USS Liberty

Just when support for sacrificing more American lives for relentless Zionist expansionism is plummeting, we're stuck with another spineless president who cowers before Israeli lobbies and its war criminals responsible for the Gaza genocide.
Muslims enjoy killing humans. Why are you trying to sanctify them? Were you angry with Biden who backs Israel?
 
Why do you keep changing the subject.

The Zionists launched THREE SEPARATE ATTACKS on Liberty. One you could maybe write off as a mistake (although you are not really clear on what they supposedly mistook the Liberty for.) Three times, um, no, they had to know what they were attacking.
You forgot to mention that the ship's guns fired at the Torpedo Boats and presumably at the aircraft too. You forgot to mention for pilots flying in attacks, identifying boats is extremely difficult. Israel had experience at identifying Egypts boat that ignored talking about.

The following arguments, found in official reports or other sources, were published to support the hypothesis that the attack was due to mistaken identity:

  • Accidents and mistakes do occur in wartime. Journalist Ze'ev Schiff gave an example of a friendly fire incident where Israeli aircraft had bombed an Israeli armored column south of the West Bank town of Jenin the day before the attack on the Liberty.<a href="USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>88<span>]</span></a> Also given as an example was a similar incident that took place during the Suez Crisis in 1956, when Israeli aircraft attacked and damaged the British frigate HMS Crane after mistaking it for an Egyptian warship, at a time when Britain and Israel were fighting together.<a href="USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>89<span>]</span></a>
  • The incident took place during the Six-Day War when Israel was engaged in battles with two Arab countries and preparing to attack a third, creating an environment where mistakes and confusion were prevalent. For example, at 11:45, a few hours before the attack, there was a large explosion on the shores of El-Arish followed by black smoke, probably caused by the destruction of an ammunition dump by retreating Egyptian forces. The Israeli army thought the area was being bombarded, and that an unidentified ship offshore was responsible.
  • As the torpedo boats approached, Liberty opened fire on them. McGonagle said that he felt sure the torpedo boat captains believed they were under fire from the Liberty. Ensign Lucas, testified that he gave permission for the firing of the 03 level machine gun after the torpedo boats began firing at Liberty. Later, when the gun was unmanned, heat from a nearby fire apparently caused machine gun rounds at the gun to explode.<a href="USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>23<span>]</span></a>
  • Admiral Shlomo Erell, head of the Israeli Navy in 1967, stated that no successful argument of benefit has been presented for Israel purposely attacking an American warship, especially considering the high cost of predictable complications that would follow an attack on a powerful ally. He also pointed out that Israel notified the American embassy immediately after the attack.<a href="USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia"><USS Liberty incident - Wikipedia>[</span>90<span>]</span></a>
 
If you could even begin to show where anything I've both written and supported was "propaganda", you would have disproved it by now.

So far all I've done is debunk your unsupportable Zionist fables with salient sources.
What fables?
 
Why do you keep changing the subject.
I didn't. You can't read.

The Zionists launched THREE SEPARATE ATTACKS on Liberty. One you could maybe write off as a mistake (although you are not really clear on what they supposedly mistook the Liberty for.) Three times, um, no, they had to know what they were attacking.
NONSENSE. You keep repeating the same distortions and ignoring contrary facts. There were six strafing runs in the air attack, some conducted by Mirages and others conducted by Mysteres, and the two groups of fighters came nearly one after the other, just a few minutes apart, and were part of the same air attack effort authorized by the same Israeli air control officer in Tel Aviv, but you're misleadingly counting these as two separate attacks. I'm surprised you don't count each strafing run as a separate attack.

Then, barely 20 minutes later, came the torpedo boat attack, which, as I've already explained to you, clearly proves the Israelis still did not know the ship was American. Again (why do I bother?), the torpedo boats signaled the Liberty to try to ID it, and the Liberty accidentally--due to miscommunication with one of the gunners and a mechanical snafu with another gun--answered the signal with gunfire, causing the Israeli boats, logically enough, to conclude the target was hostile.

