land it was intending to take over during the course of the then ongoing war with the Arab states.

Why did LBJ administration go along with the coverup? The program alleges that the Israelis had a 2 prong strategy to get the US to sweep everything under the carpet. It was leaked to Johnson through his advisers with Israeli connections that if he continued to pursue the issue and allow a full investigation which would reveal that Israel had deliberately tried to sink a US Navy ship, the Israeli propaganda machine would get the word out that Johnson was only picking on Israel and making an issue of this accidental and regrettable attack because he was a closet anti-Semite. At the time Johnson was still thinking of running for another term in office, and if the label of anti-Semite stuck, his chances of raising campaign funding from many of the usual wealthy democratic-supporting donors would dry up.

The second inducement Israel offered to the US to go along with a coverup was to give the US access to captured Russian supplied anti-aircraft missiles that were currently also being used by North Vietnam to take down attacking US aircraft in the Vietnam conflict. By being able to study the missiles at first hand the US was able to devise more effective countermeasures against the missiles.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Leaving the USS Liberty Crew Behind

Leaving the USS Liberty Crew Behind
By Ray McGovern

snip

The Israelis would have been able to glory in reporting “mission accomplished, ship sunk, all crew killed” save for the bravery and surefootedness of then-23 year-old Navy seaman Terry Halbardier, whose actions spelled the difference between the murder of 34 of the crew and the intended massacre of all 294.

Halbardier skated across the Liberty’s slippery deck while it was being strafed in order to connect a communications cable and enable the Liberty to send out an SOS. The Israelis intercepted that message and, out of fear of how the U.S. Sixth Fleet would respond, immediately broke off the attack, returned to their bases, and sent an “oops” message to Washington confessing to their unfortunate “mistake.”

As things turned out, the Israelis didn’t need to be so concerned. When President Johnson learned that the USS America and USS Saratoga had launched warplanes to do battle with the forces attacking the Liberty, he told Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to call Sixth Fleet commander Rear Admiral Lawrence Geiss and tell him to order the warplanes to return immediately to their carriers.

According to J.Q. “Tony” Hart, a chief petty officer who monitored these conversations from a U.S. Navy communications relay station in Morocco, Geiss shot back that one of his ships was under attack. Tellingly, McNamara responded: “President Johnson is not going to go to war or embarrass an American ally over a few sailors.”

http://consortiumnews.com/2014/06/08/leaving-the-uss-liberty-crew-behind/

[JohnyCanuck]

4. The AlJazeera documentary has been posted on Youtube

&feature=youtu.be

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Jerusalem Post confirms Israel knew USS Liberty was American

The Post and Al Jazeera tape are but a small part of the volumes of evidence that Israel knew what it was doing that has yet to be released. Steve Forslundan, who was an intelligence analyst for the 544th Air Reconnaissance Technical Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, states that the real-time intelligence he was reading as the day progressed:

"made specific reference to the efforts to direct the jets to the target which was identified as American numerous times by the ground controller. Upon arrival, the aircraft specifically identified the target and mentioned the American flag she was flying. There were frequent operational transmissions from the pilots to the ground base describing the strafing runs. The ground control began asking about the status of the target and whether it was sinking. They stressed that the target must be sunk and leave no trace."

Prior to the airing of the documentary "The Day Israel Attacked America," a long list of public figures, including those of highest US military rank, have backed the survivors' contention that the Israelis meant to sink the Liberty knowing full well that the ship was American. These include Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who held that office at the time of the incident, Director of the NSA Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, US Senator Adlai Stevenson, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer. Moorer concluded in his own investigation:

"In attacking the USS Liberty, Israel committed acts of murder against U.S. servicemen and an act of war against the United States."

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/jerusalem-post-confirms-israel-knew-usaliberty-was-american/article/413296