PDA

View Full Version : Israeli-American relations




sratiug
01-16-2008, 12:22 PM
h ttp://www.counterpunch.org/stclair1126.html

I don't know what kind of website this is. I was looking for something on an incident I learned of on the History Channel a few years ago where Israeli jets shot down several American jets in the 60's or early 70's and found this instead. I haven't read it all yet, but the first part was rather interesting. It seems the attacking Israelis shot our ship and men to pieces and there was no response.

sratiug
01-16-2008, 12:52 PM
The Liberty had barely reached Africa when it received a flash message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to sail from the Ivory Coast to the Mediterranean, where it was to re-deploy off the coast of the Sinai to monitor the Israeli attack on Egypt and the allied Arab nations.

As the war intensified, the Liberty sent a request to the fleet headquarters requesting an escort. It was denied by Admiral William Martin. The Liberty moved alone to a position in international waters about 13 miles from the shore at El Arish, then under furious siege by the IDF.

On June 6, the Joint Chiefs sent Admiral McCain, father of the senator from Arizona, an urgent message instructing him to move the Liberty out of the war zone to a position at least 100 miles off the Gaza Coast. McCain never forwarded the message to the ship.

A little after seven in the morning on June 8, Ennes entered the bridge of the Liberty to take the morning watch. Ennes was told that an hour earlier a "flying boxcar" (later identified as a twin-engine Nord 2501 Noratlas) had flown over the ship at a low level.

Ennes says he noticed that the ship's American flag had become stained with soot and ordered a new flag run up the mast. The morning was clear and calm, with a light breeze.

At 9 am, Ennes spotted another reconnaissance plane, which circled the Liberty. An hour later two Israeli fighter jets buzzed the ship. Over the next four hours, Israeli planes flew over the Liberty five more times.

When the first fighter jet struck, a little before two in the afternoon, Ennes was scanning the skies from the starboard side of the bridge, binoculars in his hands. A rocket hit the ship just below where Ennes was standing, the fragments shredded the men closest to him.

After the explosion, Ennes noticed that he was the only man left standing. But he also had been hit by more than 20 shards of shrapnel and the force of the blast had shattered his left leg. As he crawled into the pilothouse, a second fighter jet streaked above them and unleashed its payload on the hobbled Liberty.

At that point, Ennes says the crew of the Liberty had no idea who was attacking them or why. For a few moments, they suspected it might be the Soviets, after an officer mistakenly identified the fighters as MIG-15s. They knew that the Egyptian air force already had been decimated by the Israelis. The idea that the Israelis might be attacking them didn't occur to them until one of the crew spotted a Star of David on the wing of one of the French-built Mystere jets.

KewlRonduderules
01-16-2008, 01:01 PM
The Israelis very much knew what they were doing. Their Colonels ordered the attack because they feared that the US intelligence, i.e., NSA, was listening on to their interogations of prisoners and other war crimes. They were worried that they would be busted for War crimes. So they attacked the ship. They very much knew it was an American ship since Egyptians did not have any ships like the USS Liberty. The attack continued for hours until a distress signal reached a US ship in the Mediteranean Sea. At this point, all information was passed to the White House who contacted the Israelis who stopped the onslaught.

Johnson covered up the incident because he did not want to hurt our relationship with the Israelis given the strategic value of the region during this time.