I quote again from the 1967 CIA report on the incident:

. . . the intercepted conversations between the helicopter pilots and the control tower at Hatzor (near Tel Aviv) leave little doubt that the Israelis failed to identify the Liberty as a US ship before or during the attack. Control told (helicopter) 815 at 3:31 p.m. (8:31 a.m.) that “there is a warship there which we attacked. The men jumped into the water from it. You will try to rescue them.” Although there were other references to a search for the men in the water and although US units later searched the area, no survivors were recovered from the sea, nor were there any indications that any of the 22 missing personnel from the Liberty had been lost overboard.

5. A subsequent message from the control tower to the helicopter identified the ship as Egyptian and told the pilot to return home. Although the Liberty is some 200 feet longer than the Egyptian transport El Quesir, it could easily be mistaken for the latter vessel by an overzealous pilot. Both ships have similar hulls and arrangements of masts and stack.

6. The weather was clear in the area of attack, the Liberty’s hull number (GTR 5) was prominently displayed, and an American flag was flying. The helicopter pilot was then urgently requested to identify the survivors as Egyptian or English speaking (this being the first indication that the Israelis suspected they may have attacked a neutral ship). The helicopter pilot reported seeing an American flag on the Liberty. In another intercept between an unidentified Israeli controller and the helicopter number 815, the pilot reported that number GTR 5 was written on the ship’s side. The controller told the pilot the number had no significance.

7. Thus it was not until 4:12 p.m. (9:12 a.m.) that the Israelis became convinced that the Liberty was American. This was about 44 minutes after the last attack on the ship and the attack had apparently been called off, not because the ship had been identified, but because it seemed to be sinking. (Historical Documents - Office of the Historian)
 
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You must not have read all of my posts going into details of why your hate for the Israelis is misplaced.

I'm sure if I did, they'd be stupid.

I have much more trouble discussing the Torpedo attacks than I have attacks from the air. First Israel first flew around the ship not so much as attacking it. That ship happens to from the air look so much like a spy ship who blames Israel for later attacking our ship. At least the Democrats stopped going off on Israel and for the surviving families collected millions of dollars. See Joe, you are not a pilot. You proved it when you blamed the passenger jet that got hit by the Helicopter. Both were friendly aircraft. But the Helicopter was on the wrong path and caused both of them to crash. Imagine this was an Israel plane flown by those you hate so much. You sure pick the bad groups to like a hell of a lot.

Naw, I hate the Zionist Squatters, who are the worst people in the world.

THREE SEPARATE ATTACKS>

LBJ should have demanded accountability..

Or just cut off the spigot of money.
 
You forgot to mention that the ship's guns fired at the Torpedo Boats and presumably at the aircraft too.

Wouldn't you?

NONSENSE. You keep repeating the same distortions and ignoring contrary facts. There were six strafing runs in the air attack, some conducted by Mirages and others conducted by Mysteres, and the two groups of fighters came nearly one after the other, just a few minutes apart, and were part of the same air attack effort authorized by the same Israeli air control officer in Tel Aviv, but you're misleadingly counting these as two separate attacks. I'm surprised you don't count each strafing run as a separate attack.

Then, barely 20 minutes later, came the torpedo boat attack, which, as I've already explained to you, clearly proves the Israelis still did not know the ship was American. Again (why do I bother?), the torpedo boats signaled the Liberty to try to ID it, and the Liberty accidentally--due to miscommunication with one of the gunners and a mechanical snafu with another gun--answered the signal with gunfire, causing the Israeli boats, logically enough, to conclude the target was hostile.

Three separate attacks.

"I was only following orders!" Where have we heard THAT one before.

I quote again from the 1967 CIA report on the incident:

Don't care what the CIA has to say. They've been lying to this country since they were founded.
 
As a pretend sailor, of course. But this country already adjudicated this and took cash.
It won't bring anybody back to attack the Jews.

Hey, someone shoots at you, you shoot back.

I didn't adjudicate it. That our leaders sold out the men who died is on them.

Is your IQ 157 or higher? Mine is.

Wow, and you are delusional, too.
 
Hey, someone shoots at you, you shoot back.

I didn't adjudicate it. That our leaders sold out the men who died is on them.



