USS Liberty incident



The USS Liberty incident occurred on June 8th, 1967, during the when Israel's navy and air force attacked the United States signal intelligence gathering vessel USS Liberty, killing 34, wounding 171, and severely damaging the ship. Controversy remains whether the attack was a deliberate effort to disable a neutral spy ship "technical research" ship in international waters, or an unfortunate case of mistaken identity in the fog of war.

The diplomacy
Since the US and Israel were nominal allies in the cold war, both parties had motives for glossing over the incident as an unfortunate accident, a result of miscommunication in the midst of a hot war with numerous rapidly shifting threats. For example, the day before the attack on the Liberty, Israeli aircraft bombed one of their own armored columns south of the West Bank town of Jenin. In that context, subsequent inquiries have suffered from what may be politely called a systemic bias. From the Israeli perspective, a proper investigation would've revealed either rank incompetence or a deliberate attack on an ally, while for the Americans, the investigation would've required them to reveal just what the Liberty was doing in that region.

The event, or rather its alleged investigation, has been regularly contrasted with the first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses. Occasionally, cognitive dissonance arises when additional testimony becomes declassified which does not conform to the official "accident" narrative.

Why won't everyone shut up and buy the official version?
Those insisting that Israel did not know they were attacking an American ship focus on a lack of apparent motive. One credible narrative is a cover-up of a POW massacre by the Israelis at El-Arish. Another explanation is that the Israelis simply did not want a sea-going antenna farm cruising where it could hear their aircraft dispatchers. In any event, a better question is: after the fact, whose interest would be served by an ugly truth when a pretty lie could be reported?

That said, when some people claim the tinfoil hats are being worn by Secretary of State Dean Rusk. . . I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. Through diplomatic channels we refused to accept their explanations. I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous. . . . and Captain Ward Boston, JAGC, U.S. Navy, senior counsel for the Court of Inquiry. . . The evidence was clear. Both Admiral Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. Each evening, after hearing testimony all day, we often spoke our private thoughts concerning what we had seen and heard. I recall Admiral Kidd repeatedly referring to the Israeli forces responsible for the attack as 'murderous bastards.' It was our shared belief, based on the documentary evidence and testimony we received first hand, that the Israeli attack was planned and deliberate, and could not possibly have been an accident. . . . one might begin to wonder.

U.S. government sites

 * Itemised cost of repairs to the USS Liberty United States Department of the Navy September 1967
 * Naval Historical Center, featuring photographs of the ship and crew, and the aftermath of the attack.
 * National Security Agency's Memorial Wall, including list of names inscribed on the wall.
 * U.S. Navy JAG Corps investigations library contains links to record of proceedings for high-profile investigations, including the USS Liberty.
 * Report of the JCS Fact-Finding Team; USS Liberty Incident/ 8 June 1967

Declassified State Department

 * ARAB-ISRAELI CRISIS AND WAR, 1967, Foreign Relations Series
 * Correspondence
 * Preliminary Inquiry on the Liberty Case, 15 August 1967
 * Torpedoing of USS Liberty, 8 June 1967
 * Arab-Israel Situation Report, 1200, 8 June 1967
 * Arab-Israel Situation Report, 1800, 8 June 1967
 * INR Comments on the USS Liberty Incident, 8, 13 June June 1967
 * Arab-Israel Situation Report, 1100, 8 June 1967, 8 June 1967

Declassified National Security Agency

 * Chronologies
 * USS Liberty (USN-855) (AGTR-5) Chronology of Events, 8 June 1967
 * U.S.Cryptologic History Report, "Attack on a SIGINT Collector, the U.S.S. Liberty", dated 1981 (originally released in 1999)
 * Follow-Up Reports
 * Report 1, dated 9 June 1967, 0831Z
 * Report 2, dated 9 June 1967, 1422Z
 * National Military Command Center Documents
 * 1) The USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5) Struck by Torpedo, 8 June 1967
 * 2) Attack on USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5), 9 June 1967
 * 3) Status of USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5), 10 June 1967
 * 4) Attack on USS LIBERTY (AGTR-5), 10 June 1967

Sources (totally unbiased, and without agenda, we pinky swear) saying attack was a mistake

 * US tapes confirm Israel's '67 attack on 'Liberty' was accidental (Jerusalem Post)
 * The Liberty Incident, by a federal judge from Florida whose CV includes being a naval aviator near the Korean peninsula near the end of that war, flying training missions
 * The USS Liberty: Case Closed Azure article by Michael Oren ("Azure enabled thinkers from around the world and across the ideological spectrum to exchange ideas and information, and to shape a common—Jewish and Zionist—agenda.")
 * Michael Oren's "Six Days of War." Ballantine Books, 2003, p. 263–271
 * Memos show Liberty attack was an error Haaretz article by Nathan Guttman
 * Return of the USS Liberty Critique of Bamford's "Body of Secrets" from Honest Reporting ("Defending Israel From Media Bias")
 * Bamford Bashes Israel: Conspiracy Theorist Claims Attack on USS Liberty Intentional from the (or CAMERA, "known for its pro-Israel media monitoring and advocacy")
 * The USS Liberty Attack from the Anti-Defamation League
 * USS Liberty: Israel Did Not Intend to Bomb the Ship by A. Jay Cristol
 * USS Liberty on www.sixdaywar.org (a CAMERA site)
 * USS 'Liberty' hit was unintentional, says CIA (Jerusalem Post)
 * USS Liberty attack tapes released by David Ensor, CNN (What? From that link: "The order suggests the Israelis were surprised at word of a U.S. flag, but it also runs counter to what Israeli fighter pilots and torpedo boat crews have always insisted: That they could not see an American flag.")