|
LIBERTY OR JUSTICEBy Katy Tyler English 1200 There are hundreds of websites and articles that argue for both sides of this issue, but many are strictly based on opinion and not fact. After reading numerous pieces of information I have come to the conclusion that the truth will not be known until a fully comprehensive investigation is launched, and this needs to be done soon, before the survivors and other active participants are deceased. The Six Day War was a land feud between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Liberty arrived on station just as Israel was preparing to wage the battle to capture the Golan Heights. This was on the first day of actual battle; the war lasted from June 5th to June 10th of 1967. The attack on Liberty took place off the Sinai Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea during the Six Day War. Three days before the assault on the Liberty, Israel attacked Egypt, simultaneously reporting that Egypt attacked first. According to Bamford, one purported motive for the assault on the Liberty was: ...That the Israelis may not have wanted the United States to know that at that same moment, a scant dozen or so miles away, Israeli soldiers were butchering civilians and bound prisoners by the hundreds, a fact that the entire Israeli army leadership knew about and condoned, according to the army’s own historian. (CNN) The attack on the Liberty has never been fully explained as to why the neutral ship was targeted; official reports by both countries claim this was a case of mistaken identity. The ship that some claim Liberty was mistaken for was an Egyptian horse carrier named El Quseir. The difference between these two ships is 170 feet in length and 7,930 tons displacement. The USS Liberty was a freighter...launched in May 1945. It sailed the Pacific until 1958 when it was “mothballed” in Puget Sound. In 1964 it was refitted as a technical research ship for the National Security Agency. In the center of the ship...was a room containing electrical equipment which could pick up all radiio (sic) broadcasts.... For protection it relied upon the flag it flew.... It was easily recognizable as an electronics listening ship because of the…gear visible on deck and superstructure. This gear, including a tall Trescomm (sic) tower amidships, gave the ship a silhouette unlike that of any other ship in the world. For the Liberty to be mistaken as the horse carrier is an absurd allegation. Any military protecting its coastal waters are well educated on the profiles of ships, mainly due to the lack of electronic intelligence capabilities by lesser-developed nations. The cover-up, if not a conspiracy, has kept the truth about the incident from the American public for more than 35 years. For the United States government to blatantly deny the requests for an official investigation is neither appropriate nor logical. Whether or not the results would have been political suicide for President Lyndon Johnson should not have been an issue; the lives of all these sailors serving their country was a waste, and all the American people should know it. The Liberty deployed May 2, 1967 from Norfolk, Virginia, to conduct a routine patrol of the African coast. The first port of call for the ship was Abidjan, capital of the Ivory Coast. On its third day, the ship received a message from the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), ordering it to “proceed best possible speed to Rota Spain to load technical support material and supplies. When ready for sea proceed to operating area off Port Said”(Ennes 17). The final destination for Liberty was 13 miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The crew was nervous and jittery, almost expecting the ship to sink at any moment since leaving Norfolk. This was mainly due to an article written by Jeane Dixon, a woman prophet, who predicted that the Liberty would not be returning to her homeport. Many of the men had nightmares of being trapped and going down with the vessel. James Ennes’ Yeoman “had recurring nightmares of being trapped in a compartment of our sinking ship after a torpedo attack”(30). He had not slept for days and was prescribed tranquilizers and sleeping pills; this was not an isolated occurrence on the ship. As a former sailor in the U.S. Navy, my ship, the USS Fletcher (DD-992) was steaming in the Persian Gulf when the USS Cole (DDG-67) was bombed in Yemen. We were set on high alert, manning topside rover watches along with our regular watch standing duties, which raised the anxiety of every crewmember. Many of us could not sleep for a few days, but eventually we quieted down and got back into the routine of being at sea. Standing my watch station in the Combat Information Center (CIC) lent a better understanding to the situation at hand, and as a result I could sometimes ease the fears of other sailors. The officers on board routinely tried to reassure young crewmembers that were not salty (not having been on a deployment or who were brand new to the Navy), yet this usually had the opposite effect, being that many of the officers who would talk to the enlisted were green themselves. On June 5th, the first day of the Six Day War, Captain McGonagle made this request: Vice Admiral Martin at Sixth Fleet headquarters to send a destroyer as an armed escort and auxiliary communication center, noting that Liberty’s self defense capability was limited to four .50 caliber machine guns and small arms (AMEU). The request was denied by Admiral Martin, relying on Liberty’s clearly marked identifications as a United States ship, the fact that it was not a participant in the conflict, and because its location in international waters was thought to be enough to deter any attack. Roughly 12 hours before the massacre began the U.S. Defense Attaché in Tel Aviv sent a message to the National Security Agency (NSA) stating that Israel intended to attack the Liberty if she did not change her course. A new set of orders was prepared and relayed to what the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Reconnaissance Center (JRC) thought was the Liberty; to order it to go 12½ to 20 nautical miles (NM) off the coast, but the message was routed incorrectly and as a