Wow, and you are delusional, too.
You have a slightly above average IQ. I told you Democrats sold them out and you don't agree.
 
They can't be Marxists. The basis of Marxism is the destruction of private ownership of the means of production. Without that, it's not Marxism. Do you think the forces of finance capital behind the liberals are striving for that?
During Biden, the means of production of fossil fuels was owned by the government. The government stops production by means such as levying 'green' policies (which no one voted for) on private companies. If a private entity wants to create fossil fuel energy, 'green' policies will most likely stop them. That is Marxism and how Marxists get a foothold into a society. Along with that, they do things like creating chaos by leaving our borders open so millions of so called 'immigrants' who are unvetted and unknown can exacerbate the chipping away of our American traditions, laws and foundation. They also change definitions such as 'illegal alien' to 'immigrant.'
 
During Biden, the means of production of fossil fuels was owned by the government. The government stops production by means such as levying 'green' policies (which no one voted for) on private companies. If a private entity wants to create fossil fuel energy, 'green' policies will most likely stop them. That is Marxism and how Marxists get a foothold into a society. Along with that, they do things like creating chaos by leaving our borders open so millions of so called 'immigrants' who are unvetted and unknown can exacerbate the chipping away of our American traditions, laws and foundation. They also change definitions such as 'illegal alien' to 'immigrant.'
Oh, really?
I thought it was because people have valid concerns about how fossil fuels are destroying the environment.

But why rely on science when you have conspiracy theories?
 
Let us, once again, put to rest the main erroneous arguments that the anti-Semitic Israel haters in this thread keep using. I will do so by quoting an excellent article on the USS Liberty incident published on the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) website (LINK). The article was written by the director of the NHHC, Samuel J. Cox, in 2017.

Due to a series of communication snafus, the USS Liberty was not where it was supposed to be but was well inside the 100-mile standoff zone ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

The referenced message directed the 100–nautical mile stand-off, but had not been received by Liberty. The massive and multiple communications foul-ups were a major embarrassment to the U.S. Navy, which at the time had no interest in this fact becoming widely known. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations had also made public assurances on 6 June that no U.S. ships or aircraft were operating within 100 miles of the combat zone, so the fact that Liberty was well inside this radius was a major embarrassment to the U.S. State Department. No one in a position of significant authority was held accountable for the communications errors. . . .

Thus, the U.S. did not notify the Israelis that a U.S. ship would be where the USS Liberty was, i.e., close to the Israeli coast.

The Israelis believed that the USS Liberty was the Egyptian ship that had shelled the coastal town of El Arish. The Liberty was visible to Israeli ground forces in the area, and they assumed the ship was the source of the shelling:

In the early afternoon of 8 June, Israeli army forces in the vicinity of El Arish reported that they were being shelled from the sea. An unidentified grey ship (Liberty) could be observed on the horizon and was presumed to be the source. At that time, Liberty was operating about 14 nautical miles off the coast, and at least one massive explosion and other smoke near El Arish were observed from the ship at 1300 as the crew commenced a general quarters drill (which concluded at 1345).

The two Israeli jet-fighters that ID'd the Liberty as an Egyptian warship did so from "a safe distance" and thus did not see the 5' x 8' American flag:

At a safe distance and altitude, the fighters did not discern the five by eight–foot American flag nor the “GTR-5” on the bow and stern, and requested clearance to engage. After double-checking with the navy that the contact was a warship, which navy headquarters verified (based on the erroneous calculated speed), the air force controller cleared the fighters to engage.

We know from other sources that the Israeli jets did not get closer than 2 miles to the Liberty when they mistakenly identified it as an Egyptian destroyer.

In the gun camera footage from the Israeli fighters, the Liberty's American flag is not visible on any of the passes. Plus, it would have been very difficult for the pilots to spot the flag while making strafing runs. In addition, the gun camera footage shows smoke rising straight up, which means there was no breeze or air flow to cause the flag to fly unfurled:

In the Israeli gun camera footage, the flag is not visible on any pass, and on the second and third pass, the heavy smoke from the gasoline fire is rising straight up, indicating that at least at the point of the first pass the flag would not have been flying straight out.

