Letters

The officers and crew of the USS Liberty are genuine U.S. heroes who endured terrible suffering as a result of the mistakes of others. They are entitled to our respect and honor. Sadly, they have also been used and abused by persons and entities who have their own agendas rather than the best interest and welfare of the survivors and their families.

The reference by Messrs. Meadors and Ennes to the "review" by my friend Rear Adm. Paul Tobin conceded his praise of my book but omitted his quote:

"The Liberty Incident is an exhaustive analysis of all the available de-classified information on the controversial Israeli attack on the U.S. Navy surveillance ship Liberty (AGTR-5). There is no doubt the author knows more about this subject than anyone else who has written on it. ... It is a superb reference."

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Proceedings / August 2002, p.88 Tobin goes on to disagree with my conclusion based on his "instincts" and I respect his right to disagree but must point out that history demonstrates that conclusions reached by "instinct" are usually not as valid as those based on facts.

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Meadors and Mr. Ennes that my book "is not comprehensive." Some documentary evidence, too long to be included in my text, is displayed on my website, www.thelibertyincident.com. In particular, the complete record of the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry consisting of over 725 pages, plus a 62-page time line and other lengthy official reports of investigation, may be viewed to permit interested persons to reach their own conclusions of the thoroughness of the investigations.

Mr. Ennes, who was wounded and taken below in the first minutes of the attack, concluded from his hospital beda few days after the attack and without the benefit of research of other sources of information-that the attack was not a mistake. In view of his traumatic experience it is understandable that he is not interested in the conclusions of the ten official investigations conducted after he made up his mind. As proof of the adage "memory changes with time," Joe Meadors now claims he performed certain signal hoists which records show were performed by Signalman second Class Russell O. David, and for which David, not Meadors, was awarded a Bronze Star.

An examination of the 155 pages of sworn testimony of 14 Liberty crew members in the Official Record of the Court of Inquiry recorded a few days after the incident and viewable on my website contradicts the claim that "the survivors of the attack have never, to this day, been allowed to testify freely and under oath for the official record."

We are blessed to live in a free country where we are free to reach any conclusion we choose. Those who have suffered the horror of the event are not impartial analysts. Interested persons should start with an open mind, examine all the evidence, and then reach a conclusion. My conclusion and the conclusions of all the official investigations agree. It was a tragic case of mistaken identity. The number of friendly fire incidents that have occurred in Operation Iraqi Freedom confirm how often these tragedies occur.

God bless the Liberty crew and God bless America.

Jay Cristol

Capt., USNR (Ret.)

Miami, Fla.

Polmar on Liberty

Messrs. Meadors and Ennes are incensed that I wrote [in the 2003 Almanac of Seapower] that Judge A. J. Cristol's book The Liberty Incident "provides the most comprehensive account [of the attack] likely to be written." In writing The Liberty Incident, judge Cristol undertook the most comprehensive set of interviews possible: On the Israeli side, he interviewed Yitzhak Rabin, who was chief of staff at the time of the attack; the heads of the Air Force and Navy; officers at the Israeli command centers; pilots who made the attack; and commanders of PT boats that attacked the Liberty. On the U.S. side he interviewed secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara; other senior U.S. civilian and military officials, including Capt. William McGonagle and several crew members of the Liberty; Vice Adm. Donald Engen, who commanded the carrier USS America (in the Mediterranean at the time of the attack); Adm. Isaac C. Kidd, who led the U.S. Navy's inquiry; and many others, including then-Chief Petty Officer Marvin E. Nowicki.

Nowicki is particularly important to the story. He was the senior Hebrew linguist on a U.S. Navy EC-121 electronic surveillance aircraft flying over the area at the time of the attack. While James Bamford's book Body of Secrets is cited by Meadors and Ennes as supporting the intentional-attack theory, it is interesting that Bamford's accuracy has been challenged by Nowicki, whom he cites as a source for his conclusions. Nowicki subsequently wrote in The Wall Street Journal: "My position, which is opposite of Mr. Bamford's, is that the attack, though terrible and tragic, especially to the crew members and their families on that ill-fated day in june 1967, was a gross error." (Cristol also has been in contact with the other Hebrew linguists who have heard the EC-121 tapes.)