USS Liberty

[Yossarian]

I would like to enlist the aid of other vets on this board to help seek justice for the survivors of the attack on USS Liberty. For those of you who are not aware of the facts, USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli air and naval forces on June 8, 1967.

Israeli aircraft first spotted and identified Liberty shortly after dawn on the day of the attack. From that first contact until the attack eight hours later, seven more flights of Israeli reconnaissance aircraft flew out to Liberty?s position and orbited her position at regular intervals. While the actual limits of the Israeli costal radar net are not know, it is a safe assumption that Liberty was well inside it by mid-morning.

At all times, USS Liberty remained well out in international waters. From approximately 0900 until the attack five hours later, the ship?s speed was set for five knots, barely sufficient to make way against the tide and current.

Shortly before 1400 (local time), Liberty was approximately 16 NM from the position where she had been initially identified eight hours earlier. The ship was securing from a general quarters drill when the officer of the deck saw fast moving radar returns coming straight at the ship. This was followed shortly by another set of returns. These radar contacts were the Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats on their way to attack the ship.

A few minutes later, the aircraft launched their rocket and cannon attack on the ship. After the attack, surviving crewmembers counted the holes in the ship. The found that there were 861 holes that were the size of a man?s hand or larger. They did not include what they described as ?thousands? of .50 caliber machine gun holes in the ship.

The crew attempted to call for help, but they were unable to do so at first due to damage to the radios and antennas. About six minutes into the attack, Liberty was finally able to send a distress call. After the equipment was repaired, the crew found that their communications frequencies were being jammed.

The closest help was USS America and USS Saratoga, both about forty-five minutes flying time away. Saratoga immediately launched aircraft to defend Liberty. Unfortunately, Washington ordered these aircraft recalled.

About twenty or twenty five minutes after the attack began, the air attacks ceased. Israeli torpedo boats were then seen approaching the ship. At a distance of about 2,000 yards, they launched five torpedoes, four of which missed. The fifth struck the ship on the starboard side, just forward of the superstructure.

As a result of these attacks, our of a crew of 290, 34 Americans were killed and another 172 were wounded (a casualty rate of 70%).

After the torpedo struck the ship, the three torpedo boats began to strafe the ship with 20 and 40 mm cannon fire and .50 caliber machine gun fire. Subsequent forensic analysis established that the torpedo boats came as close as between twenty and thirty feet from the side of the ship. This aspect of the attack continued for more than half an hour.

During this final phase of the attack, the Israeli torpedo boat crews swept Liberty?s deck with unremitting fire. They shot at anyone who came out to rescue wounded shipmates, as well as the damage control parties. Several firefighters reported that their fire hoses became ineffective because the lost pressure due to all of the machine gun holes in the hoses. Liberty crewmen reported seeing the Israeli torpedo boat crews shooting the life rafts that had been put over the side in preparation to abandon ship.

Finally, the attack was broken off. The Israeli torpedo boat crews claimed that they suddenly realized that the ship was American. They then asked if Liberty required assistance ? a request the captain refused with a one fingered gesture.

Even before rescuers arrived at Liberty?s position, the Navy ordered a court of inquiry. One week later, the court of inquiry delivered its final report. To say that there were irregularities with the court?s report is putting it mildly. The court?s own JAG officer has since given a sworn statement, attesting to the fact that recorded testimony was altered and certain evidence had gone missing. In his statement, this same officer affirms, under oath, that the president of the court told him that when he took the court record to Washington, it was ordered rewritten and he was ordered to keep everyone quiet.

There has never been a formal US government investigation of the attack that has dealt with responsibility and culpability. Israeli collaborators in this county like to repeat the big lie that there have been ?ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations).? This is a demonstrable lie repeated by so-called Americans who have given their allegiance to the Israeli cause. These people refuse to deal with the facts of the case, insisting on repeating the big lie about the purported investigations instead. Even though it has been shown conclusively that no such investigations were undertaken, the Israeli collaborators continue to assert the same lie.

The surviving members of the Liberty crew have fought for years to have Congress undertake an investigation. Those who owe their primary allegiance to Israel have brought all possible pressure to bear on Congress to leave this issue alone. As such, it remains the only attack on a United States Navy ship with significant loss of life that has never been investigated by Congress.

The Israeli collaborators vigorously defend the Israeli explanation that this hour and a half long, combined air and sea attack was just an ?innocent mistake.? When defending their position, their primary tactic is to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being an anti-Semite. Their next line of defense is to nitpick. For example, rather than dealing with all of the holes in the ship, they will try to focus the debate on whether there were 821 or 861 large holes.

If you agree that this injustice needs to be remedied, please make common cause with the Liberty survivors to insist on an honest Congressional investigation.

For more information, please see the web sites found at:

http://ussliberty.org

http://www.usslibertyinquiry.com/

http://www.usslibertyinquiry.com/

http://www.logogo.net/00opening.htm

http://home.cfl.rr.com/gidusko/liberty/

http://www.geocities.com/countdownlist/USSLiberty.html