Gregg Rosenberg

Massie's "Justice Delayed" speech on the House floor today asserts that Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty with the intention to murder its crew, and that the US government covered it up. However, the comprehensive documentary record—spanning more than a dozen official US and Israeli investigations, including reviews by the CIA, NSA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff—completely refutes these claims, proving the incident was a tragic case of mistaken identity and friendly fire. You don't have to take their conclusions granted; you just need to look at the evidence. Massie and his gang have no intention of doing that-- none of these people have looked at the evidence; there are no "Liberty Truthers" who ever engage with the specific evidence, because then they look too obviously grotesque and ideologically-motivated. If the facts of the case don't matter, why are these people obsessed with a friendly-fire incident that happened in 1967? Because they want to convince you--despite all evidence and lack of motive--to hate Israel and Jews. There is absolutely nothing else going on here, and the proof for that is how enthusiastically they lie about what actually happened that day. They need to say Israel attacked deliberately, because that's how they fool Americans into distrusting and hating Israel. And they need to say the US covered it up, because that's how they explain the lack of evidence for their claims. I promised a debunking, so here it is. **************************** Massie: Israel deliberately attacked the ship with the intent to leave no survivors. There is absolutely zero evidence it was a premeditated strike. The Israeli military correctly identified the ship at dawn, but a duty officer erased the ship's marker from the naval plot hours later because the information was considered stale. Later, misread explosions on the coast led to a severely flawed speed calculation by Israeli torpedo boats (estimating 30 knots instead of 5), which classified the ship as a hostile warship that was then misidentified as an Egyptian supply vessel. If Israel had intended to sink the ship, they would have used iron bombs—but the Israeli air controller deliberately diverted the flight carrying iron bombs away from the ship. When an Israeli pilot recognized Latin letters on the hull (Arab warships used Arabic script), the attack was immediately halted with the order, "Leave her!" Israel then dispatched rescue helicopters, ceased fire immediately, and apologized within hours, before Washington had even publicly acknowledged the incident. Massie: The attack was a 25-minute unprovoked assault using napalm, and lifeboats were machine-gunned. In reality, the air attack lasted approximately 14 minutes, and every official investigation confirms there were only two Mirages and two Super-Mystères involved. (Even survivor advocates who previously claimed there were up to 30 sorties have conceded on the record that there were only two initial jets). The jets dropped napalm because they had been diverted mid-mission from bombing Egyptian infantry, not because of a surgical plan to sink a steel ship. Furthermore, the torpedo boat did not machine-gun lifeboats to execute survivors; it actually recovered a damaged life raft put overboard by the crew that was marked "US Navy." This recovery is exactly how the Israelis realized the ship was American. Massie: It was a clear day with unlimited visibility and the American flag was flying proudly. While Massie argues the flag should have made the ship's identity obvious, gun-camera film from the attacking pilots and shipboard photos confirm that the smoke from the burning ship was rising straight up--meaning there was essentially no wind. Because of the calm conditions, the flag hung limp and drooping against the mast rather than extended. The Navy Court of Inquiry specifically concluded that the calm weather and slow speed "may well have made the American flag difficult to identify." Massie: US rescue planes were recalled and the crew was left stranded for 17 hours. Massie implies that the recall of rescue planes points to a sinister cover-up-- but the US response was paralyzed by the fear of nuclear escalation. LBJ initially feared the attackers were Soviet, stating, "if this attack is by the Russians, this means war." The Sixth Fleet recalled its defending aircraft out of fear of sparking World War III, and this recall occurred long after the attack was already over. The USS Liberty was only in the war zone to begin with because of severe US communication failures. Five separate messages ordering the ship to withdraw 100 miles were misrouted and never reached the ship before the attack. Massie: Ward Boston declared the inquiry invalid, proving a cover-up. He asked Congress to enter a declaration by Ward Boston into the record, claiming the official court of inquiry was invalid. Boston's much later affidavit recanting his original findings is hearsay (the admiral he quoted was deceased) and self-incriminating, as Boston himself co-authored the original findings under oath. Admiral Isaac Kidd, who actually led the Naval Court of Inquiry, said in 1991 that his investigation found zero evidence of a deliberate attack. When asked if they found a "smoking gun," he said, "we didn't even find a water pistol."