USS Liberty

[Yossarian]

This will give you an idea of what the Liberty survivors have had to put up with. On June 3, 2004 the Jersusalem Post published an interview they did with the lead pilot of the first flight of aircraft to attack Liberty. Here is part of what he had to say:

Of the four pilots who took part in the attack, three are alive today. One died in 1979 during an aviation accident. For years their identities were classified. Last October, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Yiftach Spector agreed to be identified and gave an exclusive interview on the attack to this reporter. Here are some of his comments.

. . .

"I did not fire on the Liberty as a human target. I was sent to attack a sailing vessel. This ship was on an escape route from the El Arish area which at that same moment had heavy smoke rising from it," said Spector.

He had been on an air-to-air mission and was not loaded with bombs.

"I was told on the radio that it was an Egyptian ship off the Gaza coast. Hit it. The luck of the ship was that I was armed only with light ammunition (30mm) against aircraft. If I had had a bomb it would be sitting on the bottom today like the Titanic. I promise you," Spector said.

"Every order is given by commanders and the last one to receive it has to decide whether he will pull the trigger or not. In this instance I was the fighter. I checked what I had to check (i.e. that it was a military ship and not one of ours) and pulled the trigger," Spector said.

"The crew should be thankful for their luck (that I was on an air-to-air mission and did not have any bombs) I'm sorry for poor Capt. (William Loren) McGonagle whose leg was wounded and the other guys who were killed and wounded."

"I'm sorry for the mistake. In war mistakes happen," Spector said. "But it wasn't my mistake."

He added he remained baffled that the conspiracy theories live on that Israel deliberately attacked the US intelligence ship. He suggested it might be due to anti-Semitism, or anti-Israeli sentiments. He has never in the past 37 years ever met with any of the Liberty survivors, but had no qualms about doing so now.

"These people never, ever spoke to me. Perhaps they are anti-Semites? Or these guys feel hurt and are looking for guilty parties, maybe to get compensation, or money? I am not afraid to meet them. Anyone who wants to meet with me is welcome. I don't have any claims against them. I don't want any compensation from them or anything. If they want they can look me up. And they best not deal with lies and deception since it won't help. It's best they tell the truth." [Emphasis added]

"They must understand that a mistake was made here," Spector said. "The fool is one who wanders about in the dark in dangerous places, so they should not come with any complaints."

Just imagine, this murdering sack of shit who attacked a defenseless ship and murdered Americans doesn't want to claim any "compensation" from his victims. What a generous guy!

What is particularly galling is that while the Dept. of Veterans Affairs has its budget cut, year after year, his country sees its US aid package go up every year. We send more money to Israel than we spend on our own vets.

[Tamaroa]

I bookmarked ussliberty.org. Good site. A lot to absorb. This happened about a month before I went to basic. I remember it well. I've always felt the Israelis knew what they were doing. Its a shame.

Bill

[GerryRM3]

I think I'll jump in here.
I was the radioman on the rescue crew the day after the attack.
I'v been following this since 1967 after I and every man on my ship were told to forget we ever heard about the USS Liberty.
The cover up started during the attack and not a short while after.
When I got discharged a month after it happened I was told I couldn't visit any forign counties for 20 years without permission from the Navy as well as being told that I couldn't ever speak to anyone about the action.
Fortunately years later some of the survivors got together and tried to right a wrong by asking for a Congressional investigation.
Thats been stonewalled since before it started.
I personally thank all of you for keeping this going and talk about it as often as you can with your friends,
relatives whatever.
I hope to see justice someday for those men who have been dumped on by our Navy and government for so long.
Thanks,
GerryRM3

[sgmsteve]

For those of us who witnessed the attack, and have been frustrated for years with the lies and stonewalling by our government and the apologists, all we can hope for is to keep the memory alive. As we who know the truth first hand get older, I am sure the apologists are hoping we will eventually die off and the memory of the USS Liberty will die with us.

For those of you who are not familiar with the attack on the USS Liberty by Israel, please go to the USS Liberty home page and read the statements and sworn affidavits by those who, with nothng to gain and no prejudices or "axes to grind", have come forward to tell the truth.

Our hope is that the outrage will live on after we are gone and that people will understand that what they hear from their government and media is not necessarily the truth. This can happen again.

Thanks,

Steve

[James Ennes]

It is refreshing to see all these supportive remarks from fellow vets.

I was OOD on the bridge for several hours just before the attack and was just relieved as the attacking aircraft approached. I was hit by fragments from the first rockets and spent the next year in the hospital and/or restricted medical status.

I am also author of ASSAULT ON THE LIBERTY, which has sold over 110,000 copies, and am webmaster of www.ussliberty.org which, along with our sister site at www.usslibertyinquiry.com, tells the story.

As most people understand, there is no way this attack could be dismissed as "friendly fire". The Israelis have used that excuse for 37 years, but it doesn't hold water.

They reconnoittered us at low level for at least nine hours before attacking, and were heard during that peirod telling their HQ that we were an American ship. But even more incriminating, American intercept operators heard the Israeli controllers telling the pilots to quickly sink the AMERICAN ship. The pilots positively identified us as AMERICAN, and were told to sink us quickly and get away. They wanted to be out of the area before the Sixth Fleet jets showed up. Sworn affidavits can be found at www.ussliberty.org/smoking.htm.

That in no way could be dismissed as "friendly fire".

The shame is that the press has given it little attention, and the Congress has given it no attention at all.

Jim Ennes
USS Liberty survivor

[82Rigger]

Folks,

I read Mr Ennes's book ASSAULT ON THE LIBERTY awhile back.

It's a practically minute by minute account of the incident and its aftermath.

An EXCELLENT read!

[melody1181]

I wish I could do more but I just wrote my congressmen. Makes you physically ill to hear of the ways our government handled the "incident"

[Seascamp]

I read the same book Steve and my impression then as now is that Israel had every intention of sinking the Liberty and there were to be no survivors to tell the tale. Obviously, things didn?t turn out that way so one must presume that there was a motivation for trying to silence what the Liberty found out or was thought to have found out. Being one of the preeminent snoop ships of the time, the Liberty had all kinds of capability and must have come across something Israel didn?t want let out or discovered at any cost.

We?ll never know what is was that Israel was so desperate to keep silent and /or undiscovered but in my opinion, only the dullest knife in the drawer would believe it was all a case of mistaken identity, ta dot ta da. By all that is right, there should have been a massive, thunderous and reciprocal case of ?mistaken identity? sent against the Israeli forces that perpetrated the strike. In cases like the assault on the Liberty, it is, in my opinion, a grave mistake to allow, ?lessons learned?, to be unilateral in nature for it only invites more problems like ongoing and continual, aggressive, Israeli espionage against the US. Of course, we don?t talk about that situation either, right?

Scamp

[SuperScout]

Just sent an email to Bill O'Reilly at oreilly@foxnews.com, asking him to investigate this attack, and strongly urge all to do the same. I consider the attack and subsequent cover-up as the most egregious insult to and assault on our Navy. If we flood O'Reilly's site with our requests for action, he just might get the message. This could be the blockbuster news story of 2005. Simultaneously, our congressfolks need to be prodded as well.
Brice
Scouts Out!!

[b3196]

Good Idea Brice
I'm doing it now
Bob K