ON THIS DAY

Overview

The USS Liberty Incident was an attack on a U.S. Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian), wounded 171 crew members.

Why Haven’t I Ever Heard of This?

“That was the Summer of Love, when nearly 100,000 American youth descended on Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, and the Vietnam War was really getting into the ugly abyss it would become. Nearly 13,000 Americans died in the jungle in 1967, less than half the number who would fall in 1968.” [Military & Defense Team / Business Insider]

Joining the navy was a good alternative to Army Service. “I didn’t want to go [to Vietnam] my friends were coming back in body bags, I put it off for a month, I figured I better do something about it, and I went an enlisted in the Navy. Thirteen weeks later after finishing boot camp, I got onto the USS Liberty. [John Hrankowsky / BBC Documentary on the USS Liberty: “Dead in the Water”]

Ok, got it. So why was the ship ambushed by the Israeli army?

“Both U.S. and Israeli governments conducted inquiries about the incident, and decided the attack was a result of Israeli confusion about who the USS Liberty was” [Elizabeth Flock / U.S. News & World Report]

Really?

Yes, BUT many Veterans don’t agree.

“We now know that the Navy Court of Inquiry was merely for show, as the officers were told to come to the conclusion the Liberty did [its] job and the attack was accidental.” [Ernie Gallo, President of Liberty Veterans Association / The Intercept]

What Evidence do the Veterans Have?

“They were flying a large U.S. flag [and The ship] said USS Liberty on the back. [James Bamford / Journalist]

Okay, this sounds so strange

That’ because it is:

The USS Liberty says that rescue efforts to save the Liberty’s crew were somehow called off, and that makes even less sense to them than anything else about the whole, tragic, and nearly forgotten fiasco. – [Military & Defense Team / Business Insider]

And..

“The Navy Court of Inquiry’s investigation proceedings following the incident were held in closed sessions, and the survivors who had been on board received gag orders forbidding them to ever talk about what they endured that day.” – [Miriam Pensack / The Intercept]

And…

BBC suggests the attack was a “daring ploy by Israel to fake an Egyptian attack” to give America a reason to enter the war against Egypt. Convinced that the attack was real, President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson launched allegedly nuclear-armed aircraft targeted against Cairo from a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. The aircraft were recalled only just in time, when it was clear the Liberty had not sunk and that Israel had carried out the attack. – [Wiki / BBC Documentary on the USS Liberty: “Dead in the Water”]

So what are the veterans doing about it?

The USS Liberty Veterans sent this letter to Congress, asking for the renewed investigation.

Who else is helping?

Besides the hard work from the journalists above, another famous name shed some light on the situation: Edward Snowden.

The Intercept is publishing two classified documents provided in the cache of files leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden related to the attack and its aftermath.

COVER PHOTO

Public Domain: Picture taken of the damaged U.S. SIGINT ship USS Liberty (AGTR-5) which had been damaged on 8 June 1967 in the Mediterranean Sea by Israeli forces during the Six Days War. The picture was taken from the U.S. aircraft carrier USS America (CVA-66). To the right is the guided missile cruiser USS Little Rock(CLG-4), flagship of the 6th Fleet.