Customer Reviews

The Loss of Liberty: Documentary of the 1967 Sinking of the U.S.S. Liberty (The Truth About the Attack on the USS Liberty)

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No. Sorry. Wrong answer. The unprovoked at-

tack on the USS Liberty by the Israeli De-

fence forces should have been treated as an

act of war! Thirty-Four US servicemen (four

jewish-Americans!) were killed 172 wounded.

A film adaptation of the very fine book by

James M. Ennis, produced by one-time Ala-

bama nightclub (!) owner Tito Howard, who

lives here in VA should be seen by all

Americans. It is true (Revisionist) his-

tory that is still (attempted) to be cov-

ered up and denied today!

THE LOSS OF LIBERTY (2002)
directed by Tito Howard
approx. 52 minutes

When the Japanese bombed U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor, it sparked a bloody conflict. When Israel did the same thing (albeit on a smaller scale), the U.S. government declared it to be a case of mistaken identity. This is an excellent documentary on the unprovoked Israeli attack on an American intelligence ship during the Six day War on June 8th, 1967.

The movie is mostly made up of talking heads and stock footage with some occasional narraration. The first section of heads are those of Israelis involved in the attack, describing their orders and roles. The second (and longest) section are statements from survivors of the incident. Their testimonies are edited to describe how the nearly two-hour attack unfolded. Their words paint a powerful picture and it is clear that they have very intense memories of that day. Next, they describe what happened after the incident. Many of them are understandably angry towards both the American and Israeli governments. They were interviewed and then told they could not tell anybody the story of what happened. They were told that if they broke their silence then they would be court martialed! Finally the last section of the movie has various experts and respectable military leaders giving their perspectives on the incident. These include Thomas Moorer and Dean Rusk. Most of them believe that there was some kind of cover-up and that the official story is a fabrication, perhaps made up to maintain good ties with the Israelis. The movie ends with a call for futher investigation and a brief tribute.

The movie does not really theorize as to why the ship was attacked and its probably for the better. I do not buy the "mistaken identity" theory because the ship itself didn't resemble any Egyptian vessel and the U.S. flag was plainly visible. Its a good thing that the USS Liberty incident didn't spark World War III but the men who were attacked were betrayed by their allies and their own government.

There is another documentary on the incident done by the BBC which is called 'USS LIBERTY - DEAD IN THE WATER'. If this subject interests you, you may also be interested in 'OPERATION SUSANNAH', the story of a MOSSAD operation to frame Egypt for the bombing of American targets (also known as the Lavon affair).