The Attack We Do Not Speak Of

June 8th, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

45 years ago today, the U.S. suffered a brutal military humiliation as the result of a sneak attack.

Most Americans have never heard of it.

The conspiracy-minded traffic in fringe theories about it.

What little discussion there actually is of the event often results in accusations of racial or cultural bias against those who have the nerve to bring it up at all.

But it did happen...

45 years ago today, Israel launched a sustained assault on the American reconnaissance vessel U.S.S Liberty in international waters. Over the course of the nearly two hour attack, 34 Americans were killed and another 174 were wounded. They deserve to be remembered regardless of whether or not it's politically convenient.

Bryant Jordan, writing for military.com, reported earlier on the annual gathering of survivors and loved ones of the fallen at Arlington National Cemetary. It is a lonely affair:

"...even after so many years, and knowing full well that the topic of the Liberty is widely viewed as poisonous, the visitors still note the absence of political and military officials at the observance.

"We talk about it among ourselves," said Blue-Rousakis, whose first husband, Alan Blue, was a National Security Agency linguist on the ship. He was among the 34 men killed and 174 wounded in the attack.

"Of the family members and the survivors, every single one of us at one time or another has invited our representative from [the House] and the Senate. And no one has ever shown up. No one. It's a very sad little gathering."

It's just not the politicians, she said.

Forty-five years after the attack, no uniformed officers are expected to attend the ceremony.

"They won’t do it. They absolutely will not do it," she said." EMPHASIS OURS

We've become so accustomed to how little our fellow citizens know about our own history that we often fail to ask why they don't know anything. We also have lost the sense of urgency to do something about it. Worse still, no one states plainly that our historical ignorance is a fundamental failure of citizenship.

The following is the full BBC documentary on the Liberty Incident.

From YouTube Via The BBC