Article

2003-07-10 Middle East

Recordings Back Israel Claim on Spy Ship Liberty Attack in 1967

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Posted by Steve White 2003-07-10 12:35:00 AM|| || Front Page|| [8 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Why did the NSA hide the evidence for 36 years?

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-7-10 8:43:12 AM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/] 2003-7-10 8:43:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 What has been clear from the beginning, and this transcript bears it out, is that the Liberty was clearly identified as American. The fact that the pilots can report it flying an American flag and be told "It's Egyptian" is evidence of that.

I do not believe that they intentionaly targeted the Liberty, as an American ship. They did, however, fail to come close to any reasonable standard of identifying their target properly before attacking. This could have been a cruise ship, or a ferry, or any number of civilian vessels. Really sloppy command and control, and, yes, I expect better from the Israelis.

Posted by Chuck 2003-7-10 8:52:21 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2003-7-10 8:52:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 They did, however, fail to come close to any reasonable standard of identifying their target properly before attacking.

I think that's a bit excessive. Almost every war that Israel has fought could have resulted in the country's extinction. Given that fact, it is understandable if the Israeli instinct was to shoot first and ask questions later. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 - in this case, applied to an entire nation.

An American flag on a ship means nothing in the context of Arab treachery. False flag operations are not unknown in modern warfare. The Germans certainly did a lot of Q-ship maneuvers in WWII, and they were nowhere near as dishonorable as the Arabs are.

The answer lies elsewhere, somewhere up the chain of command in the US Navy, for not ensuring that Israeli forces knew about the presence of the Liberty. Note that it was the Israeli military that was in information overload mode, not the Pentagon, since the Israelis were fighting a war on all fronts. It was the Pentagon's job to make sure the message got through loud and clear through the clutter, and they dropped the ball big time.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-7-10 9:28:52 AM|| 2003-7-10 9:28:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Note that it was the Israeli military that was in information overload mode

The fact that this is known as the Six Day War should provide a sense of how fast events were moving.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-7-10 9:32:00 AM|| 2003-7-10 9:32:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Chuck - well, though what you say makes sense to all in the here and now, I want to toss out a couple of observations:
this was WAR and it WAS 36 yrs ago when C&C was your radio, if it worked, and gut instincts. Their entire world was about the size of New Jersey - not much room for error in the non-aggressive direction. If anyone does learn lessons from war, it's the Israelis. Only a very few nations even think about training their military relentlessly in avoiding mistaken identity and collateral damage - at peril to themselves. Israel is probably now among those very few.

Posted by PD 2003-7-10 9:36:44 AM|| 2003-7-10 9:36:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 this was WAR and it WAS 36 yrs ago when C&C was your radio, if it worked, and gut instincts.

My point essentially - for Israel, this was no police action - it was all-out war. There are no second chances in all-out war if you're defeated.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-7-10 9:54:31 AM|| 2003-7-10 9:54:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Zhang, according to US reports, the ship had indeed picked up a few linguists: Russian and Arabic. Not Hebrew.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-7-10 6:10:19 PM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/] 2003-7-10 6:10:19 PM|| Front Page Top

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