viper39
26.04.04, 17:28
znalazlem ciekawy artykul USS Liberty, niestety nie mam czasu na tlumaczenie
ale tym ktorzy interesuja sie takimi historiami to pewnie sie to spodoba, jak
zydki rozwalili w kawalki amerykanski okret za podgladanie zydkow ktorzy
akurat mordowali arabow nie to ze lubie arabow ale zydki nie sa swiete tez
USS Liberty: Cover Up
By James Bamford
Mr. Bamford, a former investigative reporter for ABC News, is the author of
The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets.
Editor's Note: The following is a selection from Mr. Bamford's newest book,
Body of Secrets, which has reignited interest in the story of the USS Liberty.
(Click here to read a negative review of the book in the New Republic. Click
here to read Mr. Bamford's response to the criticism he's received.)
Early in the morning of Thursday June 8, 1967 the first rays of sun spilled
softly over the Sinai's blond waves of sand. A little more than a dozen miles
north, in the choppy eastern Mediterranean, the USS Liberty headed eastward.
But the calmness was like quicksand - deceptive, inviting and friendly -
until it was too late.
As the Liberty passed the desert town of El Arish, it was being closely
watched. About 4,000 feet above was an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft. At
6.05am, the observer on the plane reported back to Israeli naval
headquarters: "What we could see were the letters written on that ship and we
gave these letters to ground control," he said. The letters were "GTR-5" -
the Liberty's identification. "GTR" stood for "General Technical Research" -
a cover designation for the National Security Agency (NSA)'s fleet of spy
ships.
The Liberty was in dangerous waters at a dangerous time. The six-day war, in
which Israeli air and ground forces launched a massive attack on Egypt, Syria
and Jordan, was raging. Fearing involvement in a Middle East war, the US
joint chiefs of staff needed rapid intelligence on the ground situation in
Egypt. Ships were considered the best option for the job. They could sail
relatively close and pick up the most important signals. Also, unlike
aircraft, they could remain on station for weeks at a time, eavesdropping,
locating transmitters, and analysing the intelligence. And so the Liberty,
which was large, fast and had been stationed relatively close on the Ivory
Coast, had been ordered in.
Throughout the morning, the ship sailed on, with reconnaissance repeated at
approximately 30-minute intervals. At one point, an Israeli air force
Noratlas Nord 2501 circled the ship and headed back towards the Sinai. "It
had a big Star of David on it and it was flying just a little bit above our
mast," recalled crew member Larry Weaver. "I was actually able to wave to the
co-pilot. He waved back and actually smiled at me - I could see him that
well. There's no question about it. They had seen the ship's markings and the
American flag. They could damn near see my rank. The underway flag was
definitely flying, especially when you're that close to a war zone."
By 9:50 am, the minaret at El Arish could be seen with the naked eye like a
solitary mast in a sea of sand. Although no one on the ship knew it at the
time, the Liberty had suddenly trespassed into a private horror. At that very
moment, near the minaret, Israeli forces were engaged in a criminal
slaughter.
Three days after Israel had launched the six- day war, Egyptian prisoners in
the Sinai had become a nuisance. There was no place to house them, not enough
Israelis to watch them, and few vehicles to transport them to prison camps.
But there was another way to deal with them.
As the Liberty sat within eyeshot of El Arish, eavesdropping on surrounding
communications, Israeli soldiers turned the town into a slaughterhouse,
systematically butchering their prisoners. An eyewitness recounted how in the
shadow of the El Arish mosque, they lined up about 60 unarmed Egyptian
prisoners, hands tied behind their backs, and then opened fire with machine
guns until the pale desert sand turned red.
This and other war crimes were just some of the secrets Israel had sought to
conceal since the start of the conflict. An essential element in the Israeli
battle plan seemed to have been to hide much of the war behind a carefully
constructed curtain of lies: lies about the Egyptian threat, lies about who
started the war, lies to the US president, lies to the UN Security Council,
lies to the press, lies to the public. Thus, as the American naval historian
Dr Richard K Smith noted, "any instrument which sought to penetrate this
smoke screen so carefully thrown around the normal 'fog of war' would have to
be frustrated".
Into this sea of deception and slaughter sailed the USS Liberty, an enormous
spy factory loaded with the latest eavesdropping gear.
About noon, as the Liberty was again in sight of El Arish, and while the
massacres were taking place, an army commander there reported that a ship was
shelling them from the sea. But that was impossible. The only ship in the
vicinity was the Liberty, and she was eavesdropping, not shooting. As any
observer would have recognised, the ship was a tired old Second World War
vessel crawling with antennae, and unthreatening to anyone - unless it was
their secrets, not their lives, they wanted to protect.
By then the Israeli navy and air force had conducted more than six hours of
close surveillance of the Liberty off the Sinai and must have positively
identified it as an American electronic spy ship. They knew she was the only
military ship in the area. Nevertheless, the order was given to kill her and
at 12:05pm, three motor torpedo boats from the port of Ashdod, about 50 miles
away, departed. Israeli air force fighters, loaded with 50mm cannon
ammunition, rockets and napalm, followed.
Without warning, the Israeli jets - swept-wing Dassault Mirage IIICs -
struck. On board Liberty, Lieutenant Painter observed that the aircraft
had "absolutely no markings", their identity unclear. He then attempted to
reach the men manning the gun mounts, but it was too late. "I was trying to
contact these two kids," he recalled, "and I saw them both; well, I didn't
exactly see them as such. They were blown apart, but I saw the whole area go
up in smoke and scattered metal. At about the same time, the aircraft strafed
the bridge area. The quarter-master, Petty Officer Third Class Pollard, was
standing right next to me, and he was hit."
The Mirages raked the ship from bow to stern with armour-piercing lead. A
bomb exploded near the whaleboat aft of the bridge, and those in the
pilothouse and the bridge were thrown from their feet. Commander William L
McGonagle grabbed for the engine order annunciator and rang up all ahead
flank.
In the communications spaces, radiomen James Halman and Joseph Ward had
patched together enough equipment and broken antennae to get a distress call
off to the Sixth Fleet, despite intense jamming by the Israelis. "Any
station, this is Rockstar," Halman shouted, using the Liberty's voice call
sign. "We are under attack by unidentified jet aircraft and require immediate
assistance."
"Great, wonderful, she's burning, she's burning," said an Israeli pilot.
At 2:09 pm, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, operating near Crete,
acknowledged Liberty's cry for help. "I am standing by for further traffic,"
it signalled.
After taking out the gun mounts, the Israeli fighter pilots turned their
attention to the antennae so the ship could not call for help or pick up any
more revealing interceptions. Then the planes attacked the bridge, killing
instantly the ship's executive officer. With the Liberty now deaf, blind, and
silenced, unable to call for help or move, the Israeli pilots proceeded to
kill her. Designed to punch holes in the toughest tanks, their shells tor