Attack on USS Liberty: Accident or Deliberate?

[TXlib]

How many of you know about this:

Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 U.S. sailors and injuring 172 others in one of the deadliest attacks suffered by a U.S. ship that remained afloat.

This site takes the side that it was deliberate:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ul-upi.html

This site makes the claim it was an accident:
http://hnn.us/articles/369.html

What do you think?

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. it was a definate attack

shows exactly how scummy isreal is

[Another Bill C.]

2. After reading first-hand accounts,

I would conclude the attack was deliberate.
"I was the officer-of-the-deck on the bridge during this period, and following each visit our leading intercept supervisor, Chief Melvin Smith, would come up to the bridge and ask if I had seen the aircraft's markings to confirm his own electronic observations: 'Not to worry,' he would say, 'Each time they circle we can hear the pilot telling his headquarters that we are an American ship.'"

http://www.ussliberty.org/about.htm

[comradebillyboy]

3. deliberate all the way

nt

[DerBeppo]

4. looks like

i'm in the minority who believe it was unintentional.

[puerco-bellies]

5. Deliberate

An American Intelligence attache was in a IDF war room and observed the Liberty tracked from the Northern Mediterranean to the Lebanese coast on a situation representation board BEFORE the attack.

[7th_Sephiroth]

6. the history channel

occasionaly plays a story about the attack

[kodi]

7. israelis deliberately killed american sailors & laughed about it later

please, please don't tell me that israeli airforce pilots, considerd the world's best, mistook an american warship for an egyptian freighter vessel.

[MrSandman]

8. If it was deliberate,

it was incompetent.

I doubt a ship of that class is designed to sustain much battle damage.

[oneighty]

9. The Liberty

was a well known ship in the Mediterranean. Once seen, never forgotten. It was not a mistake.

180

[Lexingtonian]

10. why is this considered important?

I'm not sure anyone actually believes in the 'accident' bit, but I'd doubt that killing that many Americans was intended-- and certainly far from necessary.

But I'm not sure what the point is in bringing it up. The Israelis were wrong to attack the ship as violently as they did, the American side was stupid to send a radio/radar interception ship in so close- let alone as unescorted/unarmed- during wartime. Ramming and puncturing the 'Liberty' below the water line with a tug boat would have done the trick.

Yes, the Israelis had plenty they wanted to conceal from Washington. Stuff about weaponry, tactics, intentions, internal deliberations that they wanted to not reveal to the American side. Mordichai Vanunu says the first Israeli nuclear warhead was assembled and considered an operational weapon (he isn't clear on the delivery system) about two weeks before the Six Day War broke out. Just how 'defensive' a war this was important to hide from American supporters of Israel, who also believed (and many still do) that the 1956 Sinai war was also a defensive operation forced on Israel by Arab countries.

The 'Liberty' story is part of the whole arrangement at the time whereby Israel pretended to be on the strategic defensive and the U.S. government pretended to be its guileless ally in survival- and the 'Liberty' incident was so factually contradictory to what both governments told and wanted/needed their constituents to believe that they got together and decided to simply scrub the incident.

So the 'Liberty' business is, imho, a price paid for two governments running a charade together and trying to stiff each other on the bargain at the same time. Naive patriotic Americans think it's an incident that proves some absolute divergence of American and Israeli interests, patriotic Israelis probably think it was a mistake or misjudgement or simply a normalizable part of a relationship that has a lot of elements to it of being partners in crime- like spousal abuse.

In my opinion it all demonstrates that 1967 was the middle of the Cold War and in the Middle East treachery is always an aspect of the games being played, Israelis being part of the Middle East and not just representing a particularly troubled resort country overrun with ex-New Yorkers.

[Elidor]

11. It wasn't too long ago TNR defended it as an accident

But Ennes' book takes all the excuses apart, and they are all found wanting of credibility. There are those on this board (haven't seen them lately) who have defended it. It was a prolonged, brutal attack, lasting for hours. The survivors were lucky to be alive, and the Israelis were probably astonished at how much punishment they took.

Edit: In answer to Lexingtonian, that's why it's still important, because people still lie about it.

[alfredo]

12. Read about it from guys who were there.

I was south of there when it happened. I knew from day one that it was not a mistake.


http://www.ussliberty.org/

Israel claims they mistook our ship for the out-of-service Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir and that we brought the attack upon ourselves by operating in a war zone without displaying a flag. Not so. We were in international waters, far from any fighting, and flew a bright, clean, new American flag. The flag we flew is on display at the National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, Maryland and can be seen there, or in the USS Liberty Images Archive.

Our commanding officer, Captain William Loren McGonagle, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty during the attack. The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest award our country can bestow. To avoid embarrassing our attackers, Captain McGonagle's Medal of Honor was presented in a quiet ceremony in the Washington Navy Yard instead of in the White House by the President as is customary.

The USS Liberty Web Page presents part of the story along with some historical information and links to other sources.


BTW, Jim Ennes is a good honest man. He has worked tirelessly to bring justice for his shipmates. Jim was on the bridge when the attack happened.

[erpowers]

13. Who Owns UPI?

Is UPI owned by Rev. Moon? If not what news service is owned by Moon?

[undergroundrailroad]

14. Locking per I/P Guidelines.

Subject line does not equal article's title.


This article may be reposted if done so in line with I/P guidelines.




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