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2006 USS LIBERTY ESSAY CONTEST WINNER
Blake Johnston
The USS Liberty Attack: A War Crime Forgotten
"When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion." February 20th, 2001. The Naval Court of Inquiry is called together by the United States Pacific Fleet commander in order to scrutinize and investigate the circumstances leading to and surrounding the February 9th collision between the USS Greeneville nuclear submarine and the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fishing and training ship. As a result of the crash, nine of the Maru's thirty-five passengers drowned. Subsequent to the official investigation, overseen by three Navy flag officers, the U.S. Navy spent $60 million in salvage costs. From inception to conclusion, the length of this inquiry lasted a full ten months. Now, rewind to June 8, 1967. Located 12.5 nautical miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, the USS Liberty, a United States technical research ship, is maliciously attacked by unrelenting Israeli fighter planes and three torpedo ships. Of the Liberty's 294 crewmen, thirty-four are killed and 173 are wounded. Contrary to the USS Greeneville inquiry, that of the Liberty lasted a mere ten days, nowhere near the six months Admiral Isaac Kidd, then president of the Naval Court, initially said it would. Consequently, the inquest focused not on obtaining the truth, but instead on covering up and down playing this so-called "case of mistaken identity." More concerned about its political connections with Israel than the lives of those onboard the USS Liberty, the U.S. government did nothing to halt this attack or reprimand the Israelis subsequent. As a result, I am persuaded that the attack on the USS Liberty was not only an intentional assault, but also an Israeli war crime obscured by our government for its own political well-being. In 1967 and 1981 respectively, the C.I.A. and N.S.A. each conducted separate investigations into the assault. Although the reports from these two agencies uncovered no new information in regards to government response during the attack or Israeli motives, their goal is clear. By accepting the derisory Israeli justification, so-called gross negligence, Washington allowed this atrocity to merely slip into the past. However, for those willing to look closely at this assailment, the facts and figures blatantly point to crime, a war crime surpassed only by the Exocet missile attack of W.W.II. During the morning of June 8th, at roughly 0600 hours, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft observer reported seeing "a U.S. Navy cargo-type ship," with hull markings "GTR-5," just outside the Israeli coastal radar coverage. At 0900 hours, several Israeli Aircrafts conduct flybys of the Liberty, so close in fact that survivors claim the aircraft "propellers rattled the deck plating of the ship, and the pilots waved to the crew of the Liberty, and the crewmen waved back." By 1050, the above reconnaissance officer sat down with the air-naval liaison officer at the Israeli air force headquarters. Within the course of this meeting, the USS Liberty was clearly identified as an allied intelligence vessel. Inexplicably, over the course of the next four hours, the Israelis managed to lose sight and knowledge of the Liberty. As of 1444 hours that afternoon, thirty-four of its servicemen were dead. The attack itself began at 1400 hours with the arrival of three Mirage III fighter jets carrying 30 millimeter cannons as well as rockets. Making six strafing passes over the Liberty, the fighters targeted the command bridge, communications antennas, and the four .50 caliber machine guns on deck. This initial wave was followed by Dassault Mysteres carrying napalm canisters. Unloading the entirety of their payloads, these fighters obliterated the face of the USS Liberty, killing eight servicemen in the process. Throughout this attack, the Israelis maintain that the five-by-eight-foot American flag flown by the Liberty was not visible. Twenty minutes after the air strike had ceased, three Israeli torpedo boats surfaced and began to circle the vessel. Even though the Liberty bore a four-foot-high "GTR-5" on both starboard and port sides, two torpedoes were fired at the ship. One hit Liberty on the starboard side, instantly killing twenty-six servicemen. Not satisfied with the destruction, the torpedo boats laid down supressive fire following the explosion. Targeting communications, life-boats, and any crewmen who ventured above deck, they unloaded rounds enough to leave 861 holes the size of hands or bigger, and "thousands" of .50 caliber machine gun holes. This damage and the manner in which it was inflicted allowed the Liberty crewmen no time to mount a defense and almost no means to call for help. Seemingly unaware of the Liberty's crystal-clear identifications, the Israelis attacked the vessel without remorse, making sure that communications and defense were the first structures targeted. These are the facts as written in official U.S. Government documents. Found not only in C.I.A. or N.S.A. reports, these facts are identical in the papers filed by the Joint Chief of Staff as well as testimony given to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1967. However, there is one profound problem in this. The conclusions drawn by Washington are not supported by the events that transpired. In the world of politics, the powers that be decided what was to come of this crime the moment it transpired. Nothing. Instead of conducting a true investigation into what took place that fateful day and possibly jeopardizing an otherwise cohesive alliance with Israel, one of America's few Eastern allies at the time, the government decided to whitewash the attack, writing it off as a mistake. Robert McNamara, then Secretary of Defense, said simply, "we are not going to war over a bunch of dead sailors." As a result of this type of thinking, the war crime that befell the USS Liberty was never prosecuted, justice never served. In the end, this war crime was not a mistake, but an elaborate cover-up executed by Israel and aided by Washington. During the six-day-war, a battle waged between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, our ally was also busy executing 1,000 Arab prisoners. Historian Gabby Bron wrote that he "witnessed Israeli troops executing Egyptian prisoners on the morning of June 8, 1967 in the Sinai town of El Arish. The fact that the USS Liberty was in range to see and intercept communications regarding this mass murder was unacceptable to the Israeli government. Those in charge realized that if these executions were ever discovered, the war would be intensified tenfold. In their minds, the destruction of an allied vessel was far less dangerous than what would happen if they were discovered. Rather than put strain on America's relationship with Israel, our government chose to minimize the tragedy with only a cursory examination. However, it failed to realize the scars it would leave on those who survived and the families of those that did not. In the end, the question isn't whether or not this attack was a war crime, for the evidence proves it undeniably so. The true issue is why our government, the institution meant to protect the American people, is more concerned with its own connections and well-being than with those of its people, the men and women that live to serve this country, providing the rest of us with the freedoms to which we have become accustomed. Bibliography http://www.ussliberty.org/ciareports.pdf http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0596/9605028.htm http://www.ussliberty.org/report/report.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident
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