everybody in the space that i worked and died except me lost two with some of america's most sensitive electronic intelligence equipment because the liberty was  this is a five as have always said the attack was no accident we were well known and the attack was obviously deliberate i consider it this cold blooded murder of american sailors that day it's also brought thirty five years of violence hatred and bloodshed since nine hundred sixty seven israel has become the dominant power in the middle east thanks to its alliance with the us it was a turning point in our relationship with israel up to the point we had of void for the security of israel became one of our strategic objectives which it had never been in the past for thirty five years the liberty veterans have been campaigning for justice and a full inquiry into the attack on the ship we need you because it's what keeps us going we can't do the things we want to do without your navy and thirteen weeks later after boot camp i got into u s s liberty run caskey didn't yet know it but the liberty would also be on her way to war but america was distracted by something that union was extending its influence in the middle east the liberty was a ship designed to listen in on electronic communications and pass intelligence on to the highest levels of the u s government there was no other ship like an addict's bristled with forty five antennas and below with dozens of communications analysts and translators if it was broadcast on a radio wave we could receive it at any frequency low frequency high frequency medium frequency very low frequency if it was out there we could receive it if we were listening and we we heard a signal and when we looked at it we couldn't understand it it was encrypted as well we sent it back to n s a and let them hit it with their computers n s a the national security agency is america's top secret organization for handling electronic intelligence from its headquarters outside washington it controlled the liberty as she crew slowly along the west coast of africa in may sixty seven moved thousands of egyptians troops into the previously was the research officer on the research ship commanding officer drove the ship the executive officer was his assistant and i was in charge of the hundred ninety five security group person we were sent around the world wherever there might be a hot spot to see if we could determine what was going on and if united states desired any intervention of any sort life aboard the u s s liberty was like no other naval life and in the one nine hundred sixty s ships of that ilk operated independently the commanding officer of the u s s america which was the flagship of the sixth fleet didn't keep track of a ship that was sailing all by itself when we were off duty when the sailors were off duty we went up topside and sunbathe i mean we wore pressed starch being aboard the ship was really something that was fun like going from abidjan ivory coast all the way down to cape town you drifting along at three knots a listening ten miles off the coast abidjan that was a social event of the year i got back aboard at two o'clock in the morning the day we left it met at the gangway bike at mcgonagall who informed me that we had orders to get underway immediately and i was to get the rest of the troops and we were getting under way in a sudden change of mission the ship was ordered to head for the middle east five thousand miles away in washington israel's hardline spymaster may i meet was making a secret visit to his friends in the cia and the pentagon i meets key meeting was with robert mcnamara the us secretary of defense i meet wanted to know whether the americans would back israel if it struck the first blow but the two men have very different memories of that encounter i told him look we don't want even o keep the us in a position where of israel called on us for military assistance to turn back the attack by by egypt and possibly turned back an attack by egypt with the support of the soviet union we had to be in a position that we could attain the support of the american people and the congress for applying military force in support of israel and we would not have that support if israel had attacked egypt so our position was no i don't initiate blue was suddenly dispatched to join the allan bloom at the ship at the spanish port of rota by the crew had been told they were heading for the gaza strip we knew that from the daily news that the arab israeli situation was destroy most of egypt's and these are the original shots taken by the gun cameras during the attacks on the meanwhile the subway at union was boosting its military presence near the war zone it moved twenty warships into the eastern mediterranean in response the pentagon ordered the sixth fleet to keep all aircraft and ships at least one hundred waters fly an american and so on there was no need for an armed escort the liberty it was approaching a scene of total israeli victory on the third day of the war they've taken the west bank but the big seem to be identifying the ship as belonging to that i'm not american but there were about nine different occasions that airplanes came out probably twelve times that were circled twelve separate orbits of the of the ship during the morning lloyd painted relieved and this is officer of the day he too was reassured by the presence of the israeli planes i remember vividly looking out through the port holes looking down on the oh one level and seeing all the officers sunbathing at the same time we were being overflown and i remember feeling very good and very warm inside that we were safe they knew we were we were not  stranger out there confident that the israelis knew chest the fella next to me got it in his face and we all went down on the deck but the force of the concussion from the eye glass the next thing i heard down in my springs was a panicky announcement on the loudspeaker one m the liberty's frequencies were being jammed you'd have to know what frequencies we were going to come up on to know that you have to know that we are an american ship if you know we're an american ship you know what frequencies we were going to be on because you know what the fleet frequencies were da hello the attackers knew that target but they were keeping their own identity well during the attack  no one saw any markings and some other men told me later that they made special effort a den of five m and they swear that there were no markers these airplanes were marked they took out all of a trans sort of antennas or communication system if it was an accident it was a best plan docs that i've ever heard of the only reason we got the s o s because my crazy troops were climbing the end on a string in a long as while they were being shot at the end of the air attack eight men were dead and seventy five injured but the worst was yet waterline the men in the engine room got ready to die torpedoes common it's going to open up and you're going to die instantly it's going to be like an atomic bomb because that cold water the cold water hits that boiler that's operating at full there's just no hope so all of us nineteen year olds best place to be is right there you're going to get it you're going to give it up right then and there so torpedo the day we waited and they said it went by and that's when i like three different times four different times it's a paedo simply dropped into the water inside a minute and then you see the way it was going straight for the ship and we were sure that peter was the one that it hit it left the dish up right out of the water and put it down and we started a list ten degrees but it was a slow list and it was going going going and i said my god we're going to flip over the i was one of the fortunate ones a temporary bulkhead wrapped itself around me and the heat of the top it all exploded all of the paint on to my skin so i was black but it was all superficial lost both their drama got my eyes experience i've never seen it like that be incinerated the u s embassy was told that an attack was coming richard parker was the political cons there was this message that they were the navy was preparing to retaliate against egypt for the attack on the liberty they thought that it was it in the in the adoptions who had attacked it they were preparing to to attack egypt in response a few minutes later tony hawk past the pentagon message through to the navy recalled the aircraft might my first thought was as well we don't want to do mushrooms clouds  recall probably has to rearm the aircraft about ten minutes later the u s s america and washington were connected my voice leading the defense secretary himself came on the line mcnamara directed six fleet to recall the aircraft and call them six leads are you sure and he said absolutely certain recall you're right the attack on the liberty had triggered an extraordinary response nuclear  and mcnamara said no no aircraft were to be launched mcnamara's emboss you know he doesn't have to explain why he says what he says i wasn't to say anything about it but he had to get it off his chest that he had sent an aircraft and notified washington obviously by the credit com network because it got bob mcnamara and lyndon johnson and he got had the aircraft recalled by robert mcnamara and he said he reconfigured a flight of aircraft with an aircraft incapable of carrying nuclear weaponry and