Incident: Attack on USS Liberty by Israeli Defense Forces, Navy and Air Force, off occupied Sinai, June 8 1967
Casualties: 34 killed, 171 injured, from a crew of 297 plus small contingent of civilian linguists. Narrowly avoided sinking, with perhaps 100% fatality. Liberty totaled beyond desire for repair and sold for scrap. Official explanation: communications blunders by US, mistaken identity by the IDF. Hardcore factor on a 1-10 scale: 187.
An introduction to "my inquiry," some notes on methodology, general opinions and areas of interest, etc...
The Posts so Far
"Investigation"
OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS: We start with Cristol's mythic thirteen and whittle it down... Israel has not been absolved by any meaningful investigation.
Aerial Surveillance:
- Blind Tracking the Liberty: The apparent, intense aerial surveillance of the Liberty and the IDF's professed ignorance of the ship make strange bedfellows.
- Aircraft Photo Analysis: On the photo of an apparent surveillance craft taken from Liberty's deck. Type of plane and time of day are the areas of inquiry.
- USS Liberty Flag thoughts: Why the ship's American flag is not my main issue, but worth at least fifteen observations.
Air Attack:
Air Attack Transcripts as published by Jerusalem Post, for reference.
Unable to Pursue: Myth: fighters were called in only because the target was (reported as) too fast. Reality: air attack was planned from the beginning.
Telex and Tapes: A four-part series regarding different versions of the IDF communications surrounding the air attack.
Part One: The supposed recording of the attack pilots ordered to attack despite seeing the U.S. flag. I'm agnostic, it's an interesting issue.
Part Two: What the men who recorded the American intercepts recall - again, flag and attack at the same time.
Part Three: What the Israeli recordings show - no flag report 'til well after the attack, tho lots of "Americans" mentioned prior to that.
Part Four: What the NSA claims to have - something's missing here.
"Misidentification"
"What is this? Americans?" Regarding a line spoken at IDF HQ, just before the attack started. What is this, a warning?
Boat-to-Boat Recognition: The Liberty spots the MTBs and vice versa. Lots of detail - from radar returns to the flag sighting and all the miscommunication and heedless aggression in between.
Liberty Mis-identification, Encore: The context of the MTB ID - erasing the "CTR" - but only for ten minutes!
THE GHOST SHIP SERIES
The One That Got Away? Introducing the 2nd ship story line as encountered via Michael Oren. What's with these clues pointing to another vessel provoking the IDF into attacking the nearby scapegoat?
Mystery Ship Inquiry: Relating to the above, a long list of raw quotes from IDF reports and others, with brief pithy comments.
USS Liberty Logs Analysis and other primary sources - emphasis on relation to the second-ship story line.
Graphics/Maps
Video: USS Liberty, Dead in the Water
Discussions I'm involved in at the JREF forum:
Roundhead's USS Liberty thread
UNLoVed Rebel's "injustice or propaganda" thread
