Victor Thorn - Ship Without A Country: Eyewitness Accounts of the Attack on the USS Liberty

ince 1948 there have been many crimes and conspiracies attributed or otherwise connected in some fashion to the stateof Israel, ranging from the tragic terrorist attacks of September11, 2001 to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and

USS LibertyLEFT: Two days after being attacked by Israeli military forces, themiraculously limped into port at Valletta, Malta. Captain William McGonagle inspects some of the extensive damage done to his ship, including massive torpedostrikes, rocket fire, and other holes in the hull and main deck. Bombed repeatedly,then napalmed, the captain refused to abandon his position on the bridge despitebeing seriously wounded. Surrounded by dozens of fellow crew members that hadlost their lives, along with hundreds of other casualties, McGonagle and his menwere still able to extinguish fires, battle floods, and overcome thick clouds of smokethat choked their ship. Enduring a nearly two-hour attack by the Israel Defense

Forces (IDF), McGonagle manned his post for another 15 hours to ensure that thedidnt sink after the unspeakable horrors it withstood. This photograph ofMcGonagle and his colleagues is a testament and record to the heroic survivorswho, although battle-scarred and beaten, will never allow the world to forget whattheir murderous attackers had done to them.

its military and its intelligence services have proven grist for muchspeculation, some of it certainly well founded, some of it downrightridiculous.

But there is one thing which is absolutely indisputable: on June 8,1967 the military forces of the state of Israel launched a deliberateand unprovoked attack on a virtually unarmed American intelligenceship, the USS Liberty, as it sailed peacefully on a sunny day in theMediterranean, off the coast of Sinai, as the Stars and Stripes flappedfully visible in the breeze.

Then, as now, supporters of Israel in the United States and aroundthe world, and certainly Israel itself, would say that using the worddeliberate to describe the attack on an ally is not just an error, butan outrage. They will acknowledge the attack was deliberate, but hasten to add that Israel believed it was an Egyptian freighter that, sothey say, bore a striking resemblance to the Liberty.

Andthere we come to the point of departure between those whobelieve the Israelis attacked the Liberty knowing full well it was anAmerican vessel, and those who say otherwise.

Although in recent years Americans have been told to support ourtroops in various military ventures in the Middle East, there is precisely one group of troops whom it is not politically correct to support, and that is those troopsthose survivors of the USSLibertywho say that Israels attack on the