Posted on 06/05/2004 11:18:02 PM PDT by adam_az
Despite this history, there has been no real investigation, no real accounting, and no real conclusion to the acts that killed and wounded so many American servicemen aboard the Liberty. There are conspiracy theorists in abundance (particularly on this FreeRepublic of ours) because Israel has stonewalled its best friend with inadequate responses and in the case of this IAF officer, unfeeling arrogance. He and all of those in responsibility for that attack should have been court-marshalled. There should have been a meaningful apology and there should be a memorial in Israel to the American men who fell at their hands.
Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com
Nine "Rebel" Pilots Suspended IAF Commander Gen. Dan Halutz has suspended the nine active pilots who signed last night's "pilots' letter" from further flights. They will be summoned for talks with their base commanders, and if they do not retract their position, they will apparently be discharged from active duty. Those who do retract will be able to fly again only if approved by Gen. Halutz.
Twenty-seven "rebel" Air Force pilots sent a well-publicized letter last night - IAF Commander Gen. Halutz said he received his copy via the media - saying that they refuse to take part in bombing missions against terrorist leaders in Arab towns. Only nine of the signatories are in active service.
They wrote that such missions are "unethical," as they endanger and sometimes kill or wound innocent women, children, and other civilians. In interviews with the press, they did not hide the fact that their action is a "political" one, and that it stems from their political philosophy opposing Israel's presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The pilots wore uniforms during the interviews, in opposition to army regulations forbidding reserve soldiers from speaking to the press while wearing army uniforms.
Foreign Ministry officials say that the pilots' letter will require an intense public relations campaign to counter the expected propaganda attacks on Israel.
IDF leaders reacted with resentment towards the pilots. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon said, "I see political statements dressed up in uniform. This is totally illegitimate. The option of pilots refusing orders because of political claims is absolutely forbidden." IAF Chief Gen. Halutz reacted sharply: "We will hold them to the letter of the law. For the headlines, they call themselves pilots... when in fact 18 of them are not even on active duty... and only two of those serve in units in which they could be called on the missions in question... Some of them are merely serial petition-signers."
More to the point, Halutz said, "The IDF is the most ethical army in the world that I know of. We have no intention of harming civilians, and if it happens that they are harmed, we have apologized."
One of the signers, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yiftach Spector, was once a commander of Dan Halutz, and served as head of IAF Operations. His current successor in that position, Gen. Eliezer Shakdi, said, "The letter itself was not ethical. Most of them have not been on active duty for a long time, yet they are taking cynical advantage of their past service to express their civilian political opinions."
The letter states, "We, both active and former pilots, who served and continue to serve the State of Israel many weeks each year, object to carrying out attack orders that are illegal and unethical, of the type that the State of Israel carries out in the territories. We, who were taught to love the State of Israel and contribute to the Zionist enterprise, refuse to take part in air attacks in the center of civilian populations. We, for whom the IDF and IAF are integral parts of us, refuse to continue to strike at innocent civilians."
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Effie Eitam, currently Israel's Minister of Housing, called upon the Defense Minister to discharge the pilots: "This is a grave blow to the army's fighting spirit... it knowingly serves the interests of the worst of Israel's enemies."
Deputy Education Minister Tzvi Hendel said, "The ethical level of the extreme left-wing has dropped to an unprecedented low, and it is absolutely unacceptable. This bunch of dissenters must be punished particularly strongly, as their actions are akin to wartime treachery."
Gen. (res.) Amram Mitzna, a Labor MK, took a lukewarm approach, saying that the letter has an "aroma of rebellion," but blamed Prime Minister Sharon's policies and said that the letter was "political/ethical." Meretz MK Zahava Gal'on, on the other hand, justified the pilots' action and said that Israel's "occupation of the territories" is at fault.
All accounts of this have lead me to believe this was an accident..that doesnt make it so tho. I cannot think of a single reason for Israel to attack a US war ship. Perhaps will will never really know but the conspiracy goons will have a field day as always with this story. RIP the 34.
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My mistake, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yiftach Spector was promoted to head of IAF Operations.
That's what I wondered. Why no American flag on the ship?
That must mean that this forum is a Joooo-hating Loserdopian forum. < /VaBthang>
Right, Spector sounds defensive and hostile. Hmm, he didn't suffer any suspension of rank or privileges after the incident? Hmmm.
I agree. Friendly fire incident happen in the fog of war. They've happened before and as we saw with Pat Tillman recently they go right on happening. Nothing is to be gained by raking this matter over the coals again and again. We have bigger fish to fry in the Middle East.
According to the crew of the Liberty, there was an American flag flying from the mast.
No, no. The USS Liberty threads are posted to weed out all the arab supporters so that JimRob can zot them. Try to keep your conspiracy stories straight. Sheesh....
Nahhh....just a Joooo hating Losedopian thread. /grin
I honestly believe you aspire to ever-lofty moronic heights.
Sorry to any of the other posters honestly discussing the subject...I was ribbing Lazymataz on another Loserdopian excuse making thread. He decided to bring me into this one as well [basically cause he was getting stomped over there].
Carry [not Kerry] on.
LOL! And ever-higher moronic heights do you yet achieve.
That's great, but Pat Tillman happened on a squadron level in a combat situation.
The Liberty was attacked out at sea, and there were no arab planes in the area to shoot back. Taking a pass to identify the ship wasn't too much to ask for, IMO.
One shot, fired by a scared sentry at night is an accident. Repeated attacks against an unknown vessel in international waters is either intentional or the worst form of indiscipline in combat.
What if that ship had been Swedish? or French? or Russian? Would Israel have reacted the same way as they did?
The part that makes me angry is that narrative after narrative pushes the blame on the US and the Liberty ("they were in a war zone"). No armed force in the world just attacks any ship they see, without conclusively identifying it as an enemy vessel. No disciplined armed force would continue attacks on a vessel that didn't fight back. Do Egyptian ships have vessel code letters in roman letters? Answer: no. Yet the IAF continued to attack when they saw that distinctly western lettering.
Like I said, it was either intentional or some of the sloppiest soldiering I've heard of - but not an accident. Israel still needs to come clean on this one.
The fact that Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yiftach Spector ("The luck of the ship was that I was armed only with light ammunition (30mm) against aircraft. If I had had a bomb it would be sitting on the bottom today like the Titanic. I promise you,") was not in any way disciplined, but instead promoted, is much more illuminating.
In war -- bad things happen. the USS Liberty was a "neutral" warship in the middle of a war zone and there in that war zone without the cautions due. The Navy and teh NSA had absolutely foolishly sent it there alone and unannounced.
The pilot was right -- the mistake wasn't his. His mistake would have been in NOT attacking a unknown warship in a war zone.
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