Deadly attack on USS Liberty gets new attention

Seattle Times ^ | 6/9/9 | Hal Bernton

[Clint Williams]

Draped above a bookcase in his home northeast of Seattle, Jim Ennes displays a bullet-riddled American flag.

On June 8, 1967 — 42 years ago Monday — the flag flew over his Navy spy ship, USS Liberty, as it came under assault from an unlikely antagonist — the state of Israel that unexpectedly turned its weaponry on America at the height of the Six-Day War against Egypt.

In a one-sided battle that lasted for more than an hour, Israeli fighter planes unleashed cannon shots, rockets and napalm. Then, an Israeli torpedo boat scored a direct hit that tore a 39-foot-wide hole in the hull. By the time the fighting was over, the Israeli military had killed 34 U.S. crew members and wounded more than 170.

Ennes has come to anticipate these anniversaries with a mix of weariness and frustration about the questions that still hang over the event.

...

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

They were doing something they didn’t want the U.S. to know about.

[VicVega]

Israel was trying to sink the Liberty to get rid of the evidence. It happens.

Two pilots for the IAF went to jail for not firing on the Liberty.

Johnson and his administration covered it up or at least tried to.

[Piranha]

He wrote the piece years ago when he was an academic and it is amply footnoted to reference specific source material.

[randomhero97]

Lighten up psycho.

If you feel that strongly about defending Israel I'm sure the IDF is actively recruiting.

[Natural Law]

This story has been ignored for 40+ years, but now that Obama has a need to demonize Israel it will get some traction in the State Run Media.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

White trash loser, huh?

Obviously, you've never seen my posting history on the Israel threads where I support them 100%. 40 years ago was different time, when Israeli interests were not necessarily American interests, and during the Six-Day War, they did things that they felt needed to be done to win, including making the deliberate calculation to destroy an American spy-ship which might have revealed their final moves against Syria, a Soviet client-state.

Deal with it!

[afnamvet]

>>>I’ll just ask a question: Why is the Seattle Times, a left wing rag, running this story? Because they care about our military, or because they want to stir up hatred for Israel at a time when Obama is planning to abandon them because he is a Muslim lover.<<<

IMHO, This is NOT happenstance. The stench of Obama's thugs is all over this.

[GladesGuru]

“After nearly 42 years, a Silver Star was awarded to an electronics technician, Terry Halbardier, who braved machine-gun and cannon fire to repair a damaged antenna that restored the ship’s communications. His medal citation — unlike dozens awarded in years past — named Israel as the nation that launched the attack.”

THe difference between other awards and this one is that this one was seized upon by Obama as a way to take a swipe at Israel, hence the mention of Israel which was not done before.

[papertyger]

Like I said, critize Israel and you are automatically an anti-semite or racist.

Actually, it has much more to do with the quality of the criticism, than the existence of the criticism that determines whether the critic is an anti-semite racist.

For example its clearly racist for someone to wail and moan over Johnathan Pollard's treason while ignoring Bobby Ray Inman's clear subversion of American policy and international agreements with Israel...to a Jewish analyst.

Sure, you can blame the scantily clad woman for giving you a woody to justify rape...you just can't expect anyone who isn't a muslim to take you seriously.

[Jacquerie]

What do you want the US to do in 2009 about the 1967 attack?

[papertyger]

The Israelis knew exactly what they were doing.

Cui Bono?

[randomhero97]

I guess nothing. Times change and considering what we have as leadership now I take the side of Israel for the most part. I have a hard time completely trusting Israel, but I have absolutely no trust in the muslim nations.

It's really too bad that the lbj administration wasn't on the Liberty.

[papertyger]

If you feel that strongly about defending Israel I'm sure the IDF is actively recruiting.

So is David Duke.

[mnehring]

No doubt at all that antisemites use the Liberty case, especially when trying to assign motivation (false) and create a wedge.. what everyone fails to realize that the real criminal in all this was LBJ.

If next week, Obama orders one of our ships to report Israel’s military activity to Iran and then to disguise itself as a Iranian ship, I doubt many would blame Israel for taking action, nor would they blame the ship.

LBJ was the problem.

[papertyger]

...they did things that they felt needed to be done to win, including making the deliberate calculation to destroy an American spy-ship which might have revealed their final moves against Syria...

Which would have made the Liberty a legitimate military target: so what's your problem with the attack?

[FreepShop1]

Seattle Times? Lib paper. Did Rahm Emanuel himself ask them to write about this, in order to renew antagonisms against Israel—the new Serbia?

[randomhero97]

LBJ was the problem.

That should end the thread.

I just hate it when people refuse to criticize Israel for anything and use the anti-semite/racist rant when someone else does.

Currently, though, Israel > nobama.

[randomhero97]

so what's your problem with the attack?

Hmm, maybe the fact that American lives were lost. Please refer to my first post in this thread.