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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 09/08/2003 12:01:02 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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On June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli forces attacked the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy intelligence-gathering ship off the coast of Gaza, killing 35 men and wounding 171. Israeli apologized and called the attack an accident. The U.S. government accepted the apology and did not openly challenge the explanation For almost three decades the crewmen of the Liberty have waged a campaign to have the attack investigated. Indeed, they claim that not only was the attack was intentional, but also that Johnson recalled the Sixth Fleet rescue flights to avoid a clash between the U.S. and Israel. The USS LIBERTY was a freighter built in the Kaiser shipyards of Oregon and launched in May 1945. It sailed the Pacific until 1958 when it was "mothballed" in Puget Sound. In 1964 it was refitted as a technical research ship for the National Security Agency. In the center of the ship below deck was a room containing electrical equipment which could pick up all radiio broadcasts over a wide area. The information from these broadcasts could be relayed back to NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.  USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5) The ship had no armor and was armed only with four 50-caliber machine guns, two forward and two aft. For protection it relied upon the flag it flew and upon being recognized by any observer as "in a surveillance mode", i.e. it was not a warship and was remaining in international waters. It was easily recognizable as an electronics listening ship because of the large amount of electronic gear visible on deck and superstructure. This gear, including a tall Trescomm tower amidships, gave the ship a silhouette unlike that of any other ship in the world. The ship had its identification number, Gtr5, painted in l0-foot high letters on the bow. This id. number is prominent and visible in all photos of the ship both before and after the attack. The ship also had its name painted on the stern, and a large flag flew from the forward mast. These facts are important because Israeli spokesmen would later claim that the ship had no flag or other marks of identification. LIBERTY was listed in JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS as a non-combatant. The ship was 460 feet long, displaced 10,000 tons, and had a top speed of16 knots (18 mph). It had a crew of 290 men.  LIBERTY displaying normal streaming colors. LIBERTY was one of five LIBERTY-type ships deployed worldwide. One of its sister ships, PUEBLO, would be captured off the coast of North Korea eight months after the attack on LIBERTY. (The reader can see at once that the NSA policy was a faulty and ill-considered one. These NSA communications ships, without armor or serious armament, but loaded with valuable and confidential equipment and records, were sent without escort into dangerous waters. In May 1967 LIBERTY was stationed off the Ivory Coast in west Africa. As the Mideast crisis developed, NSA sent orders to the ship to proceed to Rota, Spain, to take on board six NSA technical specialists (speakers of Russian and Arabic). The ship was then to proceed to a specifically assigned station 13 miles off the Gaza coast. The US has never made any official statement concerning the ship's mission, but the crewmen generally agree with the following scenario. There was in 1967 a dispute between the US and Egypt concerning the status of several Soviet "Bear" bombers based near Alexandria. The US suspected that Soviet pilots still manned these planes. Since the ship's assligned station enabled it to hear radio traffic in northern Egypt, and the NSA men brought on board understood Arabic and Russian, it made sense to assume that the ship's mission centered around these bombers. (The ship had no official Hebrew speaking technicians, but some of the crewmen understood Hebrew and later were able to understand overheard Israeli radio talks). As the ship was passing south of Sicily, the Six Day War began. Captain McGonagle, commander of LIBERTY, was worried about the danger to his ship, and asked Admiral William Martin, commander of the US Sixth Fleet stationed off Crete, to provide LIBERTY with a destroyer escort. Martin refused, stating that "LIBERTY is a clearly marked ship in international waters, not a participant in the conflict and not a likely subject for attack by anyone". He promised that in the unlikely event of an attack, jet fighters from the Sixth Fleet would be overhead "in ten minutes".  USS Liberty turns while under attack by Israeli motor torpedo boats, off the Sinai Peninsula, 8 June 1967. Note fire-damaged structure at left, with what appears to be a .50 caliber machine gun. Unknown to both McGonagle and Martin, NSA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had begun to reconsider LIBERTY's mission. Several messages went from NSA to the ship on June 7, instructing LIBERTY to withdraw 25 miles or more from the Gaza coast, or to leave the area altogether. All messages were misrouted and none reached the ship. On board the ship, Lt. James Ennes at 0700 assumed his post as Officer of the Day. He was told by Ensign John Scott that the ship had passed Port Said during the night, and the sky was filled with smoke and fire. He was also told that at 0600 an Israeli "flying boxcar" had observed the ship. This was the first of Israeli surveillance flights which would continue through the morning. How many and how close these flights were would later become a major source of controversy. On June 8, 1967, the American naval intelligence-gathering ship USS LIBERTY was attacked by Israeli air and naval forces off the coast of Gaza. Thirty-four crewmen were killed and 171 wounded. Beyond these two statements almost everything concerning this event is a matter of controversy. Furthermore, there are many unanswered questions, and mysterious circumstances not yet fully explained.  The crewmen of the ship believe that the attack was deliberate, and that the US and Israeli Governments cooperated to hide this fact, with false and rigged investigations and with untrue official accounts. The crewmen were ordered to keep silent on the matter, and as military men they had to obey. Fourteen years later, retired and no longer silenced, many of them formed the LIBERTY Veterans Association to wage a campaign to tell their version of events, a dissenting history opposed to the official history. The men have waged a remarkable campaign for attention and have gained the backing of important public figures and journalists. Their views are largely ignored by officials of the United States Government. The Israeli Government and its supporters have denounced the dissenting history produced by the LIBERTY crewmen as false and untruthful. Some of the questions on this subject which have not been answered to the satisfaction of all parties, and other questions concerning plain information (i.e., not partisan) still need to be more fully discussed. Among these questions are: 
