Assault on the Liberty: The True
Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence Ship, by James
M. Ennes Jr.: Random House, 1979. 300 pages, hardback, available from
IHR at $14.95 . ISBN: 0394-50512-3.
Reviewed by Lewis Brandon (David
McCalden)
Subtitled "The True Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence
Ship," this book must certainly carry much more clout than its predecessor:
It was written by a crew member.
Ennes was a cryptological officer on board the
USS Liberty when
it was attacked and 34 of its crew killed by Israeli marines in 1967.
Ennes was aghast that the whole affair should be hushed up and that
the American government should meekly accept the Israelis' lies. He
felt it his duty to his 34 murdered comrades that the truth should be
told. Consequently, he set about the arduous task of interviewing dozens
of officials, and collating hundreds of documents. Many times he was
warned to drop the subject.
It was not until he finally left the service in 1978 that he could speak
freely. This book is the result. It is packed with details and first-hand
accounts. This book truly is "survivor testimony "
There is such attention to detail here that it puts to shame the one
previous work on this subject, Conspiracy of Silence, by
journalist Anthony Pearson (available from IHR at $11.00). Although
Ennes does not mention the previous book by name, he does have a few
scathing comments for those who speculate on fantastic, impossible devices
which would intercept and scramble radio messages before re-transmitting
them.
Reprinted with the permission of :
Institute For Historical
Review
Post Office Box 2739
Newport Beach, California 92659
The text which follows is the book's introduction, and a foreword
by the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas
H. Moorer.
In June 1967, jet aircraft and motor torpedo boats
of Israel brutally assaulted an American naval vessel, the USS Liberty,
in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula in the Mediterranean
Sea. The attack was preceded by more than six hours of intense low-level
surveillance by Israeli photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which buzzed
the intelligence ship thirteen times, sometimes flying as low as 200
feet directly overhead. The carefully orchestrated assault that followed
was initiated by high-performance jet aircraft, was followed up by slower
and more maneuverable jets carrying napalm, and was finally turned over
to lethal torpedo boats, which blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship's
side.
The attack lasted more than two hours -- killing 34 Americans and wounding
171 others -- and inflicted 821 rocket and machine-gun holes in the
ship. And when the Liberty stubbornly remained afloat despite
her damage, Israeli forces machine-gunned her life rafts and sent troop
carrying helicopters in to finish the job. At this point, with Sixth
Fleet rescue aircraft finally en route, the government of Israel apologized
and the attacking forces suddenly withdrew. Only then did the identity
of the assailants become known.
Details of the attack were hushed up in both countries. Israel claimed
that her forces mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship, and our government
quietly accepted that excuse despite evidence to the contrary. Then
our government downplayed the intensity of the surveillance and the
severity of the attack, and imposed a news blackout to keep the story
under control. The official version is that the Liberty was reconnoitered
only three times and then only from great distance. The American people
were told that the air attack lasted only five minutes and that it was
followed by a single torpedo and an immediate apology and offer of assistance.
Now, after more than twelve years of research and dozens of interviews
with government executives, military officers and Liberty survivors,
a former ship's officer who was there reveals the inside story of the
assault on the USS Liberty and of our government's attempt to
keep the truth from public knowledge.
Foreword
by Thomas H. Moorer, Admiral,
U.S. Navy (Ret.)
The fifth edition of Assault on the Liberty should be read by all Americans
even though it has now been eighteen years since Israeli warplanes and
torpedo boats attacked for several hours a ship of the United States
Navy. The ship was clearly identified, not only by its unique configuration
but by a very large U.S. flag that was flown at the time. The weather
was calm and the visibility was excellent. During this unprovoked attack
34 U.S. Navy men were killed and 171 wounded. Nevertheless, to this
day the American public does not know why the attack took place and
who was involved overall.
In my opinion, the United States government and the Israeli government
must share responsibility for this cover-up. I cannot accept the claim
by the Israelis that this was a case of mistaken identity. I have flown
for years in both peace and war on surveillance flights over the ocean,
and my opinion is supported by a full career of locating and identifying
ships at sea. Based on the way this tragedy was handled both in the
United States and Israel, one must conclude that there is much information
that has not been made available to the public.
The U.S. Fleet, positioned nearby, received a distress call from the
U.S.S. Liberty, and one carrier dispatched a squadron to go to
the defense of the disabled ship. But before the aircraft reached the
Liberty, they received orders from Washington directing their
return to their ship. Who issued such orders? So far, no one knows.
In the United States all the information available to the U.S. government
indicating those who participated in controlling this operation from
Washington, together with the exact text of orders transmitted to the
Mediterranean Fleet, has never been made public.
I urge all those who read this very interesting book to call on the
Congress to once and for all clear the uncertainties, speculation, and
unanswered questions surrounding this tragedy.
For more information about this book and the shameful incident it recounts,
take this link to:
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