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U.S.S. Liberty [NSA declassified more documents on 40th anniversary]
National Security Agency ^ | June 8, 2007 | NSA

Posted on 06/08/2007 8:33:53 PM PDT by Dajjal

http://www.nsa.gov/liberty/

U.S.S. Liberty

What’s new?

On 08 June 2007, the National Security Agency (NSA) finalized the review of all material relative to the 08 June 1967 attack on the USS Liberty. This additional release adds to the collection of documents and audio recordings and transcripts previously posted to the site on 02 July 2003.

The attack on the USS Liberty, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. Instead, through these public releases, we intend to make as much information as possible available for the many scholars, historians, academia, and members of the general public who find interest in analyzing the information and forming their own conclusions.



TOPICS: Egypt; Foreign Affairs; Government; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1967; 6dayswar; 6daywar; bloodlibel; conspiracy; coverup; egypt; fogofwar; iraq; israel; jordan; lbj; liberty; middleeast; milhist; militaryhistory; navy; nsa; sixdayswar; sixdaywar; statedepartment; syria; usnavy; ussliberty; veterans; yiftachspector
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To: cardinal4

I learned about this in The Pacific Stars & Stripes in a hotel lobby in Saigon. Reading about it later, the Israelis believed that Liberty was crewed by Hebrew linguists monitoring Israeli comms. If what I read further was to be believed, it was crewed by Arab and Russian linguists; the Russians were there to determine if Soviet pilots were flying Arab aircraft. Everything else I read led me to believe that the U.S. flag was flying off the fantail. I believe to this day that it was deliberate, and I’m a big supporter of Israel.


41 posted on 06/09/2007 5:33:37 AM PDT by Ax (Be a hero, save a whale. Save a baby, go to jail.)
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To: the_daug
I herd a theory from a guy connected to naval intelligence.

My grandfather was connected to a herd a couple times a day.

42 posted on 06/09/2007 5:47:04 AM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: GlennBeck08

There is a theory floating around that, the Soviets were decoding the satellite links, and then passing the intercepted info, to the Egyptians...


43 posted on 06/09/2007 5:56:11 AM PDT by thinking
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To: Dajjal

The USS Liberty attack is very painful to many. Painful to me as a Jew and supporter of Israel. You can talk and deconstruct the USS Liberty all you want but this is today. Where Islam is the menace. Jews and Israel are a footnote in the global Jihad. One arm of which is conquering Europe via immigration, sucking off madly generous European welfare programs, via making far more babies than European families

THE DEMOGRAPHIC JIHAD


44 posted on 06/09/2007 6:05:34 AM PDT by dennisw (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction)
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To: thinking
1. In 1967 there weren't a lot of satellite links.

2. (Deleted because it became too mission specific.)

45 posted on 06/09/2007 6:11:57 AM PDT by ASA Vet
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To: GATOR NAVY

“I’m no Israel hater but I believe the attack was deliberate. They were worried LIBERTY was going to hear something they didn’t want it to. And with their national survival at risk, they weren’t too worried about who they took out to eliminate that possibility.”

Neither were we.


46 posted on 06/09/2007 6:21:18 AM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: GATOR NAVY
http://www.gunplot.net/vietnam/hobartvietnam.html
47 posted on 06/09/2007 6:24:54 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (conservatism as the fusion of libertarianism and traditionalism - John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke)
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To: Peanut Gallery

ping


48 posted on 06/09/2007 6:36:44 AM PDT by Professional Engineer (No sprechen ze spanglish. Pray for the president, for he has clearly gone insane.)
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To: ex 98C MI Dude
I’m not seeing a whole lot to disprove the fog of war defense the Israelis put forth. Yes, they knew she was in the area, but so were a whole lot of unfriendlies. Mistakes were made on both sides.

Its just not a very sexy story esp for the Israeli haters

49 posted on 06/09/2007 7:00:23 AM PDT by gbaker
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To: Enterprise

In the late 1990’s the collection came to our facility. Showing the evidence on display, my chief explained to us that there is no way the attack was accidental. We (the Liberty) were in their way, and they (Israelis) will do anything it takes to ensure survival. It wasn’t so much that they thought we were an enemy - we were an obstacle.


50 posted on 06/09/2007 7:46:50 AM PDT by Peanut Gallery
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To: carton253
Lets do this step by step.

