The SOS Washington Ignored- USS Liberty Attack

USS Liberty was a floating CIA intelligence-gathering platform monitoring all transmissions from all sources involved in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israeli progress was followed as well as the Arab coalition of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, known as the United Arab Republic. As a result, Israel secured Sinai, all of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. But Israeli intelligence had reported to Chief of Israeli Naval Operations Admiral Issi Rahar that a ship had fired upon El Arish in Sinai. This was proven to be a ruse. The only ship in that area was the USS Liberty, which flew the US flag and was in international waters. In what was described by both President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Israeli government as a case of mistaken identity, Israeli air and naval assets attacked the USS Liberty on June 8, killing 34 Americans and wounding 172 of the 294-man crew. Previously, the United States had announced that it had no naval forces within hundreds of miles of the battlefront on the floor of the United Nations a few days earlier. However, the USS Liberty was assigned to monitor the fighting. As a result of a series of United States communication failures, whereby messages directing the ship not to approach within 100 miles were not received by the Liberty, the ship sailed to within 14 miles off the Sinai coast. Also notified of the supposed attack upon El Arish were Colonel Shmuel Kislev, head of Israeli Air Force operations, and General Yeshiau Ben-Ket, the head of Israeli Air Force intelligence. Kislev told his pilots that, quote, if they could confirm that it was a military ship they could hit it, end quote. The naval contingent was also on the alert. Ben-Ket wanted to have positive identification of the ship that may have been involved. Israeli Dassault Mirage fighters passed by and gave their report. The flight leader confirmed that it was an American ship. More Israeli fighters attacked at 1405 hours for 20 minutes, firing cannons, machine guns, and rockets, and one report from the first pilot who hit the ship stated that oil was leaking. During that time, on board Liberty, Radioman Terry Halbardier and Glenn Olyphant followed the captain's order and broadcast in the clear that they were under attack by unknown forces and needed assistance, but their communications antenna were then damaged. They performed a manual repair and began transmitting in the open, as their secure channel was being jammed. The 6th fleet received the SOS and informed the commander of the Carrier Task Force on board the USS Saratoga, Captain Joseph Talley, who called and launched 12 F-4 Phantom fighters to assist Liberty, and the hotline between Washington DC and Moscow was activated. Moscow was informed that American aircraft were being launched only to surmise the situation regarding the Liberty, not to get involved in the war, but as the Phantoms were en route just minutes away from saving the Liberty, it was reported that Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara mysteriously had them recalled. The only way a sec-def could do that was by presidential authority. Johnson knew the truth, and he was part of the problem. The next wave of Israeli aircraft arrived after the Phantoms returned to the Saratoga, and these were Dessau Super Mysteres with napalm and canister bombs.