What an idiotic response.
The Coast Guard would not blow a sailboat out of US waters without active attempts to ID it first -- but they might blow a sailboat out of the waters around the Iraqi oil terminals in the Persian Gulf if that sailboat was on a quick pace into a restricted area. And that would be mighty prudent of them to do so.
The Liberty was in a active, hot, war zone. Not a polite place. An extremely dangerous place. They were there without the proper precautions and a number of good young US sailors and citizens died on account of that foolish and reckless operation in absence of proper precaution.
Why does it always get reduced to name calling? The intelligence gathering you're calling a "mistake" is happening right now, all over the world, in international waters, by the US Navy and the USAF, just to name a few. The difference as to what happened to the USS Liberty should be self evident.
Fully certified.
What an idiotic response.
The Coast Guard would not blow a sailboat out of US waters without active attempts to ID it first
Excellent analysis. Now please try to apply this logic to Deputy Base Commander Capt. Yiftach Spector as he strafes an un-indentified target. Odd, No?