Navy Crew Gathering Examines 1967 Israeli Attack of USS Liberty
Published: May 22, 2004
Posted on 05/22/2004 6:14:25 AM PDT by OutSpot
Navy Crew Gathering Examines 1967 Israeli Attack of USS Liberty
Published: May 22, 2004
The Liberty, an intelligence-gathering vessel, was attacked by Israel in June 1967 while cruising international waters off the Egyptian coast during the Six Day War. Israel was the war's victor, defeating the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, Jordan. The attack was ruled accidental by U.S. officials. Emerging reports, including disclosures in the last year from some military officials, state the attack appeared to be deliberate - something that the crew members have suspected all along. "We all believe we're finally getting to the point where the truth may be told and the world is ready to listen," said Cmdr. David Lewis, who oversaw intelligence on the ship and remembers most of the attack that left him with superficial burns and destroyed his eardrums. Nearly 50 people honored the 34 sailors killed with a brief memorial service Friday, the second day of the three-day reunion in this southeast Nebraska city. Crew member Moe Shafer, 57, said the attack was one of the largest cover-ups in history. He said Israel targeted the ship, hoping the United States would conclude the Arabs were responsible. The Americans then would have retaliated and ensured Israel's victory, he said. Some military and government officials, along with the crew members, have said the attack was not only deliberate, but a cover-up by the American government. "It was covered up at the highest level," Lewis said. After reviewing documents earlier this year, a State Department official said the attack was due to negligence on the part of Israel, which has maintained it was a case of mistaken identity. The official said the United States was negligent for failing to withdraw the Liberty from the war zone. Navy spokesman Lt. Chris Servello said a thorough investigation has been conducted. "We are not aware of any new evidence that indicates the findings of the initial investigation are in error," he said. Steve Forslund, 60, and Ron Gotcher, 57, were enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and worked as intelligence analysts for the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the attack occurred. Gotcher, who was stationed in Vietnam, and Forslund, who was at Offutt Air Force Base outside Omaha, both saw transcripts of Israeli air-to-air and air-to-ground communication during or after the attack. Both said Israel knew the ship was American and was out to sink it. Forslund speculated the cover-up was politically motivated, adding he didn't know why. Neither he nor Gotcher could speculate on what prompted the attack. Forslund released a sworn statement this month. Gotcher said he began speaking out soon after the attack because he thought the orders to keep quiet were illegal. Retired Navy Capt. Ward Boston, the former counsel for the Navy's Court of Inquiry, released a signed affidavit in October, stating he was ordered by President Lyndon Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, to conclude the attack was unintentional, despite evidence to the contrary. Boston, of Coronado, Calif., said Thursday the 600-page report prepared shortly after the attack was missing information he had included. Oliver Kirby, a former deputy director of the National Security Agency who took part in the investigation, said he needs more proof before he can say that the attack was deliberate. The 83-year-old from Greenville, Texas, said that he never understood the attack's intent. Adm. Thomas Moorer, a former chief of naval operations and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a memorandum on June 8, 1997, the 30th anniversary of the attack, that Israel deliberately attacked to hide its intentions in the war.
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I still don't understand if this was deliberate, what point would it have served to attack the only country in the free world that keeps them alive? Not saying it wasn't deliberate, but what would be the reason for it...unless maybe the Liberty was providing Intel to the Arabs somehow.
Ping
Don't hold your breath for the truth on this in our life time.
Even if we buy the lie that Israel did not know it was a USA ship, how do they explain the shooting of men in the life rafts? Regardless of what side of a conflict a person is on, shooting at life rafts is not permitted under civilized rules of war. (sort of an oxymoron isn't it)
The US government is just a guilty of a cover up and lies as Israel.
There must (I hope) come a time in everyones life when they stop believing the fairy tales that any government is there to protect you. It is about power and power only. Does not matter if it is left, right, center, the citizens are simply to be ruled.
"Let the truth set you free."
Someday soon "truth" will indeed set us all free.
http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/
USS LIBERTY Memorial
http://www.ussliberty.org/
Thirty-four men died and 172 were wounded.
The history of the race, and each individual's experience,
are thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill
and that a lie told well is immortal.
I thought that the "Arab Airforce" was pretty much destroyed, but so far, yours is the best plausible theory I've heard.
Were the "reparations" for this atrocity paid by Israel out of US taxpayer aid funds?
Right On!!I think Mr.Shafer's conclusion is reasonable.
I believe Senator John McCain's Naval Officer father was involved in the coverup of that incident -- not sure at what level.
Someday soon "truth" will indeed set us all free.
And since the post is not the truth CIA: USS "Liberty" hit was unintentional, then is the above post intended to enslave?
All is not as it seems with the Liberty, but this is one hot putton you cannot push on Free Republic. On this subject FR is neither Free nor a Republic. Post at your own risk!
The attack on the Liberty was to protect Israel's agents in the Pentagon (early day Michael Pollards). The Liberty was moving into a position to verify that Israel was acting on information they could only have gotten from undercover agents in the Pentagon.
I believe that Israel took a calculated risk and intentionally made multiple light attacks on the Liberty, which was in a very inconvenient place for them. They believed that they were fighting for the life of their nation which justified taking such risks. The gamble paid off, and we will never know if it was really necessary. My understanding is that Israel was afraid the US would step in and force them to stop if they had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. In the same circumstances I might well have made the same decision in their place. Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. The Arab armies were massing for an attack to push Isreal into the sea.
What I found most disturbing was the recall of USN aircraft which had been scrambled to protect them. In all of the reports, that was never adequately explained. When your own side calls repeatedly for help, you don't call your planes home.
Bttt
That would suggest the attack to place before the war- the attack occured on june 8- on june 5 the IAF destroyed virtually the entire Egyptian airforce- by june 7, they'd swept through the sinai and destroyed the Egyptian formations stationed there.
I'm agnostic, leaning toward "accident" in my interpretation- but I don't think whatever it was had anything to do with hiding war preparations- the war had already begun, and was well in hand.
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