Will the truth about the USS LIberty incident ever be made public?

Mark F

What truth? That the IDF is prone to severe bouts of gross incompetence? There's no news there to anyone who has really studied the history of the IDF. That is all the incident was, gross incompetence and negligence of a high order.

Various conspiracy theories that propose the IDF attacked an American ship knowing it was an American ship with the intent of sinking her (with American official duplicity) fall flat on even a cursory examination of the evidence.

1. There is no plausible motive. Neither the U.S. nor Israel have anything to gain by sinking the Liberty

2. The attack was poorly coordinated with ad-hoc assets. The aircraft tasked to attack the ship for example were re-tasked from a close air support mission. The aircraft were carrying ordnance completely unsuited to anti-ship attack and the pilots not only had zero training in maritime operations but no training or experience in ship recognition. A deliberate attack with intent to sink would have been planned - not retasked - and used assets appropriate to the task.

3. The IDF, upon making a positive ID on the ship ceased their attack and offered assistance.

I could go into excrutiating minute-by-minute detail of the entire incident but the fundamentals are all contained in those facts.

With incidents like this a lot of folks, especially those closely involved tend to have emotional reactions. The natural response when something like this is looked at emotionally is "they must have known." If you look at the evidence though, what happened up to, during and after the attack it is clear this was just a case of friendly fire due to the IDF's institutional disdain for following the kinds of protocol and proper procedures that other professional militaries take for granted. This is spite of the myth of Israeli military dominance and greatness.

brian L

There is no freedom of information act in Israel so it is very doubtful that story will ever be told. So just let the past be the past but be on your guard when sailing of the Israeli coast.

Derek Y

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

If there is something you know that this extensive and highly referenced article doesn't state, then you should publish it in a peer reviewed journal.

Bluedevil

Mark F. I was aboard the ship when she was attacked and currently serve my shipmates as President of the USS Liberty Veterans Association. Please do “go into excrutiating [sic] minute-by-minute detail of the entire incident.” My shipmates and I would like to know what happened to us that day. Warmest regards, Joe Meadors USS Liberty Survivor President, USS Liberty Veterans Association Email: joe@ussliberty.com

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