Yes, it’s right there at the mast head, just below the radome. It’s been blown around behind the mast, but is still quite discernable. If it were color, there’d be no doubt, as most of the rest of the ship is grey, excepting the hull numbers and radomes. Compare the Ensign to the bridge. You’ll see that it has a rise of about 8 feet, and a fly of about 12 feet. That’s huge.
Considering that the US Ensign is one of the most recognizable flags on the planet, and is quite different from the Egyptian flag, and further (something I failed to point out earlier), the USS Liberty is clearly lacking in offensive weaponry (even from grainy photo you can see that), it would require a truely gifted indivdual to mistake it for the Egyptian ship the Israelis claimed to have mistaken it for.
The mistake explanation makes the most sense to me. The sequence of events sounds like a typical military screw. Warning the americans to keep out doesn’t sound plausible to me at all.
Who knows why they couldn’t identify it. Following the initial attacks the ship was probably blanketed with black smoke. Following the bombing of civillians in Kosovo I saw pilots on the air swearing you couldn’t mistake a tractor, seems to have happened anyway.
There is another conjecture, rather chilling: the initial attack was in error. When the Isreali’s realized the error, they chose to intensify the attack in the hope of eliminating witnesses, and then blame the attack on someone else.
Does anyone know at what point in time the Liberty identified thier attackers as Israeli? And did they radio that information to others, or were they under “radio silence” rules?
Frankly, I lean towards acquittal, if for no other reason than I am loathe to believe that the Israeli’s were that utterly ruthless.
I always tried to explain this phenomenon to my wife about American schools and the sheer and utter stupidity of it always astounded her. You would think that it would be smarter to actually teach a history class back in time. I mean it’s good to know about what the Greeks did, but it’s criminal not to teach about modern history as it’s the most relevant to our daily lives.
I like the idea of the upper echelon blunder. Generals have a lot of autonomy. Some paranoid Israeli commander might have just thought, “Bugger this, lets sink it.” on his own initiative.
(It reminds me of some high-ranking French public servant on Devil’s Island or somewhere, when France was bombing Muaroa Atoll in the early 90s and denying Australians entry visas to France. The public servant told an Australian reporter that France considered Australia to be a hostile power. This was news to the rest of France. Same sort of thing might have happened here.)
I also would suggest that in a historical context, this is a relatively minor incident with no consequence. Unless your study actually involved a comprehensive history of the six day war, there is no reason to discuss it.
Anyone know how low these bombers flew over their targets circa 1967. I used to help spot yachts from planes, and it is conceivable to me that a flag might not be recognizable from the air.
I have always assumed that the U.S. has provided strong support for Israel, even in the face of atrocious Israeli acts, because U.S. politicians are incredibly easy to buy-off. The pro-Israeli lobbying groups in Washington certainly appear to be both very active and in-possession of deep-pockets.
75 minutes of constant attack, and they claim to not know who they were attacking?
Bull.
Another photo of the Liberty here. Please note that even at this distance, the Ensign is quite discernable. This one is the Ensign flown at the begining of the attack. Mid-way through the attack, it was shot away, to be replaced by the much larger Holiday Colors.
Photo of what they claim to have mistaken the Liberty for, here.
From the “The Salans Report”, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Office of The Legal Adviser (dated September 21, 1967)
<emphasis added>
*** Note: This means that as early as 10:55 am, the Israelis had correctly identified the USS Liberty.** Please note the contradiction of the official Israeli claims about the Ensign as the report continues:
Allow me to pat myself on the back for a moment here… I’m by no means a photo interpreter, but from the grainy photo I first linked to, I guessed the flag to be 8’x12’. Pretty d*mn close, and I’m not a trained observer. How is it that the highly competent Israeli military missed it? Every pilot and all crewmembers of the torpedo boats claimed to have missed it. Could it be that the flag’s presence & identity was immaterial to the task of the moment…?
And most damning of all:
(see above posted links to photos for comparison)
And still, the motive for the attack remains a mystery, despite wild and rampant speculation. This is one I don’t think we’ll ever understand.
