当年美国的好朋友以色列攻击美国科研船的往事
最近俄武装船只在公海击沉在塞拉利昂注册的中国货船新星号。由于
俄方的滥用暴力和新星轮船主和船长的不可告人的私下操作造成多名
中国船员的伤亡。
由此我们可以看到在海上的活动(诸如航行、贸易、科研、国际合作
等)仍有许多安全因素要认真考虑。在此我们不妨回顾一下当年美国
的好朋友以色列攻击美国科研船“自由”号的往事。
1967年6月8日，在经过仔细观察后，以色列的战机和鱼雷艇攻击了美
国的科研船“自由号”，近距离持续射击达40分钟，造成美方34死、
171伤的恶性事件。
事发之后，以色列声称是误会。美国高层私下并不相信以色列的解释，
而且有相当多的证据证明以色列是在知情的背景下向美方的船只和人
员发起攻击的。
但是为了“民主”“自由”的“大局”，为了使美国在中东的朋友以
色列能安心，美国高层指示其海军不让劫后余生者出来证明以色列方
面是在知道这是美国船只的情况下故意发动攻击的，而且把已经写入
档案的相关资料抽走，以免造成更多的“麻烦”。
最后，美国和以色列的官方扭捏向世人宣称，以色列攻击美国船只和
人员的事件是一个“悲剧性的事故”。
美国民间仍时有呼声要求其政府公布真相，美国政府则一直假装没听
见这些声音，并称该事件已然“了结”，尽管民间的呼声被当局所漠
视，但其中反映出的事实却使我们清楚地看到这样一个现象：
在维护其战略利益时，美国永远是冷酷、无情和坚决的。
下面的参考资料是美国民间人士于1993年所写，文中反映了美国高层
对于当年恶性事件的掩盖。
The Assault on the USS Liberty Still Covered Up After 26 Years
By James M. Ennes Jr.
Twenty-six years have passed since that clear day on June 8, 1967 when Israel attacked the USS Liberty with aircraft and torpedo boats, killing 34 young men and wounding 171. The attack in international waters followed over nine hours of close surveillance. Israeli pilots circled the ship at low level 13 times on eight different occasions before attacking. Radio operators in Spain, Lebanon, Germany and aboard the ship itself all heard the pilots reporting to their headquarters that this was an American ship. They attacked anyway. And when the ship failed to sink, the Israeli government concocted an elaborate story to cover the crime.
There is no question that this attack on a U.S. Navy ship was deliberate. This was a coordinated effort involving air, sea, headquarters and commando forces attacking over a long period. It was not the "few rounds of misdirected fire" that Israel would have the world believe. Worse, the Israeli excuse is a gross and detailed fabrication that disagrees entirely with the eyewitness recollections of survivors. Key American leaders call the attack deliberate. More important, eyewitness participants from the Israeli side have told survivors that they knew they were attacking an American ship.
Israeli Pilot Speaks Up
Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with former Congressman Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey about his role. According to this senior Israeli lead pilot, he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, so informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested.
Later, a dual-citizen Israeli major told survivors that he was in an Israeli war room where he heard that pilot's radio report. The attacking pilots and everyone in the Israeli war room knew that they were attacking an American ship, the major said. He recanted the statement only after he received threatening phone calls from Israel.
The pilot's protests also were heard by radio monitors in the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. Then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dwight Porter has confirmed this. Porter told his story to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak and offered to submit to further questioning by authorities. Unfortunately, no one in the U.S. government has any interest in hearing these first-person accounts of Israeli treachery.
Key members of the Lyndon Johnson administration have long agreed that this attack was no accident. Perhaps most outspoken is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer. "I can never accept the claim that this was a mistaken attack," he insists.
Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk is equally outspoken, calling the attack deliberate in press and radio interviews. Similarly strong language comes from top leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency (some of whose personnel were among the victims), National Security Council, and from presidential advisers such as Clark Clifford, Joseph Califano and Lucius Battle.
A top-secret analysis of Israel's excuse conducted by the Department of State found Israel's story to be untrue. Yet Israel and its defenders continue to stand by their claim that the attack was a "tragic accident" in which Israel mistook the most modern electronic surveillance vessel in the world for a rusted-out 40-year-old Egyptian horse transport.
Despite the evidence, no U.S. administration has ever found the courage to ever found the courage to defy the Israeli lobby by publicly demanding a proper accounting from Israel.
How Does Congress React to These Complaints?
Most members of Congress respond to inquiries about the Liberty with seemingly sympathetic promises to "investigate." Weeks or months later they write again to report their "findings": "The Navy investigated in 1967 and found no evidence that the attack was deliberate," they say." Israel apologized, calling the attack a tragic case of misidentification, and paid damages for loss of life, injuries and property damage. The matter is closed.
The fact is, however, that the Navy's "investigation" examined only the quality of the crew's training, the adequacy of communications and the performance of the crew under fire. The Navy was forbidden to examine Israeli culpability and Navy investigators refused to allow testimony showing that the attack was deliberate or that Israel's excuse was untrue.
The Navy blocked all testimony about Israeli actions.
Instead of determining whether the attack was deliberate, the Navy blocked all testimony about Israeli actions. No survivor was permitted to describe the close in machine-gun fire that continued for 40 minutes after Israel claims all firing stopped. No survivor was allowed to talk about the life rafts the Israeli torpedo men machine-gunned in the water. No survivor was permitted to challenge defects and fabrications in Israel's story. Even my eyewitness testimony as officer-of-the deck was withheld from the official record. No evidence of Israeli culpability was "found" because no such testimony was allowed. To survivors, this was not an investigation. It was a cover-up.
