Book reveals new information on Israeli attack

"I am alive and unhurt."

These words, underlined and penned on ship's stationery, opened a letter from Ensign John Scott to his parents 36 hours after Israeli warplanes attacked the spy ship USS Liberty on June 8, 1967.

Scott, counseled not to talk to the press by a jittery Naval chain of command, simply wanted to let his folks in Charlotte know he had survived an assault that claimed 34 lives and injured 171 others during the Six-Day War between Israel and the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

An assault that was supposed to have been a case of mistaken identity, but as fresh testimony and newly declassified documents reveal, was anything but.

"It is clear from the documents I uncovered that people in the Israeli government knew the identity of the Liberty 20 minutes before the order was given to torpedo her," says author and journalist James Scott, whose father, now a Charleston resident, is among those who relive the events in "The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship" (Simon & Schuster).

Eavesdropping on communications off the coast of Egypt, but flying the Stars and Stripes and with its identifying markings quite clear, the Liberty's crew assumed that when Israeli fighter jets made several passes over a period of hours, they recognized the vessel, which was in international waters. But the planes suddenly opened fire, strafing and napalming the deck of a ship with minimal defenses.

When the air attack ceased, Israeli torpedo boats appeared to deliver the coup de grace, scoring a direct hit. The crew saved the ship from sinking, and young John Scott helped the final crewman out of the torpedoed spaces, using a flashlight tied to the end of a belt to guide him.

"The Liberty was my father's first ship out of Officer's Candidate School. The day of the attack was his 24th birthday," says his son, a former Post and Courier reporter and Nieman fellow at Harvard University, now back in Charleston.

Together with Jim Kavanagh of Pawleys Island, who was also on the ship that day, the Scotts will recall the horrific events of that day and its aftermath at 7 p.m. Wednesday during an address and book signing at the main branch of the Charleston County Public Library.

Back home, news of the Liberty was received with the expected mix of shock and outrage. What was not expected, the author says, was how quickly and quietly the affair would be swept under the rug. This, during a time when relations between the U.S. and Israel were not quite so cordial as they are today.

Although some in the Pentagon and in Congress insisted that Israel be held accountable for the unprovoked attack, the Johnson administration softened its rhetoric after an initial expression of anger. Israel's swift victory in the Six-Day War had become a source of pride to many American Jews, whose support was vital to an administration mired in the Vietnam War.

"The story was followed in the media for two or three weeks, then it vanished, largely simmering beneath the surface of America's cultural radar," James Scott says. "It was pushed to the back pages by the death toll in Vietnam, and all but forgotten. In May of '67, the U.S. had hit a new record for casualties in Vietnam: 37 a day. In the eyes of policymakers, the Liberty was just one day's casualty count."

Israel had stated in its initial report to the United Nations that it didn't positively identify the Liberty until after the attack.

"But documents I found in archives in Israel show that is not true. Israeli pilots radioed in the hull number on the ship during early stages. In the end, the incident was handled very badly by the Israeli government and our own. And we can learn from those mistakes."

Sporadic accounts of the incident have surfaced over the decades, but Scott says much new information has come out in the last few years, including documents declassified on the 40th anniversary of the attack.

"A number of officials who worked for (President) Lyndon Johnson in the National Security Agency and the State Department finally could speak their minds about it. Though it was not something he dwelled on, my father's memories also were very sharp, and I had the recorded testimony he gave a week after the attack. We also traveled to Israel together during my researches. Now we have the opportunity to set the historical record straight."

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.