U.S. Says 1967 Attack Act of Negligence

The cover-up continues ...

By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reviewing documents covering 36 years, amid a lack of consensus, a State Department official concluded Monday that Israel's attack on the U.S. spy ship Liberty during the 1967 Six Day War was an act of Israeli negligence.

James Bamford, an investigative journalist who has written about the incident, demanded further investigation ``instead of people getting up here and giving their opinions.''

``There were cover-ups,'' Bamford said, citing a signed affidavit by retired Navy Capt. Ward Boston, who was a leader of a military investigation into the incident.

Accusing Israel of a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and kill its crew, Boston said in a legal declaration in Coronado, Calif., that he was certain the Israel pilots knew the Liberty, which clearly displayed American flags and had markings in English instead of Arabic, was a U.S. Navy ship.

go here http://www.usslibertyinquiry.com/

Many important statements were edited and should be underlined in this new inquiry into the tragedy.

David Hatch, a technical director at the National Security Agency, said, ``The good news is that information long sought by researchers is now out, and the bad news is that it does not settle it.''

How can old investigations surpass new information for the "real" story?

I've never been very interested in the whole Liberty issue -- for the same reason I'm not very interested in the Kennedy assassination. It's impossible (or at least very difficult) to prove either way. And it has no bearing on the larger, institutional understanding of the conflict in general, and the Six Day War in particular.

Thousands and thousands died in the Six Day War, and thousands more died in the events that followed. That's depressing enough for me.