Israeli attack was deliberate

Israeli attack was deliberate
Last modified 6/21/2007 - 3:47 pm
Originally created 062207
By The Times-Union and AP

I understand and sympathize with the motives behind a June 15 letter regarding the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in June 1967.

Some facts, however, may have escaped the letter writer's attention. The facts established the Israeli attack as a deliberate attempt to sink a U.S. naval vessel with all hands aboard. The attack was not unintentional.

On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty was steaming slowly in international waters 14 miles off the Sinai Peninsula. The Liberty was not under National Security Agency direction, although it serviced NSA collection requirements.

It was under U.S. naval command. In 1961, the U.S. Navy commissioned six vessels as electronic intelligence and communications intelligence collectors.

The Liberty was one of them. It was sailing from Rota, Spain, under Commander in Chief U.S. Navy Europe movement order 7/67. Its naval designation was AGTR-5.

Moyshe Dayan did not contact the Pentagon to ask if the USS Liberty was an American ship. There was no need, The ship's markings, AGTR-5, were painted 10 feet tall on both sides of the bow, which identified it in Jane's Fighting Ships as a U.S. signal intelligence ship. It was also flying a huge holiday-size American flag on its fan tail, which was subsequently shot to pieces by the Israelis.

The ship was approached by an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft. It made several passes over the ship so low the Israeli airmen and Liberty sailors waved at each other.

The ship was then attacked by fighter aircraft in repeated strafing and rocketing passes. During these attacks, the Israelis were jamming Liberty radio transmissions. The ship was attacked by two waves of fighter aircraft, then three torpedo boats arrived and fired five torpedoes at the ship.

One of them killed 24 of the 39 Liberty crewmen killed during the attack. The torpedo boats then circled and fired machine guns at the bridge and 40 millimetre shells at the Liberty's waterline.

The order to abandon ship was given and life rafts were put over the side. The torpedo boats then closed and machine gunned all the rafts, sinking them.

There is much to say about why the Johnson administration chose to ignore the attack. But, government agencies were ordered not to mention it. Some U.S. military officers wanted to bomb Israel.

Israel is a good ally of the United States, but we have other good allies in the area. U.S. relations with Israel should be kept in perspective, and the public should not be misled.

RONALD E. ESTES
St. Augustine

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