[NYFriend]

Wasn't the Liberty still flying the Flag when the Isreali's supposedly machine-gunned the liferafts?

[DainBramage]

Bull

[veronica]

This makes the 12th or 13th investigation/hearing that comes to the same conclusion. Will the usual suspects let it go? Nah.

[B4Ranch]

BULLSH!T!

[davisfh]

"USS 'Liberty' hit was unintentional, says CIA"

I don't remember all of the particulars of this attack but, as I recall, it went on for an hour or so. The length of the attack alone makes it difficult to swallow these excuses.

I would like to believe that the Israelis are our friends and always have been but I find the Liberty incident very disturbing. I've never heard a rational and believable explanation of this occurrence.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

We are talking about the Israeli Air Force not some rag tag third rate power. This is an airforce that could strike and kill aircraft and tanks protected by earthwork fortifications (with one bomb). If it was any US ship that I ever sailed on they were flying the flag from the mast. One qualification for a pilot is exceptional eyesight.

We also know from now declassified traffic that the US Sixth Fleet launched aircraft to support the USS Liberty which were CALLED BACK. Presumably the recall order came from the DC area not the area commander. Once again the message traffic would be useful.

We neet to see the actual message traffic to know. There is a good chance that the NSA may have copies, but try to pry it out of them.

[StonyBurk]

"God and th esoldier all men adore
In time of trouble then no-more
When the fighting is over --
and all things are righted
God is forgotten and the soldier is slighted" anon.
Regrettable attack-only God may know if it was anything
beyond this.Let the dead bury the dead.

[xzins]

Oh boy, another Liberty thread.

It's not like there's new info.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

Earlier in the morning of June 8, the Israelis had surveyed and identified a ship in the area as the USS Liberty. A neutral green marker was placed on a model to represent the Liberty's position. Two hours later, the marker was removed since the ship's position would have changed by then and a new senior Israeli official came on duty who was not informed of the Liberty's presence in the area, Oren explained.

The removal of the marker, a miscalculation of the speed at which the Liberty was traveling that would have indicated it was not a warship, and a breakdown in communication between the Israeli Navy and Army were all Israeli errors that contributed to orders to attack the ship.

Hard to believe that the best military in the world could be capable of such incompetence!

Question. Were any of the Israeli military personnel court martialed for this? They obviously knew they had screwed up. What are the names of the officers punished for their ineptitude?

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

I didn't bother with yesterday's thread, Israel blamed for USS Liberty attack, but for those who care to partake it's USS Liberty time again.

[suekas]

I've got a bridge for sale.

[curmudgeonII]

If you believe that the Israelis did not know that the Liberty was American, you probably also believe that Clinton was honest.

[JimRed]

It would not be unusual for Arabs to sail under a false flag.

[part deux]

How do you not see a giant American flag? or USS Liberty painted on the side of the ship.

Not buying it.

[Natural Law]

At the risk of being banned for daring to post anything critical of Israel I am calling Bullsh*t.

Israel was acting in the Sinai on information they could have only gotten from sourced inside the Pentagon. If the Liberty were allowed to get closer they would have confirmed this. The Liberty was attacked to protect Israel's intelligence sources. Israel was acting purely in self interest and for self preservation. Understandable, yes. Forgivable, no.

[airborne]

Well,if the State Department says it....

[omnivore]

I don’t claim to be an expert on this incident, but the “flying an American flag” argument for why the Israeli pilots should have held their fire always strikes me as nonsense. If the ship had been Egyptian and spying on Israel in support of the Egyptian side in the war, flying an American flag (”false flag”) would have been an obvious tactic. From the Israeli pilot’s point of view, it was a warship in position to have been a hazard to Israel (i.e. could have been spying), in the middle of a war against Israel. In many such cases things are spelled out in terms of geographic zones. Like, any ship in such and such a sector is considered hostile. Obviously it was a mistake and a tragedy for them to have attacked it. But it’s not impossible to understand, nor does it require a belief in a bad motive to understand. It was a warship, in a combat zone, during a war. Given how easy it would be for a spy ship to buy and fly an American flag, it’s hard to understand the perspective that the American flag should have been some kind of magic shield preventing any and all attacks. If a flag did confer that kind of total immunity, every pirate, spy, and terrorist in the world would just fly one.