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USS LIBERTY |
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USS LIBERTY |
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US Government Photo |
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USS Liberty 1967 |
Early in the afternoon of June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israeli jets and missile boats opened fire on the USS Liberty, an American intelligence ship operating off the coast of Gaza. Israeli torpedo boats quickly converged to join the attack, then abruptly ceased fire and offered assistance to the USS Liberty crew. Struck by rockets, cannons and torpedoes, the vessel suffered extensive damage and over 200 casualties: 34 Americans dead, and 171 injured.
The Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was a grievous error, largely attributable to the fact that it occurred in the midst of the confusion of a full-scale war. Ten official United States investigations and three official Israeli inquiries have all conclusively established the attack was a tragic mistake. Israel compensated the injured sailors and the families of those killed. Over time, newly declassified documents have all supported the Israeli explanation. All investigations have concluded the same thing: the attack was an accident caused by miscommunication and command blunders in both the American and Israeli military.
The accidental attack, though tragic, is one of many common in war. In 1967 alone, "friendly fire" killed 5,373 Americans fighting in Vietnam. Unfortunately, this incident has attracted conspiracy theorists who have generated a series of "exposes", but in the end all of the exposers have been themselves exposed as hoaxes. Most tragic of all, some of the surviving crew have taken up the issue claiming a deliberate attack, contradicting their own sworn testimony during the investigations immediately after the event. A documentary on the History Channel, broadcast August 9, 2001 was very poorly researched and gave further distribution to some of these long debunked claims. Despite those who want to keep this incident alive as a "cover up", the fact is that all available evidence is fully consistent with the original explanations: the attack was an accident of war.
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