result never reached the ship in time to help prevent this atrocity. An hour later, or 0130 Liberty time, the Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU) states that: JRC orders Liberty to approach no closer than 100 miles to the coasts of Egypt and Israel. Due to misrouting it will take 16½ hours for message to reach Liberty. This correspondence reached the ship after the attack was over, and Liberty was trying to repair significant damages and save the lives of several of her crewmembers. The radio room, where all message traffic is transmitted and received, was obliterated within the first few minutes of the missile barrage by the Israeli fighter jets. This added to the delay of crucial information, along with the incorrect addresses being added to the messages that were destined for Liberty. While Mr. James Ennes was on the bridge, standing the reveille watch, the first reconnaissance flight occurred. Mr. Ennes said: ...I noticed that the ship’s five-by-seven-foot American flag was fouled, having become tangled in the lines. The flag was dark with soot and badly tattered from the high-speed steaming of the past few days. I ordered it replaced. The signalman was agitated by this request, because it was the last new five-by-seven-foot flag left after the trip from Norfolk. This flag was immediately shot down at the beginning of the attack and was replaced with the “holiday colors”. The special flag is oversized for ceremonial purposes and only flown during religious observance days and holidays. The pilots recognized the ship as an NSA intelligence vessel, which is known to be American, before the holiday ensign was unfurled. The significance of flying the ceremonial flag is ironic, as that this was the day the Liberty was supposed to be intentionally sunk. The Israelis flew two more scouting flights; the second of the two flights taking place 2½ hours after the flag was raised. Larry Weaver, a crewmember, said: I was actually able to wave to the co-pilot, a fellow on the right-hand side of the plane. He waved back, and actually smiled at me. This incident almost makes one think that the aircrew of this jet did not know what was about to happen to the ship they were investigating; yet that idea is highly improbably. Every sailor, soldier, or airman has a sixth sense to know when something is about to happen, whether they inflict damage upon someone else or receive it is usually left to be determined. These pilots knew, they were briefed before flight, as all aircrews are; they were cruel to mislead the crew of neutral sailors. At 1205, Israeli motor torpedo boats left Ashdod at a high rate of speed and headed toward Liberty. They were “followed by Israeli air force fighters, loaded with 30mm cannon ammunition, rockets, and napalm” (AMEU). When the torpedo boats reached Liberty they immediately began attacking from the air. The first shots annihilated the ship’s antennae, gun mounts, and bridge. As a result they had an extremely limited message traffic capability; the crew was only able to send messages in the blind (not knowing if the message was actually being transmitted). After the first phase of the total assault, an Israeli pilot reports to base: “Great, wonderful, she’s burning, she’s burning” (AMEU). One torpedo struck the starboard (right) side of Liberty instantly killing 25 men and leaving a 40-foot hole below the waterline of the ship. The entire room flooded in seconds. Only a few lucky men were able to escape the compartment space before the escape hatch had to be sealed shut. It is incomprehensible to imagine the torrent of emotions these sailors felt knowing they had to kill their friends to save others. Torpedo boats continued to circle the ship firing armor-piercing bullets for 40 minutes. Napalm was dropped onto the ship from the fighter jets, burning the Captain’s Gig (special boat for the Captain of the ship, made for speed and durability) and through the metal deck plating. Rockets blasted through the armored bulkheads like a heated knife cutting through warm butter. The mess decks (ship’s cafeteria) were turned into a triage unit; all of the injured sailors were taken there for medical treatment. Wounded and injured sailors were laid on the tables and floors, and on stretchers placed between the serving aisle divider and buffet-style serving tray rack. Seventy minutes after the initial strike, the order to prepare to abandon ship came over the ship’s loudspeaker system. Life rafts were lowered into the water as the torpedo boats circled closer and began to fire on them, along with any others that were visible on the main weather deck. “I watched with horror as the floating life rafts were riddled with holes,” recalled Lieutenant Lloyd Painter who was in charge of the evacuation. All hopes of anyone surviving in the life rafts was beyond their expectations. The only way the crew could survive was to keep its ship from sinking. During the entirety of the assault, Liberty was able to release numerous messages requesting assistance. USS Saratoga and USS America launched rescue flights, only to have them ordered to abort the mission, twice. Secretary of Defense McNamara ordered the rescue planes recalled and his orders were confirmed and issued by President Johnson who did not want to embarrass the American ally. He failed to realize that the Commander-in-Chief turning his back on a United States military vessel under attack is much more of an embarrassment, one that after 35 years has yet to be reconciled. The U.S. Defense Attaché approached Liberty in an Israeli helicopter to inquire about the condition of the crew and if the ship needed any assistance. Captain McGonagle waved off the request with a gallant gesture of his middle finger. The helicopter flew off, while Liberty tried to lick her wounds and sail to a safe harbor for repairs under her own power. With no U.S. ships able or willing to offer support, a Soviet ship sent a flashing-light message in English: “Do you need help?” Liberty’s response was pride filled when she declined their assistance. The Soviet crew answered, “I will stand by in case you need me” (AMEU). The fact that a Soviet vessel offered help before our own military would even acknowledge