USS Liberty

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1 The USS Liberty (AGTR-5), 1964-1970
2 The Official Story of The Attack
- 2.1 Relevant discussion threads
- 2.2 External Links

The USS Liberty (AGTR-5), 1964-1970

A 7725-ton Belmont class technical research ship, was built in 1945 as the civilian cargo ship Simmons Victory. It operated in commercial trade until 1958, when it was laid up in the National Defence Reserve Fleet. Simmons Victory was acquired by the Navy in February 1963 for conversion. Renamed Liberty and classified AG-168 in June 1963, It was reclassified AGTR-5 in April 1964 and commissioned in December 1964. In February 1965, It steamed from the west coast to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was further outfitted for the mission of collecting and processing foreign communications and other electronic emissions of possible National defence interest.

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The Attack on USS Liberty

In June 1965, Liberty began its first deployment, off the west coast of Africa. It carried out several more operations during the next two years, and went to the Mediterranean in 1967. During the "Six-Day War" between Israel and several Arab nations, It was sent to collect electronic intelligence in the eastern Mediterranean. On the afternoon of 8 June 1967, while in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula, Liberty, though clearly marked as a U.S. Navy ship, was struck by Israeli aircraft. After suffering damage and many personnel casualties from gunfire, rockets and bombs, It was further attacked by three Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats. One torpedo hit on the starboard side, forward of the superstructure, opening a large hole in the hull. In all, thirty-four men were killed in the attacks and 171 wounded. Israel subsequently apologized for the incident, explaining that its air and naval forces had mistaken the Liberty for a much smaller Egyptian Navy ship. Though severely damaged, Liberty's crew kept her afloat, and it was able to leave the area under it's own power. It was escorted to Malta by units of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and was there given interim repairs. After these were completed in July 1967, Liberty returned to the United States. It was decommissioned in June 1968 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register two years later. USS Liberty was sold for scrapping in December 1970.

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Rescue Attempt by the US Called Back

SOS calls were eventually sent from the Liberty despite their radio signal being blocked by the Isrealies. Aircraft were launched to their assistance but once Washington was informed the Secretary of Defence (Robert McNamara) ordered that the aircraft be returned to the carrier which was done. Apparently the first wave of aircraft that was sent were carrying Nuclear weapons and were thus recalled. Another flight was put together of conventional aircraft, Washington was notified and again McNamara called them back with no explanation.

At the same time President Lyndon Johnson ordered the recall of all the aircraft that was sent to assist the Liberty, He also said He Did not care if every man drowned and the ship sank, that he would not embarrass his allies (Israel).

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The Governmental Cover up of the Attack of the USS Liberty

In 1967 when Israel attacked the USS Liberty with aircraft and torpedo boats, killing 34 men and wounding 171. The attack in international waters followed over nine hours of close surveillance. Israeli pilots circled the ship at low level some 13 times on eight different occasions before attacking. Radio operators in Spain, Lebanon, Germany and aboard the ship itself all heard the pilots reporting to their headquarters that this was an American ship. They attacked anyway. And when the ship failed to sink, the Israeli made a story up to cover the crime.

There is no question that this attack on a U.S. Navy ship was deliberate. This was a coordinated effort involving air, sea, headquarters and commando forces attacking over a long period. It was not the "few rounds of misdirected fire" that Israel would have the world believe. Worse, the Israeli excuse is a gross and detailed fabrication that disagrees entirely with the eyewitness recollections of survivors. Key American leaders call the attack deliberate. More important, eyewitness participants from the Israeli side have told survivors that they knew they were attacking an American ship.

Israeli Pilot Speaks Up Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with former Congressman Paul N. McCloskey about his participation in the attack. According to the senior Israeli pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American, so informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was later arrested. Later, a dual-citizen Israeli Major told survivors that he was in an Israeli war room where he heard that pilot's radio report regarding the nationality of the ship. The attacking pilots and everyone in the Israeli war room knew that they were attacking an American ship, the major said. He recanted the statement only after he received threatening phone calls from Israel. The pilot's protests also were heard by radio monitors in the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter has confirmed this. Porter told his story to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak and offered to submit to further questioning by authorities. Unfortunately, no one in the U.S. government has any interest in hearing these first-person accounts of the Israeli attacks. Key members of the Lyndon Johnson administration have long agreed that this attack was no accident. Perhaps most outspoken is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer. "I can never accept the claim that this was a mistaken attack," he said.

Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk is equally outspoken, calling the attack deliberate in press and radio interviews. Similarly strong language comes from top leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency,(some of which were aboard the Liberty) National Security Council, and from presidential advisers such as Clark Clifford, Joseph Califano and Lucius Battle.

A top-secret analysis of Israel's excuse conducted by the Department of State found Israel's story to be false. Yet Israel and its defenders continue to stand by their claim that the attack was a "tragic accident" in which Israel mistook the most modern electronic surveillance vessel in the world for a rusted-out 40-year-old Egyptian horse transport ship called the El Quesir.

Despite the evidence, no U.S. administration has ever found the courage to defy the Israeli lobby by publicly demanding a proper accounting from Israel.

The Navy blocked all testimony about Israeli actions. Instead of determining whether the attack was deliberate, the Navy blocked all testimony about Israeli actions. No survivor was permitted to describe the close in machine-gun fire that continued for 40 minutes after Israel claims all firing stopped. No survivor was allowed to talk about the life rafts the Israeli torpedo men machine-gunned in the water. No survivor was permitted to challenge defects and fabrications in Israel's story. Even my eyewitness testimony as officer-of-the deck was withheld from the official record. No evidence of Israeli culpability was "found" because no such testimony was allowed. To survivors, this was not an investigation. It was a cover-up.

Sometimes Members of Congress Ask questions Occasionally a member of Congress will seem to probe a bit deeper, as Ted Kennedy once did. In response to requests, Kennedy asked Liberty survivors and others for input,which his staff then "studied" for more than a year. Kennedy asked no questions, conducted no interviews, and showed no curiosity about the many discrepancies in Israel's story. Then Kennedy reported his "findings" in a letter to survivors. Carefully avoiding the circumstances of the attack, Kennedy's letter deplored the "tragic circumstances and loss of life" and declared that the facts about the Liberty must be uncovered "to the maximum extent humanly possible." That letter, however, represented Kennedy's maximum effort. Appeals to Kennedy for some real help go unanswered.

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The Official Story of The Attack

The IDF (Israel Defence Force) claims that throughout the air attack USS Liberty's identity remained unknown to its pilots and their controllers; although, at some point, at least one of the attacking pilots realized the unidentified ship was likely not an enemy ship. It was at this point, purportedly, that the air attack was terminated.

Upon terminating the air attack, the IDF claims a stand-down order was issued to the MTB (motor torpedo boat) division's commander. Unfortunately, according to the IDF, this information was not received by the MTB Division Commander. Thus, the MTB's' captains continued their pursuit of the unidentified ship -- now heavily damaged by the air attack, with fires being extinguished on both sides of her superstructure, and heading northward toward the open sea at an estimated speed between 10 to 15 knots.

As the fast-moving MTB's rapidly approached the unidentified ship, at a location more than 20 NM (nautical miles) north of the northern Sinai coast and about 30 NM Northwest of El Arish,* the IDF claims its MTB captains realized the ship was not a high-speed combat ship, as originally believed. Instead, the MTB captains now believed the ship appeared like the low-speed Egyptian cargo ship El Quseir.

Purportedly, the MTB captains viewed pictures of El Quseir in a ship identification document carried on board the MTBs, compared them to at least the forward-half of USS Liberty (as seen through their binoculars or naked eye), and simultaneously and independently came to the conclusion that USS Liberty looked so much like El Quseir that they were all convinced she was El Quseir, despite the size and other unique differences -- including an American flag flying on her high central mast.

It is true, for the most part, that ships of a specific type resemble other ships of the same or similar type. In this case, both USS Liberty and El Quseir were cargo type ships. Both ships had tall masts, and a centrally located superstructure and stack assembly. In this gross respect, they resembled each other -- as well as hundreds of other cargo type ships that steamed through Eastern Mediterranean Sea waters of that period. So, to distinguish ships of a similar type from each other, one must look for unique features and not simply at a ship's gross appearance.

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