Even the Liberty's American flag had been flying unfurled, it would have been very difficult for the Israeli pilots to see it during strafing passes because they were approaching from a bow-on angle:

Even if it [the American flag] was [flying straight out/unfurled], making out a flag from a high-speed jet from a bow-on aspect would have been exceedingly difficult. The pilot would have been concentrating on hitting the target and then not crashing into the ship or the water in the three or so seconds after firing.

When the two Israeli Mysteres fighters made their strafing passes and the lead pilot reported seeing the marking CTR-5 on the ship's bow on the third pass, the Israeli air controller immediately ordered a halt to the attack. The air traffic control officer had already become concerned by the lack of any reported return fire:

However, on the second pass, the lead pilot noticed unusual markings, and the Israeli air control officer in Tel Aviv was already becoming seriously concerned by the lack of any reported return fire. On the third pass, the lead pilot reported that the target had “CTR-5” on the bow. The Israeli air control officer immediately ordered a halt to the attack, and ordered a third flight tasked against the ship, two Mystère IV fighters armed with 500-pound iron bombs, to resume their original ground attack mission in the Sinai.

The Israeli pilot mistook Liberty's GTR-5 marking for CTR-5, an understandable mistake. When the Israeli pilot reported seeing CTR-5 on the bow, the Israeli air controller feared they had attacked a Soviet ship, because some Soviet naval ships' markings began with a C:

The Israeli air controller’s concern that Israeli aircraft might have hit a U.S. ship was quickly replaced by concern they had hit a Soviet intelligence collection ship (AGI.) The Israeli fighter had misidentified GTR-5 as “CTR-5, an easy mistake. Soviet AGI’s would normally be identified with CCB-## (Cyrillic for SSV-##.) This resulted in a flurry of reports up the Israeli chain of command.

Before the Israeli torpedo boats asked the USS Liberty to identify itself, they had been authorized to use torpedoes based on the mistaken belief at Israeli Navy HQ that the ship was an Egyptian destroyer:

At 1424, Liberty sighted the three MTBs approaching at high speed. At 1417, LCDR Oren had requested authorization to employ torpedoes, which was granted by the deputy commander of the Israeli navy under the mistaken presumption that the contact was an Egyptian destroyer (since that was the only thing that could have shelled El Arish and be making 30 knots).

When the Israeli torpedo boats approached the USS Liberty, they signaled the ship to identify itself. Due to a misunderstanding on the Liberty and a gun malfunction on the Liberty, the Liberty responded to the request for ID with gunfire:

The Israeli command MTB attempted to signal Liberty with a hand-held Aldis lamp, flashing “AA,” the international maritime signal to “identify yourself". . . .

In the Israelis’ minds, the identification issue was rendered moot when the Liberty opened fire as they began to close. CDR McGonagle had given the order to fire, but immediately countermanded it after he saw what he interpreted as a possible Israeli flag on an MTB. However, with all communications destroyed (except for shouting down from the bridge), a forward gunner got off one .50-caliber round before hearing the cease-fire order. An amidships machine gun (to which there was no easy access from the bridge due to the fire) may also have opened fire, or, much more likely, ammunition cooked off due to the fire at a most unfortunate time.

Believing they were being fired upon . . . the MTBs opened up with a sustained barrage of 40 mm, 20 mm, and .50-caliber fire. . . .


The Israeli torpedo boats (MTBs) had not seen the American flag, which was why they signaled the Liberty to ID itself. The flag would have been very hard to see from where the boats were positioned:

The Israeli MTBs did not see the much larger eight by thirteen–foot “holiday” American flag that had been hoisted after the air attacks. Due to the fire, the flag was on a halyard on the opposite side from the torpedo boats and mostly likely obscured by the heavy smoke. The Israelis were also looking into the sun, and the “GTR-5” on Liberty’s bow and stern would have been harder to see in shadow.

