Was the attack on the USS Liberty justifiable?

[??????????]

www.ussliberty.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_(AGTR-5)

[War on Want]

It sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

[??????????]

It sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

Nope

[Associate Justice PiT]

It sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

Nope

     I take it you were there? I'm inherently suspicious of talk about government cover-ups, though if this is true, it's not only unjustifiable, but also grounds for the immediate termination of our alliance with Israel.

[??????????]

It sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

Nope

     I take it you were there? I'm inherently suspicious of talk about government cover-ups, though if this is true, it's not only unjustifiable, but also grounds for the immediate termination of our alliance with Israel.

The eyewitness accounts of the event. As posted on the first website I posted prove that it was a cover-up.

[Cubby]

I did read a book about the 6 Day War once. If I remember correctly, it said that Israel may have bombed the Liberty in order to draw America into that War. The Johnson Administration was pre-occupied with Vietnam and Race Riots at home, and the US as a whole was less pro-Israel back then than we are now.

[??????????]

I did read a book about the 6 Day War once. If I remember correctly, it said that Israel may have bombed the Liberty in order to draw America into that War. The Johnson Administration was pre-occupied with Vietnam and Race Riots at home, and the US as a whole was less pro-Israel back then than we are now.

It's pretty much an open secret. The only ones who don't fess up to it are Israel and the US govts.

[Cubby]

I did read a book about the 6 Day War once. If I remember correctly, it said that Israel may have bombed the Liberty in order to draw America into that War. The Johnson Administration was pre-occupied with Vietnam and Race Riots at home, and the US as a whole was less pro-Israel back then than we are now.

It's pretty much an open secret. The only ones who don't fess up to it are Israel and the US govts.

I don't see why they'd admit it now. Few people remember the incident, so there's not much to be gained by a public apology, even if that would be the right thing to do.

[GMantis]

Of course not.
But perhaps it's possible that it wasn't on purpose, though it doesn't seem likely.

[CARLHAYDEN]

First of all SR is correct that the attack was a willful, deliberate and intentional.

The various Israeli "explanations" have been absurd.

What I was told was that the Israelis were afraid the U.S. would share info with allies who would in turn share it with the Egyptians.

So, they neutralized the Liberty's ability to obtain intelligence.

[The Mikado]

Justifiable?  No one would say it was justifiable.   Whether or not you believe it was an accident, it's not like there's anyone out there advocating the position that Israel was correct to bomb the USS Liberty.

I don't know if it was an accident, but I'd caution the conspiracy mongers that far stranger things have happened in war.

[Dan the Roman]

My guess is that it was one of those misunderstandings in war that should have been obvious to any person in their right mind, but was not to an officer who had not slept in five days and who faced the prospect of another Holocaust at the end of the week.

The record is clear on what the Israeli military itself did. They saw a ship, asked the US military attache if it was American, the attache who probably didn't know said no, they then asked their government(which may or may not have lied) which also said no. Then they attacked it. Should they have seen an American flag? Mabye, its a whole lot harder to see especially when it is raised panicky while your ship is sinking. Remember again, all the witnesses were on the ship, no one saw it from he air. It looks a whole lot different there.

Remember, the Iranian Airline Jet that the US shot down in 1987 killing over three hundred people was equally obvious and many people maintain that it was equally deliberate. In both cases I think what was obvious to anyone looking back at the situation was not a commander who was not in a great mental condition at the time. People make mistakes under pressure they would never do when posting to this board.

[AkSaber]

Justifiable? No, of course not. I'm not an expert about the event. But I still like to think it was an accident.

I must admit, this has gotten me thinking about other times a U.S. Naval vessel was attacked. Remember when the USS Cole was bombed? I remember how the Presidents Clinton and Bush chose to not do anything about it. The USS Stark was bombed by an Iraqi pilot during the Iran-Iraq War, and nothing was done then either. Granted, the Iraqi government quickly pulled that pilot aside and hanged him. And who could forget that phantom North Vietnamese ship that attacked the USS Maddox? That, of course, led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which led to the full-blown escalation of the Vietnam War.

Isn't it weird? The Cole, Liberty, and Stark were attacked, and our government didn't do a damn thing about it. But it was when a ship (the Maddox) wasn't attacked, our government retaliated.

Geopolitics, ain't it a bitch?

[CARLHAYDEN]

Justifiable? No, of course not. I'm not an expert about the event. But I still like to think it was an accident.

I must admit, this has gotten me thinking about other times a U.S. Naval vessel was attacked. Remember when the USS Cole was bombed? I remember how the Presidents Clinton and Bush chose to not do anything about it. The USS Stark was bombed by an Iraqi pilot during the Iran-Iraq War, and nothing was done then either. Granted, the Iraqi government quickly pulled that pilot aside and hanged him. And who could forget that phantom North Vietnamese ship that attacked the USS Maddox? That, of course, led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which led to the full-blown escalation of the Vietnam War.

Isn't it weird? The Cole, Liberty, and Stark were attacked, and our government didn't do a damn thing about it. But it was when a ship (the Maddox) wasn't attacked, our government retaliated.

Geopolitics, ain't it a bitch?

Don't forget the Pueblo!

[AkSaber]

Justifiable? No, of course not. I'm not an expert about the event. But I still like to think it was an accident.

I must admit, this has gotten me thinking about other times a U.S. Naval vessel was attacked. Remember when the USS Cole was bombed? I remember how the Presidents Clinton and Bush chose to not do anything about it. The USS Stark was bombed by an Iraqi pilot during the Iran-Iraq War, and nothing was done then either. Granted, the Iraqi government quickly pulled that pilot aside and hanged him. And who could forget that phantom North Vietnamese ship that attacked the USS Maddox? That, of course, led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which led to the full-blown escalation of the Vietnam War.

Isn't it weird? The Cole, Liberty, and Stark were attacked, and our government didn't do a damn thing about it. But it was when a ship (the Maddox) wasn't attacked, our government retaliated.

Geopolitics, ain't it a bitch?

Don't forget the Pueblo!

Damn!! How could I have forgotten?! The Pueblo wasn't even in North Korean waters. Even so, the North Koreans killed one of our sailors, then captured and beat the rest. How did our government retaliate? They say the Pueblo was violating North Korea's territory and deserved to be attacked. In one deed, they lied and stabbed our sailors in the back.