The USS Liberty Incident: What the U.S. Government Buried

On June 8, 1967, during the third day of the Six-Day War, the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy technical research ship operating in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula, was attacked by Israeli Air Force jets and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats. The assault lasted approximately two hours. When it was over, 34 American servicemen were dead and 171 were wounded.^[1]

The Israeli government called it a case of mistaken identity. The U.S. government accepted that explanation within days. But the evidence, much of it now declassified, tells a different story entirely.

The Flag Was Visible

One of the central Israeli claims has always been that they could not identify the ship as American. NSA intercepts declassified in 2003 directly contradict this. The intercepted communications between Israeli helicopter pilots and their ground control show that the nationality of the ship was discussed before and during the attack.^[2] Furthermore, crew members have consistently testified that the Liberty was flying a standard American flag, and after the first strafing run destroyed it, a larger holiday flag (five by eight feet) was raised in its place.

The crew raised a holiday-sized American flag after the first was shot down. The attacks continued for another 75 minutes.

Survivor Maurice Shafer, a Hebrew linguist stationed aboard the Liberty, testified that he personally heard Israeli pilots identify the vessel as American during the attack. His account, given under oath to the Navy Court of Inquiry, was never included in the final report.^[3]

The Recalled Rescue Aircraft

When the Liberty sent its distress signal, the USS Saratoga, operating nearby in the Mediterranean, launched fighter aircraft to assist. Within minutes, those aircraft were recalled. The order came from the highest levels of the chain of command. Rear Admiral Lawrence Geis, commander of the carrier group, later told journalist James Bamford that he received direct orders from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to recall the planes. When Geis protested, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly came on the line and said he did not care if the ship sank; he would not embarrass an ally.^[4]

This account was confirmed independently by multiple officers on the Saratoga's bridge. No rescue aircraft reached the Liberty during the attack. The crew fought fires and flooding for over 17 hours before help arrived.

The Israeli Pilot Interview

In 1967, an Israeli Air Force pilot involved in the attack gave a recorded debriefing. When portions of this recording were eventually reviewed by American intelligence analysts, they found gaps: sections of tape had been erased or recorded over, precisely at the points where identification of the target was discussed.^[5] The Israeli government has never provided unredacted copies of these recordings despite repeated requests from the U.S. Congress and the Liberty Veterans Association.

The Fastest Court of Inquiry in Navy History

The Navy convened a Court of Inquiry under Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd. The investigation was completed in just one week, an unprecedented timeline for an incident of this magnitude. By comparison, the investigation into the 2000 attack on the USS Cole took months. Captain Ward Boston, the legal counsel for the Court of Inquiry, signed a sworn affidavit in 2004 stating that he and Admiral Kidd were ordered by the White House to conclude the attack was a case of mistaken identity.^[6]

Captain Ward Boston swore under oath that the White House ordered the Court of Inquiry to rule the attack accidental before the investigation began.

Boston stated: "I know from personal conversations with Admiral Kidd that President Johnson and Secretary McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of mistaken identity, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary." Boston kept silent for decades out of loyalty to the Navy, but broke his silence before his death, saying his conscience demanded it.

The Torpedo Attack

After the air assault, three Israeli torpedo boats approached the Liberty. One torpedo struck the ship, blowing a 40-foot hole in the hull and killing 25 of the 34 total casualties. The torpedo boats also machine-gunned the life rafts that crew members had deployed, a violation of international law.^[7] Survivors described watching their rafts being shot to pieces as they tried to abandon ship.

Fifty Years of Silence

The Liberty Veterans Association spent decades petitioning Congress for a formal investigation. Every request was denied or quietly shelved. In 2003, an independent commission led by Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concluded that the attack was deliberate and that the U.S. government had covered up the incident for political reasons.^[8]

Moorer stated publicly: "I have never believed that the attack on the USS Liberty was a case of mistaken identity. The evidence is simply too overwhelming." He called for a full congressional investigation. None was ever convened.

The USS Liberty incident remains one of the most thoroughly documented and least discussed events in modern American military history. Thirty-four men died. The survivors fought for accountability for half a century. The United States government chose an ally over its own sailors, and the historical record, now supported by declassified documents, confirms it.