Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty

by Joan Mellen

Overview

Presents evidence suggesting collusion between US and Israeli intelligence in the attack on a US naval surveillance vessel during the Six-Day War and the more than fifty-year long cover-up. On June 8, 1967, the USS Liberty, an unarmed intelligence ship reporting to the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the auspices of the National Security Agency, was positioned in international waters off the coast of Egypt when it was attacked with deadly violence by unmarked jet planes firing rockets and machine guns and throwing napalm onto its deck. This ambush was followed by a torpedo strike that blew a forty-foot hole in the starboard side of the ship. Lacking the capacity to defend themselves, thirty-four sailors were killed and 174 wounded, many for life. By the end of the day, Israel had confessed to having been the aggressor, simultaneously arguing that the attack had been an "accident" and a "mistake." The facts said otherwise. So intense and sustained was the attack - it lasted for nearly an hour and a half - so specific was the aiming for the antennae and satellite dish on deck, that it was scarcely credible that Israel's aggression was not deliberate; such was the view of Marshall Carter, the director of the National Security Agency, his deputy director Louis Tordella, and Richard Helms, the Director of Central Intelligence. Based on interviews with more than forty survivors, knowledgeable political insiders, and Soviet archives of the period, investigative writer Joan Mellen presents evidence suggesting complicity between US and Israeli intelligence in the attack on Liberty and the more than fifty-year long cover-up. What were the underlying motives? Was this a false flag operation conducted in the midst of the Six-Day War? Was it conceivable that Israel would have initiated such an operation without a green light from the United States? For the sake of justice, truth and the murdered and surviving sailors, this is a story demanding to be told.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633884649
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	12/11/2018
Pages:	446
Sales rank:	397,490
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Joan Mellen is professor emerita at Temple University, where she taught literature and creative writing for fifty years, and the author of twenty-four books including, most recently, Faustian Bargains: Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace in the Robber Baron Culture of Texas; The Great Game in Cuba: CIA and the Cuban Revolution; Our Man in Haiti: George de Mohrenschildt and the CIA in the Nightmare Republic; and A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination and the Case That Should Have Changed History. She is a winner of Temple's Great Teacher Award, a lifetime achievement award, and a Temple University Faculty Award for Creative Achievement. Her media appearances include C-SPAN Book TV and NBC's Today show.

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Foreword
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Excerpted from "Blood in the Water"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Joan Mellen.
Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Foreword 11