Those who claim that the attack was accidental point to ten US and three Israeli investigations which, they claim, all concluded that the attack was an accident. How valid is this claim? What criticisms can be made of these inquiries? Answers to these questions can clarify the facts about this important event.  Damage to the ship's bridge area, received in attacks by Israeli forces off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967. View looks aft and to port, from just in front of the superstructure. Note rocket entrance and exit holes, and ruined signal lamp in lower left. It is impossible to write a "factual" account of the attack on the LIBERTY by Israeli forces. From the first hour of the event the story of what happened is in dispute between the crewmen and the Israelis. The most basic facts are challenged. For this reason I will frequently, in presenting an account of events, follow this with an opposing account and make clear that these contradictory claims are not reconciled. There has been a third of a century of discussion over the LIBERTY incident without resolution of the disputes. There are two large overall questions involved here. First, was the Israeli attack deliberate or accidental? Secondly, did the LBJ administration recall the rescue flights sent toward the ship to avoid a clash between US and Israeli forces? The first question, as to whether the attack was accidental or intentional, revolves around testimony from both sides concerning the events of June 8, 1967, and consideration of this question begins with an argument over the Israeli aerial surveillance of THE LIBERTY.  The crewmen claim that there were eight surveillance's of the ship, from 0600 to 1245. Most observations were by Noratlas "flying boxcars", a few by Mirage III fighter- bombers. Some of the flights stayed at a distance of a mile or more, but most came close to the ship and a few passed over the ship at low levels. The flight at 1000 by a Mirage III was of particular importance, for Hebrew- speaking radio operators on the ship heard the plane reporting back to its base that the ship was a US naval ship and in fact was the USS LIBERTY. By late morning the crew had become accustomed to these flights and regarded them as friendly surveillance, with the crew waving to the pilots who waved back. ISRAELI ACCOUNT: While the crewmen are exact and specific in their statements about the aerial surveillance, the Israelis relate various stories without reconciling them. The Israelis describe overflights ranging in number from none to seven, with three as the average (compared to the crewmen¹s claim of eight). They claim that many of the flights which the crew believed were surveillance were merely the traffic of planes back and forth from Israel to Egypt, and that some of these planes barely noticed the ship. Furthermore, Israeli spokesmen claim that it was impossible for the crewmen to see the pilots of the ships and to see them wave. The Israelis do say, however, that the 1000 flight which was so important to the crewmen did indeed observe and identify the ship. The 0600 sighting had resulted in a marker on the table classifying the ship as "unknown". The 1000 sighting now changed this marker to "neutral".  By 1130 the ship had reached its assigned spot and then turned westward, slowing its speed to 5 knots. On the shore in El Arish at 1145 there was a huge explosion and a thick cloud of black smoke spread along the beach. It was impossible for the crew to tell what this might mean. In fact, the explosion had been caused by Egyptian sappers blowing up ammunition dumps left by the Egyptian army in its retreat. The Israeli army in El Arish notified HQ in Tel Aviv that the shore was being bombarded, and that this might be connected to the ship (LIBERTY) which they saw 14 miles offshore, slowly heading westward. Meanwhile, other events were occurring which led the Israelis to believe, in their account, that LIBERTY was an enemy ship. In Ashdod at 1100 the marker signifying LIBERTY as a neutral ship was removed from the table by CMDR Lunz, in charge. He stated later that the marker referred to the ship at 0600, but now five hours later the ship would not be there and so the marker was removed. Lunz did not notify the incoming shift at 1100 of this, so when reports came in about a ship after 1100 the ship would be "rediscovered", this time as a possible enemy. Lunz claimed later that his actions were routine and according to procedure. LIBERTY ACCOUNT: The crewmen claim that Lunz's claim that there were no reports of the ship after 0600 is false. In particular, they point to the 1000 report from an Israeli plane back to base which identified the LIBERTY.  Points out damage inflicted on the ship's superstructure when Israeli forces attacked the Liberty off the Sinai Peninsula on 8 June 1967. The photograph was taken on 16 June, two days after Liberty arrived at Valletta, Malta, for repairs. Unknown to the crewmen, their ship was now the center of Israeli attention. In order to investigate the possible bombardment of the coast, three motor torpedo boats were assigned to investigate the situation.
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Wouldn't have it any other way!
LOL! Hey, we count on you guys to help us out! We appreciate all your input and no one can out nit-pick SAM about details when it comes to his areas of expertise!
So don't you worrry about it Gator Navy, you jump in anytime you like! Good to see you.
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