New Revelations In Attack On American Spy Ship.

Veterans, documents suggest U.S., Israel didn't tell full story of deadly '67 incident

By John Crewdson | Tribune senior correspondent
October 2, 2007

Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone.

"I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!"

Lockwood was aboard the USS Liberty, a super-secret spy ship on station in the eastern Mediterranean, when four Israeli fighter jets flew out of the afternoon sun to strafe and bomb the virtually defenseless vessel on June 8, 1967, the fourth day of what would become known as the Six-Day War.

For Lockwood and many other survivors, the anger is mixed with incredulity: that Israel would attack an important ally, then attribute the attack to a case of mistaken identity by Israeli pilots who had confused the U.S. Navy's most distinctive ship with an Egyptian horse-cavalry transport that was half its size and had a dissimilar profile. And they're also incredulous that, for years, their own government would reject their calls for a thorough investigation.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/tuesday/chi-liberty_tuesoct02,0,1050179.story?page=1&coll=chi_news_custom_photos_util_2

:popcorn:

The one notion I've never seen raised is the possibility of someone infiltrating the Israeli Defense command and issuing the order to shoot to split Israel from the US. It might have made sense if Isreal could have passed it off as an attack by one of the Arab staes, but that was never in the cards.

It was a detailed book about the capabilities and mission of the NSA. One of the chapters dealt in detail with the information the USS Liberty was gathering during that time frame, as well as the reasons Israel might not have wanted the rest of the world to have that information.

To them, secrecy was worth the lives of 34 US Navy sailors. I will never support Israel, for that reason alone.

www.ussliberty.org