McLEAN, Va. — Former crewmembers gathered near Washington this weekend to remember a controversial attack 40 years ago today when a U.S. spy ship was nearly sunk by an ally. The Israeli naval and air bombardment of the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during Israel's Six Day War against three Arab nations left 34 Americans dead.
Israel has always insisted the attack was a case of mistaken identity and 11 U.S. investigations over the years have reached the same conclusion.
Although Israel apologized and paid restitution to the families of servicemen killed and injured, some of the men on the ship that day have for decades been pushing the theory that the Israelis intended to murder every American on board and that the Pentagon is covering up a war crime.
"They knew exactly who we were," said Joel Lehman, 60, of Austin, Texas, who was a storekeeper for the Navy on the ship and wants a new investigation.
Researcher Michael Oren says the case is closed. He says no one has found evidence that the attack was anything other than an accident.
"I have never come across any evidence supporting it," said Oren, a senior fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. "Why would Israel … attack a ship that belonged to its only ally?"
On Thursday several former crewmembers of the Liberty gathered at a hotel here to share stories and memories. Many believe the incident was not an accident and they want a new inquiry into the incident.
According to a State Department summary, the Liberty had been sent to the area by the National Security Agency to find out if Soviet personnel were operating with Egyptian forces. Messages sent to the Liberty instructing it to remain 100 miles offshore were never received.
The morning of the attack, several Israeli reconnaissance planes identified the ship as a friendly vessel in the war zone, 14 miles offshore. But later in the day, Israeli jets attacked, running six strafing runs.
Lehman and others say Israel wanted to sink the Liberty because it hoped to blame the attack on Egypt and pull the United States into the war, or that it was worried the spy ship would find out about Israel's plans to attack Syrian positions in the Golan Heights. Oren says both are false because Israel did not need U.S. help in the war and had already told the U.S. government of its plans to attack the Syrians.
A U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry completed 10 days after the attack concluded it was a case of mistaken identity. Ten subsequent inquiries by Congress, the CIA and the Pentagon found no evidence pointing to a deliberate attack.
Dale Larkins, 61, of Lexington, Neb., a seaman apprentice who had just gone below decks before the start of the attack, said Thursday that the atmosphere was "very relaxed" in the moments before the attack.
Larkins heard an explosion and the high-pitched sound of the ship's chemical attack alarm. When he reported to one of the ship's machine guns he found three crewmates shot to pieces. Next came a torpedo hit, "and the ship surged in the water," he said.
Glenn Oliphant, secretary for the Liberty Veterans Association — who lost his hearing in the attack — believes in a conspiracy. He says people who saw transcripts of communications between Israeli pilots and their air-traffic controllers say the Israelis knew the ship was American and ordered the attack.
Oren says a series of mishaps caused the attack. The Israelis lost track of the ship during a shift change at combat headquarters. When Israeli troops on a beach of the Sinai Peninsula thought they were being shelled from the sea, Israel ordered its navy to attack.
Israeli jets were called in when the Navy could not get to the ship. When the pilots realized they were attacking a U.S. ship they stopped, "but nobody told the (Israeli) navy," Oren says. Israeli torpedo boats arrived on the scene and were fired at by the Liberty. The Israelis fired torpedos. One struck the Liberty, killing several crewmen. An Israeli officer saw the U.S. flag, called off the attack and offered to help.
Mitchell Bard, a historian with the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, which promotes cooperation between the USA and Israel, maintains a website about the incident, which includes NSA transcripts of communications between Israeli pilots and their controllers, which illustrate the confusion.
"The cockpit tapes say they (pilots) couldn't see the (ship's) flags. Then there was concern about its identity when they saw its hull number and the air-traffic controlers in Tel Aviv became concerned that it was an American ship," Bard says.
"As far I know these are (the complete transcripts)," Bard says. "But this is something that a conspiracy theorist would say is missing."
Oren agrees that a new inquiry should be held.
"I think that is probably not a bad idea," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Security Agency said this week it would release all documents relating to the attack.
"We're hoping those documents are what we're looking for," said Glenn Oliphant, 62, of White Bear, Minn