Preface 13

Acknowledgments 21

Chapter 1 John Hadden Confers with Meir Amit 25

Chapter 2 Fire at a Ship! 35

Chapter 3 James Jesus Angleton: Treason at the Top 47

Chapter 4 Toppling Nasser 63

Chapter 5 Meir Amit on the Move 93

Chapter 6 "Heroes in the Seaweed" 109

Chapter 7 Conspicuous Gallantry 167

Chapter 8 With the Sixth Fleet 207

Chapter 9 Cover-Up 241

Chapter 10 Aftermath 289

Chapter 11 Cover-Up Continued: CIA and Liberty 297

Chapter 12 "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth" 313

Chapter 13 Treason 323

Notes 351

Bibliography 401

Index 411

Editorial Reviews

"Finally, the definitive reconstruction of the greatest moral and political scandal in American history, which demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that the US government at its highest level conspired with Israel in 1967 to destroy a surveillance naval vessel, USS Liberty, and murder its own sailors to gain a pretext for launching an aggressive attack on Egypt. With this exposé, based on exhaustive research and extensive interviews, Joan Mellen has done an immense patriotic service. An extraordinary book that should be not only read but acted upon.” —Richard Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University   “With predictable moral courage and impressive literary deftness, Mellen has now written a very important book that punctures the long-standing official explanations of what exactly happened when Israel attacked the intelligence ship USS Liberty during the frenzy of the Six-Day War. The truth about this incident has been deliberately buried for decades in misleading documents. Both aspects of its history come through in this inspired book.” —Burton Hersh, author of Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography, Bobby and J. Edgar, and The Old Boys: The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA   “The USS Liberty, sailing in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula, is suddenly and deliberately attacked on June 8, 1967, in the midst of the Six-Day War. Thirty-four men are killed and 174 wounded.. .. Mellen unravels this sad saga in the nation’s history. Hers is a riveting account that is essential reading for anyone who wants to fully understand this dark time in American history as a warning about the dangers of secret, unelected operatives who are still in positions to direct foreign and military policy.” —David R. Contosta, author of America’s Needless Wars “This investigation has uncovered the depth of this horrendous attack on an unarmed US Navy ship by one of our allies. I have always believed that the Israelis would never have conducted such a cowardly, murderous act without a green light, or at least a blinking yellow light, from the Johnson administration.” —Lloyd Painter, lieutenant on the USS Liberty and former agent of the United States Secret Service   “Mellen has crystal clear vision, especially when it comes to describing history in shades of gray. The author presents factual accounts without bias, and honors the valiant crew of the USS Liberty. This is a must-read for a true accounting of the administration of Lyndon Baines Johnson.” —Bob Wilson, Sleuth Journal

From the Publisher

2019-06-05
Historical research leads to some unsettling assertions about a violent incident shrouded in secrecy for over 50 years.

The attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, left 34 dead and 174 wounded, along with myriad unresolved questions even after Israel admitted responsibility, claiming it had acted in error. This book represents a massive undertaking whereby Mellen (English Emerita/Temple Univ.; Faustian Bargains, 2016, etc.) systematically and persuasively dismantles the narratives espoused for decades by reviewing official documents, evaluating publications, and conducting personal interviews. Disturbingly, the author's solid research indicates that the United States and Israel collaborated in planning, executing, and covering up this operation in order to implicate Egypt, bomb Cairo, and precipitate Gamal Abdel Nasser's downfall. The author astutely points out that it wouldn't be the first time the American government resorted to such tactics, citing the Maine in 1898 and the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. She also contextualizes the Liberty incident amid "the hothouse of 1967," signaling the Cold War's paranoia and brinksmanship together with the Vietnam War escalation and oil supply concerns. To Mellen's credit, her clear writing style and organizational abilities allow even readers unfamiliar with the events of the time to become engrossed in technical details, political intrigue, the military chain of command, and personal stories. Against all odds, through many sailors' concerted efforts, the Liberty managed to stay afloat despite a torpedo hit and send an SOS signal. The author darkly claims: "The survival of the ship was unanticipated by those in highest authority."

The details of the attack are both gruesome and necessary, underscoring the sacrifice by the Liberty crew. The heroes include Dr. Richard Kiepfer, himself severely injured, who "remained on his feet for the next twenty-eight hours" and "performed surgeries and blood transfusions through the night," and electronics technician Terence Halbardier, who was wounded while scrambling under fire across the deck to connect a cable that allowed the SOS call to go out. Indeed, one of the more sobering scenarios is that American planes "equipped with nuclear warheads" were seven minutes away from bombing Cairo, perhaps escalating the conflict to the brink of World War III, but were called off when the ship's distress signal was heard. Extensive endnotes contain many intriguing tidbits, such as the moment when Mellen wonders whether military personnel would be more forthcoming with a different interviewer. Referring to a key witness who read communication transcripts in real time during the incident, she admits: "Still, he was uncomfortable with sharing his experience with a civilian author (female) of an unknown political persuasion." Finally, she deftly examines questionable decisions made by authorities in the immediate aftermath of the attack and in the present day as survivors struggle with mistreatment at the hands of the military bureaucracy and American government. At the end of this impressive work, the author boldly lists those she holds responsible for the strike, including familiar names like Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, Cyrus Vance, John S. McCain, and Moshe Dayan.

Gripping from start to finish, with reflections on the price that soldiers pay for their commanders' war agendas.

Kirkus Reviews