This happened in the 60's and was it reported in the News NO!
From 14:03 until 14:10, the Israeli air assault unleashed hell, concentrating a coordinated strafing attack first of bombs, then of rockets, armor-piercing bullets, and napalm on the ship's communication antennas and crew. Basically these fighters exhausted all of their ordnance and ammunition on a ship they knew could not return fire before they left. (3) page 16 and (4). Israel later confirmed that multiple Mirage fighter-bombers and Dassault Mystyres swept-wing fighters were used, and this was confirmed from photographs taken by Liberty sailors. During the assault, the aircraft jammed all frequencies so the Liberty was only able to communicate during the short intervals when the Israeli rockets were in-flight, as the fighters had to switch off jamming temporarily. (1) page 36. Also during the assault, the American flag was shot away, but before the torpedo attack began, it was replaced with a larger 8x13 foot version. (3) page 19.
Between 14:24 and 14:28, the three torpedo boats arrived in visual range and were reported as flying Israeli flags. (3) page 19 and (1) page 36.
At 14:31, both the USS Liberty and the torpedo boats opened fire at each other. At least five (5) torpedoes were launched, and two (2) torpedoes made contact at about 14:35, and later mechanical analysis revealed one of the torpedoes hit in an area where a few meters in either direction would likely have broken the ship in half. Twenty-five (25) Americans working in the SIGINT section were killed instantly by this torpedo. Following the torpedoes, the Israeli boats raked the USS Liberty with cannon and machine-gun fire, shooting at any visible sailor above deck. At one point, the Israelis concentrated their fire on the boiler, trying to cause an explosion and sink the ship. The torpedo boats were later confirmed to be Ayah class motor torpedo boats, each carrying two (2) torpedoes, and (4) cannons. Before the ship was scrapped, there were 861 holes larger than a man's fist and thousands of 0.50 caliber machine gun holes. (3) pages 19-20, (2) pages 7-8, (1) page 37-38. Same as the fighter attack, basically the Israelis expended all of their ordnance and then just opened up with machine-guns, possibly to keep the sailors from activating a new radio line. They threw everything they had at the USS Liberty, trying to sink a defenseless vessel that they had confirmed to be American.
Plotting The Pullout
As the U.S. military plans to withdraw from Iraq, a weakened rogue element remains a threat.
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Coming on the very day that U.S. and Iraqi officials were detailing withdrawal plans for American troops, Sunday's suicide-bomb attack on a police academy in east Baghdad underscores the challenges being faced. In a country of high unemployment, the promise of a $500 monthly salary is a powerful magnet, and news that the Iraqi government is hiring 50,000 more police officers had drawn a long line of applicants. But a suicide bomber drove his motorcycle into the group and detonated his explosives vest, killing some 30 people and injuring twice that many.
It was unclear who was behind the blast, but it surely was the work of people interested in derailing progress. There's no question that a majority of citizens do not want a replay of anything resembling the Shia-Sunni bloodletting that spattered the country in 2006 and 2007. But can relative peace be maintained while U.S. troops pull out of Iraq over the next 19 months, as President Obama has outlined? And what happens after the Americans are gone?
Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the Coalition spokesman in Iraq, says the military will be able to execute the withdrawal plan. The key, he says, is making sure Iraq's security forces are competent enough to take over from the Americans. Obama's deadline leaves ample time to train, mentor and teach the Iraqis, Perkins explains. An important yardstick is the degree to which Iraqis are fighting each other, "and ethno-sectarian attacks have almost fallen off the map," he asserts.
Violence is now down 90 percent compared with the height of the surge a year ago. Attacks have fallen from 190 to 10 or fewer each day. And the U.S. has been gradually drawing down personnel. Forces already have been reduced by one fifth to approximately 140,000. Another two brigades, about 12,000 people, will be gone by the end of September, leaving 14 brigades in the country. Combat troops are to be withdrawn from urban bases by the end of June and from the entire country by August 2010, except for 35,000 to 50,000 who will stay longer, ostensibly as trainers. An agreement with Iraq requires that all troops be out of the country by the end of 2011.
Sunday's motorcycle bombing pointed to Al Qaeda. U.S. and Iraqi forces have largely defeated the terrorist group throughout the country, but cells stubbornly hang on in the northern city of Mosul, and to some extent, Kirkuk, where Arabs and Kurds continue to vie for control and influence. Al Qaeda is funded mostly by outside sources, typically donations from regional countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria. Coalition forces have seriously damaged Qaeda financial networks and reduced the flow of foreign jihadists into Iraq.
Given the successful interdiction operations, the motorcyclist could have been a local in the employ of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The incident was one of a handful of recent attacks that targeted civilians and police or police-recruiting efforts. Thirteen people were killed last week when a bomb exploded at a market in Hilla, about 60 miles from Baghdad, and in December, 16 died in a bombing near the same police academy targeted Sunday. The academy is located in an east Baghdad district that also is home to police and Army headquarters as well as the Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police.
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