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| Middle East |
| Recordings Back Israel Claim on Spy Ship Liberty Attack in 1967 |
| 2003-07-10 |
| JERUSALEM (AP) - Newly declassified transcripts back up Israel’s claim that its attack on a U.S. spy ship during the 1967 Middle East war was an accident, a Florida judge who has been investigating the case for 16 years said Wednesday. Israel has always maintained it thought the USS Liberty was an Egyptian military supply ship when it ordered its forces to attack on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding 171. But critics charge Israel knew the ship was American. Questions about the case have long dogged U.S.-Israel relations. Miami Judge A. Jay Cristol received transcripts of transmissions from two Israeli helicopter pilots, sent to check for survivors after the attack. The pilots referred to the ship as Egyptian and were surprised to discover it was flying an American flag. The recordings, in Hebrew, were made by a U.S. spy plane hovering over the site. The transcript of the transmissions records the air controller telling one of the pilots, "The ship is now identified as Egyptian, you can return home now." Cristol told The Associated Press he received the transcripts after submitting a Freedom of Information request to the U.S. National Security Agency, which had kept the recordings secret for 37 years. After his request was denied, Cristol filed suit in federal court and forced their release. Agency spokesman Patrick Weadon confirmed Cristol had been sent the transcripts. "We provided the tapes as part of the historical record," Weadon said. "The agency takes no official position on what happened to the Liberty." Cristol, who has written a book about the case, said, the tapes "show both the helicopter pilots and their controller ... believed the Israeli air force had targeted an Egyptian ship." A National Security Agency summary of the incident says the Israelis were confused over the stricken ship’s identity more than an hour after the attack. Cristol provided the summary and full transcripts of the pilot and tower recordings to The Associated Press. Israel has long maintained the attack was the result of a tragic mistake during the heat of battle. Israel was at war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan at the time. An Israeli commission of inquiry concluded the Israeli air force believed the targeted ship was an Egyptian cargo vessel ferrying supplies to Egyptian troops fighting Israeli forces. However, some of the Liberty’s survivors and some officials in the U.S. defense establishment have rejected this view, contending Israel deliberately targeted the ship to keep the United States from learning that Israel was planning to attack Syria as part of its strategy during the war. The Israeli daily Haaretz, which first reported the disclosures in its Wednesday edition, quoted Cristol as saying the tape transcripts were the last classified intelligence about the Liberty. I’d like to believe this, it makes sense given the inevitable fog of war. But still I wonder ... |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #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 |
| #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 |
| #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 |
| #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 |
| #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 |
| #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 |
| #1 Why did the NSA hide the evidence for 36 years? |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-7-10 8:43:12 AM |