English

DTIC ADA499280: Attack on the USS Liberty: A Stab at the Truth

In June 1967, the USS Liberty, an unarmed Navy technical research ship, was attacked by Israeli aircraft and motor torpedo boats in international waters off the coast of Egypt. The attack killed 34 and injured 171 Americans. The attack was clearly an event that intersected military operations at the tactical and operational levels and politics at the strategic level. Using key declassified messages, the findings of the Navy's official Court of Inquiry, interviews with naval personnel involved in the event, and memoirs of senior government officials, this paper attempts to answer a number of highly debated questions regarding that tragic day in American history. Why did Israel attack the Liberty? Was the attack deliberate or accidental, and could the attack have been a case of mistaken identity? If deliberate, who within the Israeli leadership ordered the attack, and why? Why was this U.S. unarmed and unescorted research ship so close to the shores of ongoing hostilities (the Six Day War)? Why has Israel continued to claim the attack was a case of mistaken identity? Why was the official inquiry micromanaged and rushed to an unsatisfactory completion in a mere 8 days? Why has a full

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