The Truth about the USS Liberty

College Voice of Connecticut College | Will be Nov. 1st | Yoni Freeman

[Non-Sequitur]

OK, so why the attack? You yourself said that the armament on the aircraft was wrong for the mission. So why did they use it? If this was a case of Israel mistaking the Liberty for some Egyptian horse freighter then why the need to napalm all the horsies? Was Israel afraid that the Egyptian cavalry was going to land behind their lines and charge the armored columns?

Your claim makes no sense. No ship, other than the Liberty, could have justified that snap decision to attack. An attack so spur of the moment that it was done with any available resource. Nothing Egypt had afloat could have posed such a threat as to justify such an immediate response. I'm sorry but Israel knews what she was attacking. She had to know, the IDF isn't stupid. I have no idea what Israel was afraid of and I doubt we ever will really know. But stop with the fairy tales.

[yonif]

Ok. There were explosions on the coast of Israel on the border with Egypt. Israel thought it was Egypt bombarding them and its troops. Its troops were at danger. So they diverted whatever forces they could to get rid of the enemy, even if it included napalm. They didn't know what the ship was carrying. All it knew was that it was in the tragectory of the bombs launched to where their troops were. So they sent whatever was in the area to go get it.

[jmeadors]

Is it your position that the attack on the USS Liberty should continue to be the only incident of its kind not to be the subject of a complete and comprehensive public Congressional investigation?

Warmest regards,

Joe

[Non-Sequitur]

Please, I have over 20 years in the military here. I'm not naive. You're suggesting that Israel would pull close support aircraft off of strikes in support of their armored advance in order to fry a cattle barge. We're also talking two days into the war, here. What troops were left on the Israel-Egypt border for the ship to bombard? By this time they were half way to the Suez. Nothing the Egyptian navy could have done at this stage posed enough of a risk to the IDF to justify this kind of response. Any threat posed could have been dealt with solely by the Israeli Navy. Something about the situation demanded immediate response. What else could it have been if not the fear of what Liberty could uncover?

I'll be the first to admit that Liberty had no business being where she was. This was 1967 and United States support for Israel was not as clear and unconditional as it has since become. Israel had no idea what the U.S. was going to do with the intelligence it collected, for all they knew we would turn it over to Egypt. So they made their decision and followed up on it. So be it. But don't expect us to believe it was all an innocent mistake.

[yonif]

There has been 5 congressional investigation which all said it was a mistaken attack. There is no need for more. There have already been enough. There is no need to continue to push for the truth - cause the truth is already here.

[yonif]

Read this:
Viewers’ Guide to the History Channel’s Cover Up: Attack on the USS Liberty

Has many inaccuracies by Ennis and others. Look at this site:
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/hchannel.html

[yonif]

They say doesn't mean it happened. Being there doesn't mean anything. They were attacked right...but by being there one cannot prove that the attack was on purpose. The fact they say it was on purpose is just as trustful as someone saying that who was not on the ship in the first place.

Ennis has an anti-Israel agenda. You must remember that when you listen to him. Many of his points on Israel (not on the Liberty Incident) are basically the repeat of Arab propaganda.

[yonif]

There were troops on the Egyptian border, fighting off enemy troops and scouting the area, comeon. Not all aircraft were on bombing runs at the time. Some were just in the air, defending Israeli sky. "Halfway to suez" ? No wise military just blindly marches forward without leaving soldiers behind.

The threat was partially dealt with the Israeli Navy. I can find many instances the US military, in its fights against ships in times of war etc. , used the airforce to neutralize an enemy ship.

[ASA Vet]

this has been discussed into the ground and causes nasty flame wars

Those who do know the truth can't talk, those who don't know have no such resrictions.

[OPS4]

SUpport Israel before you are all surrounded by Muslim attack dogs.
God Bless Americ
ops4

[Non-Sequitur]

Not all aircraft were on bombing runs at the time. Some were just in the air, defending Israeli sky.

Any aircraft tasked with defending Israeli sky wouldn't be packing napalm, would they?

Your own words descrbe this as an emergency. An air strike that had to happen now, not an hour in the future. No time to wait on the Navy or to plan a strike with aircraft that could be loaded for the mission. It had to be made with whatever was available at that moment. Bombing an Egyptian auxiliary doesn't qualify for that kind of emergency. A couple of shells from a warship wouldn't qualify, either. In either of those cases there would be time to plan it properly and dispatch aircraft armed with missiles and bombs. Whatever the Israeli brass was worried about it had to be taken care of at that moment. And whatever it was, it was big. Bigger than these stories of executed POWs. So big it could justify the risks of striking and hopefully sinking an American ship. I have no idea what that was, and I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

[SJackson]

I don’t have any great desire to reassess the USS Liberty in detail since it’s been done on FR once or twice already, and IMO in the end it’s a matter of whether one accepts Israel’s position. A couple of comments though.

Any aircraft tasked with defending Israeli sky wouldn't be packing napalm, would they?

The second flight of two Super-Mysteres (which carried napalm) were diverted while from the Mitla pass, air ground missions.

Your own words descrbe this as an emergency. An air strike that had to happen now, not an hour in the future. No time to wait on the Navy or to plan a strike with aircraft that could be loaded for the mission. It had to be made with whatever was available at that moment. Bombing an Egyptian auxiliary doesn't qualify for that kind of emergency... Whatever the Israeli brass was worried about it had to be taken care of at that moment.

At the time of the air attacks (yes, according to Israel) the USS Liberty was mis-identified as an Egyptian destroyer which had shelled El-Arish, possibly in advance of an Egyptian landing. It was later re-mis-identified as a possible freighter or troop transport by the torpedo boats when they arrived on the scene.

We could argue forever whether they couda-shoulda made a proper id. But at the time Israel’s standing orders were to sink unidentified craft operating at 20 knots (2 knots beyond the Liberty’s max).

[SJackson]

As an aside, the Israeli Navy at the time consisted of a couple of WWII destroyers, a couple of subs, and a handful of smaller craft. They were badly outclassed at sea by the Egyptians, who made no use of their advantage. Any threat from the sea would logically be met by the IAF, as it was in the few confrontations that occured in the Red Sea.

[Non-Sequitur]

Yet the Israeli navy had no qualms about dispatching a couple of those smaller craft to torpedo Liberty. The Israeli Navy may have been the neglected stepchild of the IDF but it was far from being without resources. Sorry, but there are still too many holes in the official story to it to be credible. IMHO, of course.

[SJackson]

Yet the Israeli navy had no qualms about dispatching a couple of those smaller craft to torpedo Liberty. The Israeli Navy may have been the neglected stepchild of the IDF but it was far from being without resources.

Their first response was to send to torpedo boats, they simply arrived late. I was simply pointing out that given the seaborne mismatch, diversion of the IAF would be a logical response. Given the fact that Israel had upwards of 99% of their attack aircraft airborne simultaneously just a few days before, I’ve no doubt they would have sent everything they had against a known superior force at the time. And it’s significant in assessing the risk of an amphibious landing at the IDF’s flank at El-Arish while they were essentially mopping up at the canal and redeploying to Jordan. It would have been a brilliant move if Egypt could have brought it off, and while it may sound ridiculous to expect it of the Egyptians from today’s perspective, the IDF’s reputation was in the process of being made at the time.

None of which, of course, addresses the misidentifications, which is the crux of the problem. Either you believe the misidentification or you don’t.