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http://www.ussliberty.com Forgotten History - Friday, April 5, 2002 "Little known facts and overlooked history" ============================================================ Want to become a Forgotten History subscriber for FREE? Visit: http://www.shagmail.com/sub/history.html ============================================================ AOL users: look for your links at the bottom of the page. ------------------------------------------------------------ Attack On The USS Liberty The Middle East is in the news again. Over the years, no country in the world has been a better friend to Israel than the United States. In fact, the US with Harry Truman as President, was the first country to recognize the state of Israel. It took only 6 seconds for that vote to be cast. All of the economic reasons behind this vote is not the subject of this issue (maybe for another day), but there is a little known episode in the relationship between US and Israel that has long been forgotten; The sinking of the USS Liberty. The time was 1967 and the Arab countries and Israel were locked in a war of words. These words were about to turn into the real thing. Israel had superior technology, having been armed by the United States while the Arab countries (notably Egypt and Syria) were armed by the Soviet Union. At that time, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were under the control of Jordan's King Hussein. Patrolling the Mediterranean just off the coast, was a US intelligence ship called the USS Liberty. Its mission was to monitor communications from both Israel and Jordan. Egypt, Syria and Israel had mobilized their troops in anticipation of hostilities breaking out. Jordan, always a moderate in both Israel and US eyes, had no appetite for getting into another war with Israel. Jordan knew it could not win. Hussein told the US that if hostilities broke out he wanted no part of them. Jordan did not want to lose territory, which was all but certain if they fought Israel. Jordan's King Hussein had rebuked Nasser, President of Egypt and told him that Jordan would not fight Israel. Hussein turned to the US and asked if the Americans could promise that Israel would not attack its positions. The US gave these assurances and The USS Liberty's mission was to monitor communications to ensure compliance. It was in position to know if Jordan would attack Israel and visa versa. What has become known as The Six Day War was about to begin. In the wee hours of the morning, Israel's air force attacked Egypt and disabled nearly the entire Egyptian Air Force while the planes were still on the ground. Within hours, Israel had effectively won the war and turned its attention to Jerusalem, even though Jordan had not entered the war. The USS Liberty picked up communications that Israel had indeed intended to attack Jordan to seize Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel knew what the mission was of the USS Liberty and despite the clear United States flag flying proceeded to attack the USS Liberty. Not one pass, but several passes. The deliberate attack was a clear attempt to keep the USS Liberty from notifying Jordan that Israel was about to seize Jerusalem. The attack lasted for over an hour, critically disabling the US vessel. Several Americans were killed. Most people know that Israeli paratroopers seized Jerusalem without much of a fight and present hostilities owe their beginning to those six days. While this is a forgotten episode in US history, it is also an interesting question to ask why the episode was so under- reported. The Six Day War was a popular triumph in the US press and what ensued was a cover-up to keep Americans in the dark about what their ally had done. The commander of the Liberty, James Ennis, would have none of it and years later penned his account in the book from which this overview was taken. The book's name? Conspiracy of Silence: Attack On The USS Liberty. Source: Conspiracy Of Silence: Attack On The USS Liberty by James Ennis ------------------------------------------------------------ Questions...Comments..Email us at: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <a href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]";>Email Forgotten History</a> ************************************************************ To SUBSCRIBE visit: http://www.shagmail.com/sub/history.html *** ____________________________________________________________ END OF FORGOTTEN HISTORY Copyright 2002 by Pulse Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others. ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. 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