Saturday, June 11, 2011

USS Liberty (sunk by Israel) hero dies without seeing justice

WASHINGTON: Forty-four years ago, on June 8, 1967, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attacked a US intelligence ship, the USS Liberty, with gunfire, napalm and torpedoes in international waters for more than two hours.

My friend, John Hrankowski, was on board.

During the assault, hours before Israel’s invasion of the Golan Heights during the six-day war, Israel destroyed the ship’s antennas and jammed its radios.

Finally, the crew managed to send a distress call to the USS America, which sent two fighter aircraft to save the ship.

But then US Defense Secretary, Robert McNamara, and then President, Lyndon Johnson, recalled the planes — giving Israel time to fire torpedoes.

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