Dead In The Water - The Sinking of the USS Liberty

[dvinman]

During the Six-Day War, Israel attacked and nearly sank the USS Liberty belonging to its closest ally, the USA. Thirty-four American servicemen were killed in the two-hour assault by Israeli warplanes and torpedo boats. Israel claimed that the whole affair had been a tragic accident based on mistaken identification of the ship. The American government accepted the explanation. For more than 30 years many people have disbelieved the official explanation but have been unable to rebut it convincingly. Now, Dead in the Water uses startling new evidence to reveal the truth behind the seemingly inexplicable attack. The film combines dramatic reconstruction of the events, with new access to former officers in the US and Israeli armed forces and intelligence services who have decided to give their own version of events. Interviews include President Lyndon Johnson's Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, former head of the Israeli navy Admiral Shlomo Errell and members of the USS Liberty crew.

Dead In The Water - The Sinking of the USS Liberty

 

[Sallow]

Conservatives are like..

Wha...?

 

[Douger]

IsNtReal an ally ?
The US is more like the guy that feeds the pit vipers at the zoo.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

LBJ wanted that boat sunk

 

[Sallow]

And Israeli hit squad took out an American kid on a Turkish ship in international waters.

Conservative reaction?

The kid got what he had comin'..

 

[Sallow]

LBJ wanted that boat sunk

Typical..

 

[CrusaderFrank]

LBJ wanted that boat sunk

Typical..

Typical of LBJ, I know. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, USS Liberty and Vietnam

 

[strollingbones]

i love when conservatives are all about the troops as heroes blah blah blah till you mention the uss liberty

 

[CrusaderFrank]

i love when conservatives are all about the troops as heroes blah blah blah till you mention the uss liberty

It was a low point, but of the LBJ Presidency

 

[Sallow]

LBJ wanted that boat sunk

Typical..

Typical of LBJ, I know. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, USS Liberty and Vietnam

Yeah..that's the ticket. It was LBJ.

It had nothing to do with the Israelis.

 

[strollingbones]

the shit is on everyone's shoes.....congress...lbj....and each president since who has refused to do anything about it

 

[Sunni Man]

Israel is America's butt buddy; so we always got their back side.

 

[whitehall]

An anti-Semite political rant on the Military forum on Memorial day. Typical left wing drivel.

 

[Jos]

Commonly Asked Questions about the USS Liberty

 

[Jos]

America's Highest Ranking Naval Officer
Admiral Thomas Moorer (1912 - 2004)
Former Chief of Naval Operations
and
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Rejects the Israeli Excuse
in a statement published
less than a month before he died

While State Department officials and historians converge on Washington this week to discuss the 1967 war in the Middle East, I am compelled to speak out about one of U.S. history's most shocking cover-ups.

On June 8, 1967, Israel attacked our proud naval ship -- the USS Liberty -- killing 34 American servicemen and wounding 172. Those men were then betrayed and left to die by our own government.

U.S. military rescue aircraft were recalled -- not once, but twice -- through direct intervention by the Johnson administration. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's cancellation of the Navy's attempt to rescue the Liberty, which I confirmed from the commanders of the aircraft carriers America and Saratoga, was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.

To add insult to injury, Congress, to this day, has failed to hold formal hearings on Israel's attack on this American ship. No official investigation of the attack has ever permitted the testimony of the surviving crew members.

A 1967 investigation by the Navy, upon which all other reports are based, has now been fully discredited as a cover-up by its senior attorney. Capt. Ward Boston, in a sworn affidavit, recently revealed that the court was ordered by the White House to cover up the incident and find that Israel's attack was "a case of mistaken identity."

Some distinguished colleagues and I formed an independent commission to investigate the attack on the USS Liberty. After an exhaustive review of previous reports, naval and other military records, including eyewitness testimony from survivors, we recently presented our findings on Capitol Hill. They include:

* Israeli reconnaissance aircraft closely studied the Liberty during an eight-hour period prior to the attack, one flying within 200 feet of the ship. Weather reports confirm the day was clear with unlimited visibility. The Liberty was a clearly marked American ship in international waters, flying an American flag and carrying large U.S. Navy hull letters and numbers on its bow.

* Despite claims by Israeli intelligence that they confused the Liberty with a small Egyptian transport, the Liberty was conspicuously different from any vessel in the Egyptian navy. It was the most sophisticated intelligence ship in the world in 1967. With its massive radio antennae, including a large satellite dish, it looked like a large lobster and was one of the most easily identifiable ships afloat.

* Israel attempted to prevent the Liberty's radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels.

* Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most-seriously wounded.

Admiral Thomas Moorer Rejects Israeli's Excuse