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From: lieman@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Dan &)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Israeli sinking of the Liberty
Message-ID: <12345@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 12-Mar-86 15:36:57 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.12345
Posted: Wed Mar 12 15:36:57 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Mar-86 23:02:39 EST
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Someone just brought up the example of the Israeli sinking of the
Liberty as justification for claiming that the Israelis will attack
without provocation.  I don't want to get into an arguement about
whether Israel would attack without provocation, but I
do want to clear up the half-statements made about the Liberty.

First, the Liberty itself.  Public belief says it was a CIA spy ship.
Many, however, believe it was a NSA SIGINT gathering ship. (_Puzzle_Palace_).
In any event, it had been ordered three times by the Navy and Intelligence
high commands to change its location.  Why those orders never reached it
is a serious question.  Three separate times the US military failed
to properly execute orders.  Israel had warned the US to move the ship
unoffically, since the ship was listening in on important Israeli
military orders.  Remember: Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia are also
allies of the U.S.  If the U.S. had information that Israel was planning
a strategic thrust in some area, it is not at all unthinkable that
a sympathetic American State or Defense official would pass that info.
along to the Arabs.  

The Liberty was not a commercial vessel.  It was a military ship.  It
was in a war zone.  It had been ordered to move.  This is not
an unprovoked attack.  This is a part of a war.  If the U.S. had sunk
a communist intelligence ship 5 miles off South Korea during the war,
would this be unprovoked?  Better come up with a better example
to justify your claim.

-Dan Lieman