Israeli military communications transcripts show that the Israelis were still confused about the ship's identity after the torpedo boats attacked it. Israeli HQ did not become convinced the ship was American until 3:12 (1512 military time), after the torpedo attack:

After the torpedo attack, the MTBs came close enough to read the name on the stern (which even then was initially reported as Cyrillic—i.e., Russian.) Released U.S. and Israeli transcripts of Israeli communications show a high degree of confusion within the Israeli air force and navy about whether the ship was Egyptian, Soviet, or American. The MTBs realized their mistake at about 1500 when the recovered a “U.S. Navy”–marked life raft, and Israeli headquarters became convinced at 1512 following a close pass by an Israeli helicopter, which was the first to report that Liberty was flying a flag and that it was definitely American. (The MTBs had previously reported seeing a red flag, which added to the “possible Soviet” confusion.)

Even the least implausible theory for why Israeli would have knowingly attacked the Liberty is invalid and illogical:

I will not go into the myriad of conjectural theories as to why Israel would have chosen to deliberately and knowingly attack a ship of the only nation in the world that was standing by them at that point. The most prevalent theory is that the Israelis attacked Liberty to prevent the U.S. from finding out they were about to attack the Syrian Golan Heights. However, the Israeli chief of defense had already notified the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. special representative of their intent to do so some eight hours before the attack. None of the other theories stand up to rigorous scrutiny either.

The only other ludicrous theory offered in this thread (by one of our resident anti-Semitic Israel haters) is that the Israelis knowingly attacked the Liberty in order to draw America into the Six-Day War, a war that they had already won for all intents and purposes.

Folks, plainly and clearly, this was a tragic friendly fire incident, and nothing more. Every mistake the Israelis made can be plausibly, logically explained and understood. One has to be irrationally anti-Israeli to believe that the Israelis would have "deliberately and knowingly" attacked a ship "of the only nation in the world that was standing by them at that point."
 
Let us, once again, put to rest the main erroneous arguments that the anti-Semitic Israel haters in this thread keep using. I will do so by quoting an excellent article on the USS Liberty incident published on the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) website (LINK). The article was written by the director of the NHHC, Samuel J. Cox, in 2017.

Due to a series of communication snafus, the USS Liberty was not where it was supposed to be but was well inside the 100-mile standoff zone ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Oh, I have no doubt the Liberty was spying on Israel, which is why it was attacked.

The Israelis believed that the USS Liberty was the Egyptian ship that had shelled the coastal town of El Arish. The Liberty was visible to Israeli ground forces in the area, and they assumed the ship was the source of the shelling:

The ship didn't have gun turrets!!! How could it be the source of shelling!

You know, for someone who embraces a lot of whacky conspiracy theories, you really do have a habit of denying the obvious.


The only other ludicrous theory offered in this thread (by one of our resident anti-Semitic Israel haters) is that the Israelis knowingly attacked the Liberty in order to draw America into the Six-Day War, a war that they had already won for all intents and purposes.

You mean the "War" that has been going on to this very day? I think we are in Year 58 of the Six-Day War.

Folks, plainly and clearly, this was a tragic friendly fire incident, and nothing more. Every mistake the Israelis made can be plausibly, logically explained and understood. One has to be irrationally anti-Israeli to believe that the Israelis would have "deliberately and knowingly" attacked a ship "of the only nation in the world that was standing by them at that point."

Except at that point, the Zionist Lobby hadn't really infiltrated our government to the degree it has today.
 
Oh, I have no doubt the Liberty was spying on Israel, which is why it was attacked.
What a hopeless idiot you are. We know why it was attacked: because the Israelis believed it was the Egyptian ship that had shelled El Arish.
The ship didn't have gun turrets!!! How could it be the source of shelling!
Just pure idiocy. Obviously, the Israeli soldiers who saw the ship on the horizon could not possibly have seen whether or not it had gun turrets. They were miles away. They saw a ship, the only ship in the area, and they logically assumed that it was the ship that had just shelled El Arish.

You know, for someone who embraces a lot of whacky conspiracy theories, you really do have a habit of denying the obvious.
LOL! You were surely looking in the mirror when you wrote this. "Whacky conspiracy theories"?! Yeah, like your grotesque conspiracy theory about an International Zionist Conspiracy. Your nutty conspiracy theory that Zionists have controlled the U.S. Government for decades. Your fringe, aberrant views on Mao and Stalin. Your comical theory that Israelis were "anxious" to give up the Sinai at Camp David. And on and on I could go.