that Liberty was attacked is mind numbing. This was at a time when our relations with the Soviets were stretched thinner than Saddam Hussein’s conscience. The Soviets remained hidden over the horizon so that their country, as well as the U.S., would not know of their offer to lend a hand. It seems as though our own country is burying its head in the sand on this issue, maybe our national bird should be an ostrich instead of the mighty eagle? Our government still refuses to conduct an official inquiry into Israel’s motive for the attack and who was at fault. Israel did pay $6 million in restitution to the victims’ families in 1982, after Senator Adlai Stevenson threatened to investigate, but they refused to pay the $8 million in damages that was inflicted on Liberty. The Israeli government will not accept the fact that they are directly responsible for what happened to our ship and her crew. Perhaps they do not want to let the world realize that the greediness they had for land, in effect to gain the Golan Heights, was the basis of their decision to attack. They may have not wanted our spy ship to become privy to their operation plans, since the U.S. had already expressed its disapproval of their forceful acquisition of the lands in dispute. President Johnson was not known for high moral values. He might have ordered the cover-up of the attack to avoid losing financial backing for the Democratic Party by a major contributor, who remains nameless. Another possible reason for this cover-up by our President during this time according to Margolis: Johnson offered Jewish liberals unconditional backing of Israel...in exchange for the liberal toning down their strident criticism of his policies in the then raging Vietnam War. To silence a tragedy that had nothing to do with the conflict on the other side of the world at the expense of 34 sailors is atrocious. President Johnson left a legacy that affects soldiers and sailors today. In the military, trust in leadership is essential, without which battlefield victories become more elusive. In a statement by Steve Forslund, “...I will carry the memory of those transcripts with me until I die. We all lost our virginity that day.” The transcripts that Mr. Forslund is talking about are what he witnessed as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Air Force during the Six Day War. He and others on watch read the transcripts of air-to-air and air-to-ground communications of the Israeli fighters when they attacked Liberty. The sheets of paper that were being spewed from the machines were read in near real time as the events unfolded. Mr. Forslund, who: ...read page after page of these transcripts...that made specific reference to the efforts to direct the jets to the target which was identified as American numerous times by the ground controller...began asking about the status of the target.... They stressed that the target must be sunk and leave no trace. The transcript that was read, which may or may not still exist, clearly shows that Israel fully intended to sink the USS Liberty to avoid detection of their plans. I believe the American people still do not know the truth and may never be privy to that information. It is also possible that Israel wanted to hide the fact that they massacred more than 1,000 Egyptian prisoners of war at El Arish while Liberty steamed only 13 miles off its coast. Working in the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue has sensitized me to the horrors inflicted on prisoners of war. If Israel attacked to mask the massacre, it did so in violation of the laws of war, specifically The Hague Convention on Naval Warfare. By attacking Liberty Israel hid something extremely sensitive to their country’s government, and by covering up and refusing investigation and disclosures, the United States is supporting Israel’s actions. The land of the free that protects all its citizens from injustice is stifling the entire crew and their families by prostrating our nation before our Israeli attackers. Our great nation’s foreign policy disgraced a fearless leader, Captain McGonagle, who saved his ship and his crew. Captain McGonagle received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on that perilous day, not in the White House by the President as is customary, but in the Washington Navy Yard so that we could avoid embarrassing the attackers of the mighty warship he commanded. He received the award for his heroic efforts, but the rest of the crew was ignored and reassigned to the four corners of the globe. The rescuers only knew that the Captain was still standing on the bridge when help was finally allowed to assist Liberty; he was an angel’s breath away from blacking out as he shouted orders and maintained his sailors’ spirits so that they would stay alive and remain together with dignity and honor. The entire crew of the powerful USS Liberty (AGTR-5) should be renowned throughout the United States and honored for their efforts that horrendous day. One of the first steps in making this a reality is to conduct a full investigation of the attack. The sailor’s who gave their lives should not have died in vain. They deserve the acknowledgment of the price that they and their families have paid. We owe them that; our nation owes them that.
note: All pictures obtained from http://www.ussliberty.org
Memorial service onboard USS America. Battle damage to the bridge. Mess decks as battle dressing station. Torpedoed room cleaning crew resting. Battle damage to bulkheads on main deck. Looking out of a wardroom through a rocket hole.
Americans for Middle East Understanding. The USS Liberty. Borne, John. About the USS Liberty. 20 Oct. 2003. Cowgill, Justin. News and Analysis On-Line Publication Pravda. 20 Oct. 2003. Ennes, James. Assault On The Liberty. 9th ed. Reintree, 2002. Ensor, David. “Israel’s 1967 attack on U.S. ship deliberate, book says.” CNN. 23 Apr. 2001. 28 Oct. 2003 Forslund, Stephen. The Smoking Gun. 28 Oct. 2003. Gotcher, James Ronald. Ron Gotcher Statement. 28 Oct. 2003 Margolis, Eric S. The USS Liberty’: America’s Most Shameful Secret. 23 Oct. 2003 Ringle, Ken. “The Attack on Liberty.” Washington Post. 1 Feb. 2003. 20 Oct. 2003.
|
|
Return to the opening page