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Somebody posted a few weeks back that the only friends the Israelis have are the Israelis. I believe it.
It's going to take a lot more than mere evidence - no matter how powerful - to convince the tinfoilers and enemies of Israel of that. It's going to take a miracle -- their blind hatred will have to be disgarded.
My question is, why was there no American flag flying on this ship?
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"I'm sorry for the mistake. In war mistakes happen," Spector said. "But it wasn't my mistake."
He added he remained baffled that the conspiracy theories live on that Israel deliberately attacked the US intelligence ship. He suggested it might be due to anti-Semitism, or anti-Israeli sentiments. He has never in the past 37 years ever met with any of the Liberty survivors, but had no qualms about doing so now.
"These people never, ever spoke to me. Perhaps they are anti-Semites? Or these guys feel hurt and are looking for guilty parties, maybe to get compensation, or money? I am not afraid to meet them. Anyone who wants to meet with me is welcome. I don't have any claims against them. I don't want any compensation from them or anything. If they want they can look me up. And they best not deal with lies and deception since it won't help. It's best they tell the truth."
"They must understand that a mistake was made here," Spector said. "The fool is one who wanders about in the dark in dangerous places, so they should not come with any complaints."
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I am a friend to Israel - but these remarks are hateful. This man killed MANY Americans, and he has no apologies, only "anti-semitism" smears against the survivors of the Liberty. Outrageous statements fuel outrageous theories; Israel would do well to tell Spector to shut his mouth.
Can you imagine the outcry if Americans bombed an Israeli ship, killed 34 soldiers, wounded 171, then spoke this way? It is wrong to speak this way, no matter how right Israel may be in this world - for they have had no finer friend than America. It makes me sad to hear this.
Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with former Congressman Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey about his role. According to this senior Israeli lead pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, so informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested.Later, a dual-citizen Israeli major told survivors that he was in an Israeli war room where he heard that pilot's radio report. The attacking pilots and everyone in the Israeli war room knew that they were attacking an American ship, the major said. He recanted the statement only after he received threatening phone calls from Israel.
The pilot's protests also were heard by radio monitors in the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter has confirmed this. Porter told his story to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak and offered to submit to further questioning by authorities. Unfortunately, no one in the U.S. government has any interest in hearing these first-person accounts of Israeli treachery.
Taken from here. Some interesting differences.
Ah well, there's always Roswell.
With heros like Spector it's no wonder israel finds little sympathy. When I read this guy's quotes I was utterly disgusted. Sounds like those folks were quite trigger happy and had no compunctions about murdering a wounded unidentified "foe".
And yeah, I'm sure the survivors wake up every god damn day thanking jesus that schmuck wasn't armed with a bomb. Wow, thanks for small miracles.
did you have to bring this up now?
Typical ATC pukes. Lead you into disaster then after it's too late, record something on the tapes to make it sound like they warned you off.
Unmitigated garbage. This lousy excuse for a professional military man has had his identity protected for the almost 40 years that have gone by - it's not "antisemitism" that kept the survivors from confronting him.
He and his compatriots didn't bother getting in close to identify a ship before attacking it - they raked it with cannon and rocket fire, then when that didn't cause enough damage, napalmed the thing. The fact that the ship didn't shoot back should've been a major clue. The fact that no one in the attacking aircraft got up on an international radio channel to interrogate the ship to ascertain its identity before attacking is another clue. (The was little chance that a 20-knot ship could get away from 500-knot aircraft during the pause required to get positive identification).
I am and have been a strong supporter of Israel, but this brutal attack remains a festering sore with me and this Air Force Colonel's attitude is callous and insulting to the memory of our murdered and maimed sailors.
The "I was fighting a war and sh_t happens" defense is garbage and the accusation that the survivors are looking for money is scurrilous.
The questions have not been answered and the responses that we have gotten are not satisfactory. How would Israelis have responded if we had attacked them, killed and wounded their young men, then said that "they were lucky that we weren't armed with bombs or we would have sunk them like the Titanic"? Scummy.
Oh this thread should be fun to watch...
That must mean that this forum is a Joooo-hating Loserdopian forum. < /VaBthang>
There he goes again.
That Arlen McSpector is always making mistakes. His biggest one is sitting on the wrong side of the aisle in the senate.
Oh. This is the Spector that is a war hero.
"Conspiracy theories in general live, and regarding Jews and Israel they are immortal."
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Why won't those ungrateful bastards bow down and thank him for not using more powerful weapons against them? They must be anti-Semites!
This sentence is very supportive of the author's position. If they had been sent out to sink the Liberty on purpose, the Israeli Air Force is quite capable of doing so very rapidly with bombs or torpedos. However the aircraft were not so armed, because they were on patrol for aircraft and the Liberty was in an Egyptian "flee zone". Seems like our boys got a bit too close to the action. The question I have is: was the Liberty flying a flag, if not why not, and if so could it be seen from 5,000 feet. The Israelis clearly should have made a serious attempt to identify the craft before firing. Then again, the banter indicates they suspected the boat was shelling the coast and they wanted to act fast. I would like to see the American side de-classified as well. Surely we had more info than just what the seamen had to say.