NSA Confirms Israel Liberty Attack Was Accident
By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency

Jerusalem----January 11, 2003......

Much propaganda has been thrown againstIsrael in the "information war" but no subject is highlighted more than a tragic friendly-fire incident which occurred between Israel and the US almost 40 years ago.

US Florida Judge Jay Cristol was responsible for having successfully
petitioned the NSA to release US data confirming the accident. Cristol
believes that Israel's enemies have tried to use this incident for decades
to create a wedge between Washington and Jerusalem.

Judge Cristol, in an exclusive interview with the Israel News Agency
explains what happened to the USS Liberty and discusses the relevance of the
new information released by the US National Security Agency.

Judge Cristol: "On the fourth day of the Six Day War, June 8, 1967, the USS
Liberty, a U.S. Navy intelligence gatherer, failed to receive orders to stay
clear of the combat zone and sailed into the middle of the Six Day War."
Cristol continues: "On the previous day, Israeli forces in the Sinai, near
El Arish, had reported being shelled from the sea by a ship. Explosions
around El Arish led the army to think it was happening again. They saw a
grey warship near the horizon and reported it to headquarters (the Karya).
The Israeli Navy sent motor torpedo boats to investigate. Through a series
of additional errors, they determined that they could not overtake the ship
which was steering toward Port Said. They called for air and the Israeli Air
Force was sent to locate and attack a hostile warship off El Arish."
"Twelve or fourteen minutes into the air attack the flight leader of Royal
Flight (2 Super Mystere) noticed the ship's hull markings were not in Arabic
script. The Air Force stopped the attack. Soon thereafter the motor torpedo
boats arrived. They stopped and began to signal the ship which was now
smoking as a result of the air attack. The ship, the Liberty, began firing
at the torpedo boats which convinced them she was hostile and commenced a
torpedo attack. The ship was identified as hostile, Egyptian, Soviet,
Egyptian again and ultimately American. The identification as American took
place between 3:07 and 3:12 p.m. about 40 minutes after the attacks were
over. The second Israeli helicopter pilot observed and confirmed an American
flag," said Cristol.

"For years conspiracy theorists have claimed that audio tapes existed of the
Israeli pilots identifying the ship as American before they attacked. There
are other conspiracy claims that the Liberty radio compartment made such
interceptions and that the U.S. submarine Amberjack had gathered damning
evidence during the attack by means of its periscope."

"On July 2, 2003, as a result of my lawsuit using the Freedom of Information
Act, the National Security Agency made two significant admissions. First,
that there had been no radio intercepts made by the USS Liberty. Second,
that there had been no radio intercepts made by the US submarine Amberjack.
And finally, the National Security Agency released copies of the recordings
it made from an EC-121 aircraft in the vicinity of the attacks during the
time periods 2:30 p.m. Sinai time to 3:27 p.m. Sinai time. These tapes
contain nothing to support the prior conspiracy claims and show that the
helicopters were first dispatched to rescue Egyptians, and then demonstrate
the confusion as to the identification of the target ship."

Cristol adds: "The tapes confirm that the helicopter pilot observed the flag
at 3:12 p.m. This perfectly dove-tails with the audio tapes which the Israel
Air Force released to Judge Cristol of the radio transmissions before,
during and after the attack. The English translations of those tapes are
published in Appendix 2, of Judge Cristol's book "The Liberty Incident". The
NSA tapes are the last significant piece of evidence which remained
classified until now. They clearly corroborates the Israeli Air Force tapes
and support the decisions of ten official U.S. investigations and 3 or more
official Israeli investigations, all of which concluded that the tragic
event was a case of mistaken identity."

"As Admiral "Bud" Edney, former NATO supreme allied commander, Atlantic; and
commander in chief, U.S. Atlantic command, stated, "Only those with an
ulterior motive can still cling to the conspiracy theories after Judge Jay
Cristol's excellent coverage documents each detail that led to the tragic
mistaken attack."

Israel News Agency: Judge, what motivated you to get involved in this
research project?