You mean the "War" that has been going on to this very day? I think we are in Year 58 of the Six-Day War.
Another duck and dodge.

Except at that point, the Zionist Lobby hadn't really infiltrated our government to the degree it has today.
Oh, but earlier you said that Zionists in the U.S. Government faked the American intercept transcripts that show the Israelis did not know the ship was American until after the fact! Remember?
 
15th post
What a hopeless idiot you are. We know why it was attacked: because the Israelis believed it was the Egyptian ship that had shelled El Arish.

Which Egyptian ship was this, supposedly?

Just pure idiocy. Obviously, the Israeli soldiers who saw the ship on the horizon could not possibly have seen whether or not it had gun turrets. They were miles away. They saw a ship, the only ship in the area, and they logically assumed that it was the ship that had just shelled El Arish.

The planes were close enough to see it wasn't a warship. The patrol boats were certainly close enough to see it wasn't a warship. Oh, yeah, and the big old American Flag

LOL! You were surely looking in the mirror when you wrote this. "Whacky conspiracy theories"?! Yeah, like your grotesque conspiracy theory about an International Zionist Conspiracy. Your nutty conspiracy theory that Zionists have controlled the U.S. Government for decades. Your fringe, aberrant views on Mao and Stalin. Your comical theory that Israelis were "anxious" to give up the Sinai at Camp David. And on and on I could go.

It isn't a conspiracy, guy. they do this shit pretty much out in the open. AIPAC runs Congress and they get all upset there are four members of the Squad Critizing Israel. Whoops, campus kids are criticizing Israel, let's deport them.

Hey, did OJ ever find the real killer?

Another duck and dodge.

Not a dodge at all. The Zionists are constantly dragging us into their fights with the Arab world.

Oh, but earlier you said that Zionists in the U.S. Government faked the American intercept transcripts that show the Israelis did not know the ship was American until after the fact! Remember?

Wait, I thought these were supposedly Israeli transcripts that prove they didn't do nothing.
 
What fables?


Since this thread is about the USS Liberty, I mean, primarily, the fable that Israel's attack on the USS Liberty was anything but deliberate.

As I have mentioned before, this was not Israel's first False Flag betrayal,

Israeli agents in Cairo fire bombed a US installation and staged it to look as if the Egyptians did it so that the US would attack Egypt and sacrifice more American lives for Israel's regional hegemony.

So far, no one has been able to refute anything I've just written and the primary responses I've gotten have only been off-topic insults, slander and evasions.

Finally, I don't know why mature, informed and rational people can't articulate different opinions and do so with at least some civility.
 
Let us, once again, put to rest the main erroneous arguments that the anti-Semitic Israel haters in this thread keep using. I will do so by quoting an excellent article on the USS Liberty incident published on the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) website (LINK). The article was written by the director of the NHHC, Samuel J. Cox, in 2017.

Due to a series of communication snafus, the USS Liberty was not where it was supposed to be but was well inside the 100-mile standoff zone ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

The referenced message directed the 100–nautical mile stand-off, but had not been received by Liberty. The massive and multiple communications foul-ups were a major embarrassment to the U.S. Navy, which at the time had no interest in this fact becoming widely known. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations had also made public assurances on 6 June that no U.S. ships or aircraft were operating within 100 miles of the combat zone, so the fact that Liberty was well inside this radius was a major embarrassment to the U.S. State Department. No one in a position of significant authority was held accountable for the communications errors. . . .

Thus, the U.S. did not notify the Israelis that a U.S. ship would be where the USS Liberty was, i.e., close to the Israeli coast.

The Israelis believed that the USS Liberty was the Egyptian ship that had shelled the coastal town of El Arish. The Liberty was visible to Israeli ground forces in the area, and they assumed the ship was the source of the shelling:

In the early afternoon of 8 June, Israeli army forces in the vicinity of El Arish reported that they were being shelled from the sea. An unidentified grey ship (Liberty) could be observed on the horizon and was presumed to be the source. At that time, Liberty was operating about 14 nautical miles off the coast, and at least one massive explosion and other smoke near El Arish were observed from the ship at 1300 as the crew commenced a general quarters drill (which concluded at 1345).

