The Liberty Incident: The 1967 Israeli Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship by A. Jay Cristol. Brassey’s, Inc. (http://www.brasseysinc.com/ Books/157488414X.htm), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2002, 320 pages, $27.50 (hardcover), $18.95 (softcover).
On June 8, 1967, aircraft and torpedo boats of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck the USS Liberty, a small warship, also known as a “spy ship,” that collected signals intelligence for evaluation by the National Security Agency (NSA). A US Navy crew operated the ship, and NSA employees collected the electronic signals. The ship had been ordered to monitor signals in the eastern Mediterranean, but, when war broke out between Israel and its Arab neighbors on June 5, the Navy sent five messages to the Liberty, ordering it to stay out of the now-hostile waters off Egypt and Israel. Unfortunately, only one of these messages reached the Liberty—and that one arrived 30 minutes after the attack. As the ship reached its designated listening post, Headquarters IDF had received reports of an Egyptian warship shelling Israeli positions along the Sinai coast. The two events now became cloaked in Clausewitz’s “fog of war,” combining to produce the tragic attack that killed 34 Americans and wounded 171 others aboard the ill-fated ship.
Since then, great controversy has surrounded the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Did the Israelis deliberately attack a warship of their best and only friend in 1967? Did the governments of both the United States and Israel deliberately cover up the attack? Have investigations by both governments whitewashed the incident for some secret national-security reason? Did Moshe Dayan, the war hero of previous Israeli-Arab conflicts and the minister of defense in 1967, personally order the attack? These and other questions have haunted this tragic occurrence for the past 35 years. This most recent addition to the historiography of the Liberty incident is probably the most comprehensive and unbiased account of this event and has the potential to put these questions to rest.
A former naval aviator and currently a federal judge, Dr. Jay Cristol is uniquely qualified to examine the Israeli attack on the Liberty. He brings his personal experience as a flyer and his professional skills as a legal expert to bear in reviewing all the available evidence. For 14 years, he examined investigation reports of various US government commissions and Israeli investigations, the testimony of Liberty crew members, recently unclassified documents, and Israeli audiotapes of the attack. Additionally, he conducted interviews with key, high-ranking American and Israeli officials and several former members of the Liberty’s crew. He weaves this wealth of information into a highly readable and persuasive narrative.
The author carefully examines the conspiracy theories and tall tales that sprang up in the wake of the attack and that have continued to thrive, despite all the evidence to the contrary. For years, various people, including several crew members of the Liberty, have persisted in propagating the theory that the Israelis deliberately attacked the ship and that the two governments covered up the incident for some nefarious reason. These individuals have consistently debunked the findings of the many investigations conducted by the US Navy, US Congress, and the Israeli government. Cristol carefully examines all the extant evidence, concluding that the IDF did not deliberately attack the Liberty and that neither government tried to cover up the incident. Although some reports were classified, most were not and have been available to citizens who sought them. Virtually all of the formerly classified reports are now readily available. Through his careful, detailed, documented, and objective analysis of these reports and information from other sources, the author persuasively counters the conspiracy theories and tales.
After completing Cristol’s book, the truly objective reader should reach the same conclusions as did the numerous investigations and the author—that the tragic attack on the Liberty was a grievous case of mistaken identity and nothing more. Killing and injuring friendly forces have always been unfortunate consequences of war—witness the fatal shooting of Gen Stonewall Jackson in 1863 by his own troops at Chancellorsville, Virginia; the Eighth Air Force bombing of American troops at Saint-Lô, France, in 1944; and the shootdown of two US Army Black Hawk helicopters in Iraq by two US Air Force F-15s in April 1994. Furthermore, both governments made complete and honest investigations to determine the causes of the incident. If anything, the US Navy should shoulder the preponderance of responsibility for the attack because its inadequate communications system of 1967 failed to give the Liberty timely notice to stay away from the war zone—if it had not been there in the first place, it would not have been attacked. This book should put to bed the notions of a deliberate Israeli attack and cover-up. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, some people will continue to believe these ideas. Hopefully, this book will persuade others that the attack on the Liberty was truly a case of mistaken identity.
Lt Col Robert B. Kane, USAF
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
Book Reviews | Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor