Hey Stevie-baby, you haven't been keeping up with the latest facts:
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Middle East - AP
July 9, 2003
Recordings Back Israel Claim on Spy Ship
By PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer
Filed at 6:36 p.m. ET

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Newly declassified transcripts back up Israel's
claim that its attack on a U.S. spy ship during the 1967 Middle East
war was an accident, a Florida judge who has been investigating the
case for 16 years said Wednesday.

Israel has always maintained it thought the USS Liberty was an
Egyptian military supply ship when it ordered its forces to attack on
June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding 171. But
critics charge Israel knew the ship was American. Questions about the
case have long dogged U.S.-Israel relations.

Miami Judge A. Jay Cristol received transcripts of transmissions from
two Israeli helicopter pilots, sent to check for survivors after the
attack. The pilots referred to the ship as Egyptian and were
surprised to discover it was flying an American flag.

The recordings, in Hebrew, were made by a U.S. spy plane hovering over
the site.

The transcript of the transmissions records the air controller telling
one of the pilots, ``The ship is now identified as Egyptian, you can
return home now.''

Cristol told The Associated Press he received the transcripts after
submitting a Freedom of Information request to the U.S. National
Security Agency, which had kept the recordings secret for 37
years. After his request was denied, Cristol filed suit in federal
court and forced their release.

Agency spokesman Patrick Weadon confirmed Cristol had been sent the
transcripts.

``We provided the tapes as part of the historical record,'' Weadon
said. ``The agency takes no official position on what happened to the
Liberty.''

Cristol, who has written a book about the case, said, the tapes ``show
both the helicopter pilots and their controller ... believed the
Israeli air force had targeted an Egyptian ship.''

A National Security Agency summary of the incident says the Israelis
were confused over the stricken ship's identity more than an hour
after the attack.

Cristol provided the summary and full transcripts of the pilot and
tower recordings to The Associated Press.

Israel has long maintained the attack was the result of a tragic
mistake during the heat of battle. Israel was at war with Egypt, Syria
and Jordan at the time.

An Israeli commission of inquiry concluded the Israeli air force
believed the targeted ship was an Egyptian cargo vessel ferrying
supplies to Egyptian troops fighting Israeli forces.

However, some of the Liberty's survivors and some officials in the
U.S. defense establishment have rejected this view, contending Israel
deliberately targeted the ship to keep the United States from learning
that Israel was planning to attack Syria as part of its strategy
during the war.

The Israeli daily Haaretz, which first reported the disclosures in its
Wednesday edition, quoted Cristol as saying the tape transcripts were
the last classified intelligence about the Liberty.
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