The two Israeli jet-fighters that ID'd the Liberty as an Egyptian warship did so from "a safe distance" and thus did not see the 5' x 8' American flag:

At a safe distance and altitude, the fighters did not discern the five by eight–foot American flag nor the “GTR-5” on the bow and stern, and requested clearance to engage. After double-checking with the navy that the contact was a warship, which navy headquarters verified (based on the erroneous calculated speed), the air force controller cleared the fighters to engage.

We know from other sources that the Israeli jets did not get closer than 2 miles to the Liberty when they mistakenly identified it as an Egyptian destroyer.

In the gun camera footage from the Israeli fighters, the Liberty's American flag is not visible on any of the passes. Plus, it would have been very difficult for the pilots to spot the flag while making strafing runs. In addition, the gun camera footage shows smoke rising straight up, which means there was no breeze or air flow to cause the flag to fly unfurled:

In the Israeli gun camera footage, the flag is not visible on any pass, and on the second and third pass, the heavy smoke from the gasoline fire is rising straight up, indicating that at least at the point of the first pass the flag would not have been flying straight out.

Even the Liberty's American flag had been flying unfurled, it would have been very difficult for the Israeli pilots to see it during strafing passes because they were approaching from a bow-on angle:

Even if it [the American flag] was [flying straight out/unfurled], making out a flag from a high-speed jet from a bow-on aspect would have been exceedingly difficult. The pilot would have been concentrating on hitting the target and then not crashing into the ship or the water in the three or so seconds after firing.

When the two Israeli Mysteres fighters made their strafing passes and the lead pilot reported seeing the marking CTR-5 on the ship's bow on the third pass, the Israeli air controller immediately ordered a halt to the attack. The air traffic control officer had already become concerned by the lack of any reported return fire:

However, on the second pass, the lead pilot noticed unusual markings, and the Israeli air control officer in Tel Aviv was already becoming seriously concerned by the lack of any reported return fire. On the third pass, the lead pilot reported that the target had “CTR-5” on the bow. The Israeli air control officer immediately ordered a halt to the attack, and ordered a third flight tasked against the ship, two Mystère IV fighters armed with 500-pound iron bombs, to resume their original ground attack mission in the Sinai.

The Israeli pilot mistook Liberty's GTR-5 marking for CTR-5, an understandable mistake. When the Israeli pilot reported seeing CTR-5 on the bow, the Israeli air controller feared they had attacked a Soviet ship, because some Soviet naval ships' markings began with a C:

The Israeli air controller’s concern that Israeli aircraft might have hit a U.S. ship was quickly replaced by concern they had hit a Soviet intelligence collection ship (AGI.) The Israeli fighter had misidentified GTR-5 as “CTR-5, an easy mistake. Soviet AGI’s would normally be identified with CCB-## (Cyrillic for SSV-##.) This resulted in a flurry of reports up the Israeli chain of command.

Before the Israeli torpedo boats asked the USS Liberty to identify itself, they had been authorized to use torpedoes based on the mistaken belief at Israeli Navy HQ that the ship was an Egyptian destroyer:

At 1424, Liberty sighted the three MTBs approaching at high speed. At 1417, LCDR Oren had requested authorization to employ torpedoes, which was granted by the deputy commander of the Israeli navy under the mistaken presumption that the contact was an Egyptian destroyer (since that was the only thing that could have shelled El Arish and be making 30 knots).

When the Israeli torpedo boats approached the USS Liberty, they signaled the ship to identify itself. Due to a misunderstanding on the Liberty and a gun malfunction on the Liberty, the Liberty responded to the request for ID with gunfire:

The Israeli command MTB attempted to signal Liberty with a hand-held Aldis lamp, flashing “AA,” the international maritime signal to “identify yourself". . . .

