From Juan Cole
(some punctuation added)
Juan Cole also links to this source document: Israel’s Failed Assassination Attempt on U.S. Ambassador Documented
Never heard of this but I wouldnt be surprised. A nation that will deliberately attack an ‘allied’ naval vessel and machinegun its survivors while they are helpless in the water is unlikely imo to have scruples about a mere ambassador.
The Liberty Ship thing would only have worked with 100% casualties… kind of stupid. Still this embassador thing is new to me… will check it out.
Well with allies like Israel... who needs enemies ?…and with conspiracy theories like this who need facts?
It’s not sufficient to say “conspiracy theory” and walk away. The term “conspiracy theory” seems to have become some sort of right-wing mantra: just say “conspiracy theory” and the problem disappears. You may as well say “abracadabra”.
In the real world that most of us have to deal with, there actually are facts that can be verified, and theories that can be tested.
So does the grand magician Rune wish to challenge the facts or in some other way test the theory, or is the magic wand all you’ve got?
BTW, here’s a link to the particular Cole story referred to in the OP, so that no one has to search around for it:
http://www.juancole.com/2004_05_01_juancole_archive.html#108451247013822085
And what facts might that be. The Liberty Ship incident has never been showed to be anything but a mistake despite many attempts. As for the Israeli ambassador: no facts are provided except some vague references to the mysterious “Dean paper” which will not be released until some time in the future. No motive is provided, no method, no argumentation for likelihood, no nothing. A whole lot of nothing interspersed in-between the regular run of the mill anti-Israel propaganda.
This is an old story, from 1979.
It’s hard to believe that Israel and Mossad will engage in such tactics against their most important ally. That’s a risky little game. Big consequences.
On a sidenote, Mossad have long specialized in staging operations under the disguise of someone else. On occasion they have even taken control over terror cells, the cell’s members still under the impression that they were taking orders from their original commanders. Bob Woordward touches this subject in his 1987 book about William Casey and CIA’s operations between 1981 - 1987. This books has some interesting details about a lot of things.
To continue the conspiracy game, there is also a link between the guy who carried out the first WTC bombing and an Israeli man who later returned to Israel never to be heard of again [drum roll]. Uh, the evil.
Anyone better?
Rune: Much better. Thank you.
Ah yes, a mistake. Quite a mistake really, to ‘confuse’ an advanced electronic intelligence vessel bristling with 45 antennas and an 18 foot satellite dish and bearing the US flag for a 1920s vintage egyptian horse transport one quarter of its tonnage and barely half its length such as the Israelis claimed. And all this after 24 hours of overflights by Israeli aircraft including extended lowlevel recon flights for the immediate six hours preceding the attack during which intercepted messages revealed the vessel was positively identified as the Liberty. That’s quite a lot of effort to devote to an unarmed horse transport no? A cynic like myself also wonders just what exactly it was about a decrepit and unarmed horse transport that required repeated air strikes and a followup torpedo boat attack, and machinegunning of the liferafts.
Except that’s not a source document, or even close to one. It’s an article that contains an unattributed first paragraph insinuating that the attack was a Mossad operation without presenting any citations at all. The article doesn’t even go so far as to claim that any unambiguous evidence is in Dean’s papers.
Note that any article that uses the phrases “the full taste of Mossad’s evil” and “that miserable lie” is more likely to be an editorial with an agenda than a scholarly, well-researched item.
When come back, bring evidence.