Reply #57: We could talk about the USS Liberty though

[rman]

BBC Documentary – Dead in the Water

During the Six-Day war, Israel attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty, claiming mistaken identity. The truth turns out to be more sinister.

part 1
http://movies01.archive.org/opensource_movies/newsreal/indybay/uploads/libertypart1.rm

part 2
http://movies01.archive.org/opensource_movies/newsreal/indybay/uploads/libertypart2.rm

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Here's what the survivors have to say about it:


A Report:
War Crimes Committed Against U.S. Military Personnel, June 8, 1967
http://www.ussliberty.org/report/report.htm

Submitted to the Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, June 8, 2005.

This report of war crimes committed against U.S. military personnel is submitted to the Honorable Secretary of the Army in his capacity as Executive Agent for the Secretary of Defense, pursuant to Department of Defense Directive Number 5810.01B (29 March 2004) <1> .

This Report is filed by the USS Liberty Veterans Association, Inc. a California non-profit corporation, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a Section 501(c)(3) tax exempt veterans organization, acting on behalf of the surviving crewmembers of USS Liberty.

Background

On June 8, 1967 while patrolling in international waters<2> in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.<3>

Of a crew of 294 officers and men<4> (including three civilians)<5>, the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action.<6> The ship itself, a Forty Million ($40,000,000) Dollar state of the art signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform, was so badly damaged that it never sailed on an operational mission again and was sold in 1970 for $101,666.66 as scrap<7> .

<snip>

Survivor James M. Ennes, Jr., Exhibit 12

"Yet despite these things a few Americans seem to accept the preposterous claim that the attack was a mistake and that firing stopped with the torpedo explosion. One can accept and understand this attitude from an Israeli, as he would have a natural tendency to believe his country's version of events and to disbelieve contrary versions -- especially since he has no personal experience to draw upon. But how can an American disbelieve the virtually identical eyewitness reports of scores of surviving fellow Americans and accept instead the undocumented claims of the foreign power that tried to kill them? That is very difficult to understand or to accept.

The typical Israeli reaction is that we are liars or antiSemites, which of course we are not. We are American sailors honestly reporting an act of treachery at sea. At the very least we deserve your courtesy and understanding."


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The True Story of Israel's attack
on an American Intelligence Ship

By James M. Ennes, Jr.

Chapter Six

AIR ATTACK

Copyright by James Ennes 1980, 1986, 1995, 2002, 2004, 2005

Imagine all the earthquakes in the world, and all the thunder and lightnings together in a space of two miles, all going off at once.
--Description by unknown U.S. Army officer of night engagement when Farragut ran Fort Jackson and St. Philip, April 24, 1862

Searing heat and terrible noise came suddenly from everywhere. Instinctively I turned sideways, presenting the smallest target to the heat. Heat came first, and it was heat--not cannon fire--that caused me to turn away. It was too soon to be aware of rockets or cannon fire.

"We're shooting!" I thought. "Why are we shooting?" The air filled with hot metal as a geometric pattern of orange flashes opened holes in the heavy deck plating. An explosion tossed our gunners high into the air-spinning, broken, like rag dolls.

My first impression--my primitive, protective search for something safe and familiar that put me emotionally behind the gun--was wrong. We were not firing at all. We were being pounded with a deadly barrage of aircraft cannon and rocket fire.

<snip>

Aircraft-carrier sailors know that certain airplanes are always spotted near the catapults where they are kept fueled, armed and ready to fly. They are maintained by special crews, they are flown by carefully selected pilots, and they are kept under special guard at all times. These are the "ready" aircraft. To visitors, they are almost indistinguishable from other aircraft, but they are very special aircraft indeed, and their use is an ominous sign of trouble. They carry nuclear weapons.

No one in government has acknowledged that "ready" aircraft were sent toward Liberty, and no messages or logs have been unearthed to prove that nuclear-armed aircraft were launched; moreover, there is no indication that release of nuclear weapons was authorized under any circumstances, or that ready aircraft, which normally carry nuclear weapons, were launched toward Liberty, and that the Pentagon reacted to the launch with anger bordering on hysteria.
Widely separated sources have described the launch and subsequent recall of those aircraft in detail, and the circumstances are compelling.

http://www.ussliberty.org/chapter6.htm