The Egyptians had no aircraft.

Absolutely not true.

They had been destroyed during the first day of the war, so that is out.

No, they weren't. You haven't even done any basic research on the subject. Total Egyptian aircraft losses of all types during the war were about 60%. For the MiG 21s, the Egyptians started the war with about 200, and lost about 100 during the course of the war (only about 29 were lost in the air; the rest were destroyed on the ground). The attack on the Liberty came on the second day of the war, when the Egyptians still had a number of aircraft. (I use MiG 21s as an example because they are the Egyptian aircraft that most closely matches in appearance the aircraft described by the Liberty.)

Plus, them big old Stars of David on the planes are another sure give away.

You obviously haven't read the material at the link. The ship was never able to confirm the identity of the aircraft as Israeli. If you have any pictures of the underside of the Mirages in their 1967 wartime paint, I'll be happy to see if I agree with the victims of the attack.

51 posted on 06/09/2007 9:21:12 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: NormsRevenge
I used to work with a guy who was a young sailor serving onboard the USS Liberty that day.. Thanks for passing this on..

Jim Ennes is a friend, lives not far from here.

52 posted on 06/09/2007 9:29:32 AM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: the_daug

I don’t believe it was an accident, either. Neither do I blame Israel for doing it. I just regret the Liberty was there. Battling for your very existence gives you some leeway. Of course, we wouldn’t know that because we think our existence is guaranteed, or at least, someone else’s job.


53 posted on 06/09/2007 9:37:20 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: PAR35

Wow! You have been put me firmly in my place. Good job!


54 posted on 06/09/2007 9:37:35 AM PDT by carton253 (And if that time does come, then draw your swords and throw away the scabbards.)
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To: PAR35
USS Liberty Memorial site is best place to find primary source material
55 posted on 06/09/2007 9:47:02 AM PDT by kabar
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To: the_daug

The part about listening and transmitting data onshore makes sense, the other part doesn’t.

If they already knew that someone was slipping info to enemies, they really didn’t need to go to such lengths to disable transfer or even collection of it, it could have easily been done via high level channels. Besides, it was pretty difficult to make sure at the time that they would only cripple Liberty instead of sinking it, and not kill anyone (a high price to pay) only to do something that can be just as easily and maybe faster done through the channels.

Also, I don’t see how disabling Liberty would help in actually finding out who the spy was, as it would immediately shut down the transmission of the info. If anything, it would probably make it more difficult, when once they knew that someone was leaking info, they could simply do a bit of counterespionage and start feeding wrong info to different people - that would help flush out who the spy was.

IMHO.


56 posted on 06/09/2007 9:53:41 AM PDT by CutePuppy (If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)
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To: ASA Vet

I know what you mean. You have to round them stray a an get them back into the heard.


57 posted on 06/09/2007 9:56:29 AM PDT by the_daug
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To: cva66snipe
"I don't think Israel trusted LBJ."

I wish I had a better memory of it but very recently, and I think here, I read an excellent recap of the seven day war in regards to the USSR and specifically what they told LBJ and the pressure LBJ put on Israel to stand down.

While I can understand the fog of war and probabilities are that was the case if I were Israel I wouldn't have trusted LBJ and could have easily thought we were going to turn on them.

Hopefully someone can correct any memory failures or point to the original article as I found it fascinating.

58 posted on 06/09/2007 10:09:50 AM PDT by Proud_texan (Just my opinion, no relationship to reality is expressed or implied.)
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To: kabar

A lot of “I / we believed”, but without facts - supposedly intercepts could’ve been made public by now, or at least to numerous commissions that investigated the attack, yet...

Among the many names in that article, that I would have a hard time to believe (not all, and some I don’t know, but some are known anti-Israel) :

Dean Rusk
Clark Clifford (of recent fame)
Robert Dallek
William Odom (of recent fame)
Bobby Inman


59 posted on 06/09/2007 10:22:08 AM PDT by CutePuppy (If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)
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To: sofaman
why would Israel attack an ally? What possible benefit would there be to such an act?

As Cicero would say, "Cui Bono"--who benefits? In this case NO ONE. There was no possible benefit Israel could receive from doing this.

60 posted on 06/09/2007 10:33:04 AM PDT by montag813
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