In the Israelis’ minds, the identification issue was rendered moot when the Liberty opened fire as they began to close. CDR McGonagle had given the order to fire, but immediately countermanded it after he saw what he interpreted as a possible Israeli flag on an MTB. However, with all communications destroyed (except for shouting down from the bridge), a forward gunner got off one .50-caliber round before hearing the cease-fire order. An amidships machine gun (to which there was no easy access from the bridge due to the fire) may also have opened fire, or, much more likely, ammunition cooked off due to the fire at a most unfortunate time.

Believing they were being fired upon . . . the MTBs opened up with a sustained barrage of 40 mm, 20 mm, and .50-caliber fire. . . .


The Israeli torpedo boats (MTBs) had not seen the American flag, which was why they signaled the Liberty to ID itself. The flag would have been very hard to see from where the boats were positioned:

The Israeli MTBs did not see the much larger eight by thirteen–foot “holiday” American flag that had been hoisted after the air attacks. Due to the fire, the flag was on a halyard on the opposite side from the torpedo boats and mostly likely obscured by the heavy smoke. The Israelis were also looking into the sun, and the “GTR-5” on Liberty’s bow and stern would have been harder to see in shadow.

Israeli military communications transcripts show that the Israelis were still confused about the ship's identity after the torpedo boats attacked it. Israeli HQ did not become convinced the ship was American until 3:12 (1512 military time), after the torpedo attack:

After the torpedo attack, the MTBs came close enough to read the name on the stern (which even then was initially reported as Cyrillic—i.e., Russian.) Released U.S. and Israeli transcripts of Israeli communications show a high degree of confusion within the Israeli air force and navy about whether the ship was Egyptian, Soviet, or American. The MTBs realized their mistake at about 1500 when the recovered a “U.S. Navy”–marked life raft, and Israeli headquarters became convinced at 1512 following a close pass by an Israeli helicopter, which was the first to report that Liberty was flying a flag and that it was definitely American. (The MTBs had previously reported seeing a red flag, which added to the “possible Soviet” confusion.)

Even the least implausible theory for why Israeli would have knowingly attacked the Liberty is invalid and illogical:

I will not go into the myriad of conjectural theories as to why Israel would have chosen to deliberately and knowingly attack a ship of the only nation in the world that was standing by them at that point. The most prevalent theory is that the Israelis attacked Liberty to prevent the U.S. from finding out they were about to attack the Syrian Golan Heights. However, the Israeli chief of defense had already notified the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. special representative of their intent to do so some eight hours before the attack. None of the other theories stand up to rigorous scrutiny either.

The only other ludicrous theory offered in this thread (by one of our resident anti-Semitic Israel haters) is that the Israelis knowingly attacked the Liberty in order to draw America into the Six-Day War, a war that they had already won for all intents and purposes.

Folks, plainly and clearly, this was a tragic friendly fire incident, and nothing more. Every mistake the Israelis made can be plausibly, logically explained and understood. One has to be irrationally anti-Israeli to believe that the Israelis would have "deliberately and knowingly" attacked a ship "of the only nation in the world that was standing by them at that point."


I've already shown where the traitorous A. Jay Cristol has been exposed as a proven liar who can't even support his own lies:

$10,000 Challenge
https://www.usslibertyveterans.org/10000challenge.html


EXCERPT. ""The Liberty Veterans Association offers a $10,000 reward to anyone who can establish the truth of A. Jay Cristol's claim:

"After ten official US investigations (including five congressional investigations), there was never any evidence that the attack was made with knowledge that the target was a US ship." CONTINUED



Why are you still posting proven lies that I've already exposed unless that and the slander (i.e. "anti Semite" etc.) of a proven loser is all you've got?
 
Since this thread is about the USS Liberty, I mean, primarily, the fable that Israel's attack on the USS Liberty was anything but deliberate.

As I have mentioned before, this was not Israel's first False Flag betrayal,

Israeli agents in Cairo fire bombed a US installation and staged it to look as if the Egyptians did it so that the US would attack Egypt and sacrifice more American lives for Israel's regional hegemony.

So far, no one has been able to refute anything I've just written and the primary responses I've gotten have only been off-topic insults, slander and evasions.

Finally, I don't know why mature, informed and rational people can't articulate different opinions and do so with at least some civility.
Well you know how democrats are. They settled with Israel and forgave them.
 
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