LETTER: Was Israel’s attack on a U.S. ship just ‘mistaken identity?’

To Ozaukee Press:

On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy intelligence ship, was attacked by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats while operating in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula during the Six-Day War.  The assault killed 34 Americans, wounded more than 170 and nearly sank the ship. A Navy court of inquiry convened soon after the attack concluded that it was a case of mistaken identity, though the incident has remained controversial ever since.

In a 2004 signed affidavit, retired Navy Captain Ward Boston, chief counsel to the Naval Court of Inquiry, stated that Admiral Isaac Kidd told him President Lyndon Johnson and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara had ordered the inquiry to conclude that the attack was a case of “mistaken identity.” Boston added that this conclusion was reached despite “overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

A damning indictment of the official narrative by Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, concluded that Israeli aircraft attacked the USS Liberty for about 25 minutes using napalm, cannon fire and rockets, while jamming U.S. distress channels. It also asserts that Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned firefighters, stretcher bearers and life rafts. It further stated that the White House recalled military rescue aircraft while the ship was under attack,

An October 2, 2007 article on the Liberty incident in the Chicago Tribune noted that, even after four decades, many of the more than two dozen survivors interviewed were unable to discuss the attack “without shouting or weeping.”

Liberty Captain William McGonagle was severely wounded early in the attack.  Yet he commanded his ship for over 17 hours, maneuvering it while directing damage control, fire suppression and care for his wounded crew.

Although it is customary for the Congressional Medal of Honor to be presented by the president in a public ceremony, Captain McGonagle instead received the United States’ highest award for military valor from the chief of naval operations in an unpublicized ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard.

The Moorer report concluded that “fundraising and election pressures have prevented an honest investigation from being conducted for the past 36 years.” That sentence still rings true today. The same political currents that shaped the original inquiry have sustained the silence that followed.

The report also called for a new court of inquiry to take public testimony from surviving crewmembers and thoroughly examine the attack, as well as for June 8 to be proclaimed USS Liberty Remembrance Day. These are not radical demands; they are minimal steps toward accountability and closure.

If we claim to honor all who wear the uniform, then we must also have the courage to confront the full story of the USS Liberty. Our military veterans and the integrity of our democracy, deserve nothing less.

Terry Hansen

Grafton

Editor’s note: In 1989, Grafton’s newly built library was named after the USS Liberty as a requirement imposed by Grafton industrialists Benjamin and Theodore Grob as a condition of their $250,000 contribution. The naming, seen by some as an indictment of Israel meant to fuel antisemitism, was protested by Jewish organizations and others after reports that Benjamin Grob was a financial backer of antisemitic, white supremacist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan. At the time, Israel, which maintained the Liberty attack was a tragic mistake, was more broadly supported as a friend of the U.S. than it is today. Though the library remains officially named the USS Liberty Memorial Public Library, it is often referred to as the Grafton Public Library to disassociate it from the bitter controversy that clouded its opening.