Fantastic, some opposition to disprove.
You're all obviously oblivious as to your ignorance on this matter, I'm glad the bait was seized upon. Don't be offended my friends, alls well.
Based on a general appreciation of naval history in the 20th Century, I find it utterly beyond credibility that a competent naval force could attack a lightly armed merchant ship using fighter-bombers and motor torpedo boats and yet leave that ship still afloat. Any kind of co-ordination between the two attacks, or simply equipping the fighters with some kind of anti-shipping weapon, would easily have been able to sink the USS Liberty leaving no survivors. I can understand the survivors still being angry at the deaths of their crewmates, but the conspiracy theory simply doesn't pass the common sense test. Mistakes like this are common in war.
Dave
Logic would tell you that wouldn't it? Sadly a lot of the time logic doesn't stand testament to the real world. The 3 Israeli patrol boats had two torpedoes each all of which they fired. Due to the skill of the Capitan/Israeli error he avoided 5 of these torpedoes though one managed to hit doing severe damage to the hull, the ship took on a lot of water but the damage control teams managed to do some DIY.
Additionally the Air Attack lasted for around 25minutes according to the report I have posted below. It involved 12 planes and an estimated 25 sorties. The entire time of which the American flag was raised, this is not in question. The sky was blue and we have reputable people confirmed by the NSA tapes that the Isrealies acknowledged that it was an American ship.
Also to the people claiming that it was mis-identified, have you actually read the sworn testament of the sailors of that ship? One of the most highly decorated crews of one of the most highly decorated ships of the United States Navy. It does not account for the theories put forth by the governments of the United States and of Israel. Nor has there ever been a congressional investigation into the incident despite much objection.
The quotes after are from a report by
ADMIRAL THOMAS H. MOORER, UNITED STATES NAVY, (RET.)
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman, Liberty Alliance
GENERAL RAYMOND G. DAVIS, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, (RET.)*
Former Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Vice Chairman, Liberty Alliance
REAR ADMIRAL MERLIN STARING, UNITED STATES NAVY, (RET.)
Former Judge Advocate General of the Navy
Director, Liberty Alliance
AMBASSADOR JAMES AKINS, (RET.)
Former United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Director, Liberty Alliance
We, the undersigned, having undertaken an independent investigation of Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty, including eyewitness testimony from surviving crewmembers, a review of naval and other official records, an examination of official statements by the Israeli and American governments, a study of the conclusions of all previous official inquiries, and a consideration of important new evidence and recent statements from individuals having direct knowledge of the attack or the cover up, hereby find the following: **
That the Israeli air attack lasted approximately 25 minutes, during which time unmarked Israeli aircraft dropped napalm canisters on the Liberty’s bridge, and fired 30mm cannons and rockets into our ship, causing 821 holes, more than 100 of which were rocket-size; survivors estimate 30 or more sorties were flown over the ship by a minimum of 12 attacking Israeli planes which were jamming all five American emergency radio channels;
That the torpedo boat attack involved not only the firing of torpedoes, but the machine-gunning of the Liberty’s firefighters and stretcher-bearers as they struggled to save their ship and crew; the Israeli torpedo boats later returned to machine-gun at close range three of the Liberty’s life rafts that had been lowered into the water by survivors to rescue the most seriously wounded;
[3] New evidence of intercepted radio communications between attacking Israeli pilots and the Israeli War Room, recorded by a U.S. Navy EC-121 spy plane, in which the Israeli pilots report seeing the Liberty’s American flag flying, has been collected by investigative author James Bamford - for 9 years the Washington Investigative Producer for ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings (and author of Body of Secrets, which includes a chapter entitled Blood about the attack on the Liberty). A similar radio message was intercepted by the EC-121 from the Israeli motor torpedo boats. This corroborates statements by surviving crewmembers, by Ambassador Dwight Porter, and by senior National Security Agency officials concerning NSA intercepts of Israeli pilot communications identifying the ship as American.
So hey if you guys want to call me names, please provide evidence to the contrary of these very reputable men.
