From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Subject: Re: Schmidling is simply wrong.
Followup-To: talk.politics.mideast
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 20:00:05 GMT

<1992Aug13.141947.11163@inel.gov> dpe@inel.gov (Don Palmrose) writes:
#dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren) writes:
##
## 
## What makes this story even more illogical is the fact that the Liberty
## was attacked near the end of the war, when a cease-fire has already
## been signed with Jordan, and the war with Egypt was all but over
## (a cease-fire was signed the same evening). There was simply no
## reason for Israel to attack the ship. I have never seen any of the
## "delibarate attack" advocates come up with any motive strong enough
## to justify his theory. 
## 
## 
## -Danny Keren.
#
#I have been following this thread for its seems several weeks.  Because of the
#attack of USS Liberty now being raised I feel I must make some points due to
#my background as an officer in the US Navy (active and currently reserves).
#I am not clear on the real reasons why Israel intentionally attack USS Liberty

I agree. The complete lack of a motive casts a heavy doubt on the
"deliberate attack" theory. What was there to gain by doing it? 
Certainly there was a lot to lose!

#but it is clear from all I have heard and read inside and outside Navy circles
#that they absolutely *KNEW* that it was an US Naval vessel.  Before she was
#attack there were patrol boats and aircraft making fairly close approaches to
#the ship.  Close enough to convince me that there is no way what so ever that
#a mistaken identification could be made.  I say this with the experience of 
#having been a qualified Officer of the Deck on a US Navy warship and having to
#identify many ships commercial and military, foriegn and our own.

If you are interested, you can read a complete description of the
Israeli side of the story in the "Atlantic Monthly", Sep. 1984. The
ship was indeed recognized some time before the attack, but 
unfortunately its marker was removed from the "battle board". 

#This was brought out recently (last 6 months) with reports from former Israeli
#military personnel who were involved stating that Israel knew it was a US
#intelligence-gathering ship.  

Not exactly. This is how Evans & Novak quoted an American which was
serving in the Israeli army at the time. He completely denied having
said what they attributed to him; there was a long article about it
in the "NY Times", and he also appeared on an NBC program about the
Liberty (I think it was "Now it can be Told"), in which he stated that
the Israelis contacted the US embassy and asked them if they had such
a ship there; the answer was no.

#It seems that Israel was so concerned that if 
#the US real knew what they were doing that extra pressure would be brought on 
#Israel to stop what ever operation they were either planning, about to begin, 
#or underway.

In that case, it would be enough to scare the ship away by starfing it.

#I will leave it to others to determine why Israel did that cowardly and 
#irrehensable action of attacking USS Liberty.  Fellow sailors and officers
#of the US Navy were killed and it is clear to me that the US administration in 
#office at that time let Israel get away with it.  

I share your pain and anger - it was (IMHO) a terrible accident. The
day before, Israeli planes bobmbed an Israeli convoy in the west bank.
In the 1982 war in Lebanon, Israeli jets killed 25 Israeli soldiers
by mistake within a few minutes. We all know about the Vincence. These
things happen, unfortunately. I think its a little unfair to judge how
people reacted in the middle of a war, without taking into account
how war effects our judgement. Since the ship was not supposed to be
there, the commanders of the torpedo boats made a mistake in identfying
it. It is like choosing between option A and B, but if you apriory rule
A out, only B remains. In this case, B was "it is an Egyptian ship".
Furthermore, the Liberty fired at the boats as they approcahed it. It
was understandable, but it reinforced the idea that it was not a 
frienly or neutral ship.
#
#I give this view out to you for food for thought and not something to be
#endlessly debated, flamed, or whatever.

I appriciate your frankness. It seems that you are interested in the
truth and not in political exploitation of the USS Liberty tragedy.

-Danny Keren.