AJC: When I was appointed a federal judge I began taking courses in
international affairs at the Graduate School of International Affairs at the
University of Miami. My initial interest was in terrorism. One day Dr. Haim
Shaked suggested that with my background as a naval aviator, navy lawyer,
lecturer for the Department of Defense on law of naval warfare, civilian
lawyer and federal judge, I was qualified to research and write on the
Liberty incident. At first I resisted, arguing "that was more than 20 years
ago". But I was soon shown how active the conspiracy theorists and hate
mongers were about keeping the story alive. I started a one year project as
a masters degree which developed into 10 years and a Ph.D. My doctoral
dissertation is on file in the Library of Congress. I then spent 3 more
years writing my book "The Liberty Incident". I now have 16 years on the
project and the largest collection in the world of research materials on
this subject. The Hoover Institution at Stanford University has requested my
research material for their archives. I have gifted it to them and am in the
process of sending it to them.

Israel News Agency: Why has this matter remained alive for 36 years?

AJC: The victims of the tragedy are typical of victims of friendly fire.
They find it difficult to believe that they were wounded or their buddies
were killed by mistake. In this case the victims have been imposed upon,
used and abused by groups with their own agendas. First, are those who are
on the Arab side of the Arab/Israeli conflict and who try to use the tragedy
to drive a wedge into the otherwise excellent relationship between the
United States and Israel. Next are those persons who are anti-Semitic or
anti-Israel. And finally there are the conspiracy buffs. For the reasons
indicated these three groups have continued to probe the wounds of the
victims for their own purposes and are not concerned with healing or closure

Israel News Agency: How important is the release of the audio tapes by the
National Security Agency?

AJC: The release of the NSA tapes is extremely important because it provides
additional evidence that has been solely in the hands of the United States
and therefore cannot be challenged as having been modified or altered by
Israeli intelligence services. In addition, it corroborates the Israeli Air
Force tapes as the material dove-tails with the information on those tapes.

Israel News Agency: Why do many of the conspiracy theorists continue to
demand a United States Congressional investigation and is such an
investigation appropriate?

AJC: The goal is simply to provide a platform for propaganda. There have
been ten official U.S. investigations. Five of them were Congressional. They
all reached the same conclusion that the incident was a tragic mistake.
Eight United States Presidents: Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush
(41), Clinton, and Bush (43) have supported and adopted these conclusions.
In fact, the current President of the United States, George W. Bush, through
White House staff, issued a letter in October 2002 indicating his position
that no further investigation of this incident was needed.

Israel News Agency: Would you comment on the claims of author James Bamford
that the Liberty was attacked to prevent the United States from learning of
massacres of Egyptian prisoners in the Sinai?

AJC: Mr. Bamford provides as his source of this claim two Israeli
journalists, both of whom have denied statements attributed to them by
Bamford. First, it is literally impossible for an electronic intelligence
gatherer to overhear murders taking place in a desert more than a dozen
miles away. The Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1973. Egypt has made no claim
that such murders took place. No mass graves have been located and no
Egyptian soldiers from the '67 war are missing or unaccounted for. Mr.
Bamford writings are much closer to fiction than to history.

Israel News Agency: Are all the former crew-members of the USS Liberty
unanimous in their belief in conspiracy theories?

AJC: Absolutely not. The spectrum of opinions is quite varied from those who
are rabid conspiracy theory supporters to others who accept the fact that
the tragedy was the result of both Israeli and U.S. mistakes. I have been
asked for the names of crew-members who accept the mistake theory but have
declined to name anyone as I have no intention of creating animosity among
shipmates.

Israel News Agency: The Liberty Veteran's Association appears to be very
active in support of conspiracy theories. How is the association organized
and are all former Liberty crew-members members of the Association?

AJC: There are many crew-members that have never joined the Association. The
Association was founded with the assistance of two former United States
Congressman, Paul Findley of Illinois, the first U.S. Congressman to espouse
the PLO, and Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey, who is well known for his anti-Israel
sentiments. McCloskey drafted the incorporation papers for the Association
and also served as legal advisor to the Association. He has spoken at
Holocaust denial organization conferences. He and Findley, together with
three other former congresspersons, established the Council for the National
Interest, CNI, an organization whose avowed purposes (according to their own
press release) was to be an anti-Israel lobby.