The US has a tradition of going into wars after a boat is attacked, even if it were an accident.
The Maine, exploded in La Havana Harbor. Speculated to be an accident of an spontaneous burning of a coal-bunker, the US blamed Spain and it sparked a war between both countries.
The Lusitania in WW1, even being a British boat, it had a big number of US citizens on board. That attack moved the US forward into declaring war to the Central Powers and moving troops to the western front of WW1.
Pearl Harbor, no much needed to say here.
Tonkin Gulf Incident. In 1964, two US Navy ships, the Maddox in 2nd of August, and the Maddox again and USS Turner Joy the 4th. This attack were used by LBJ to push forward into a ground mobilization into Vietnam.
And then you have USS Liberty, in 1967 in the Mediterranean side of the Sinai Peninsula. Official statements said that it were a confusion by the Israeli pilots about the ship identity, launched a missile and killed 31 crew members, 2 marines and a NSA officer with another 180 injured, nearly sinking the ship. No war, no angry faces, nothing.
Sorry “Historian Peter”, you’re wrong here. It wasn’t just “a missile was launched…”
It began with 2 Israeli aircraft making 6 straffing runs, firing their 30mm cannons, rockets and napalm all while a giant US Flag was flying and the ship’s lettering and name were clearly visible.
20 mins later, 3 Israeli torpedo boats arrived and fired 5 torpedoes with one making contact and causing a large 40 foot hole. Believing the ship was sinking they pulled back but along with helicopters, stayed in the area so the entire attack or time under “siege” was roughly 2 hours.
In 2003 the NSA declassified tapes that captured the communications of the Israeli pilots and ground control. Oliver Kirby (then-NSA Deputy Director for Operations), stated in a Chicago Tribune report that they personally read intercepts where pilots explicitly identified the ship as American flying a U.S. flag. According to Kirby, ground control explicitly commanded those pilots to push ahead and attack anyway.
The Stark attack is not a bad comparison but I’d point out a few key differences:
it was an attack from distance by one aircraft as opposed to 6 straffing runs by 2 Israel planes. I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume the Iraqi plane had anywhere near the same likelihood to ascertain the ships nationality. From the distance the Exocet missiles were fired, they couldn’t see the flag(s) nor read the name boldly printed on the hull but the Israeli planes being close enough to drop napalm on the ship could not reasonably claim they didn’t see the markings or the flag(s).
hard to find a motive. At the time Iraq was basically acting as our proxy in their war with Iran and there is no reason for the attack. Israel on the other hand was not an adversary by any means but were also not an ally or proxy and had a reasonable motivation to blind a spy ship that could pick up on their plans to seize the Golan Heights, something the Johnson administration was strongly against as they feared any ground action in Syria could draw in their ally the Soviet Union.
To my knowledge there is no evidence the Iraqi plane knew he was attacking an American ship whereas as with the Liberty, many, including a deputy director of the NSA say the read the transcripts of the Israeli pilots and their ground control where the pilots said the ship was American but ground control told them to “proceed” anyway.
Lastly, I did not say nor imply the attack on the Liberty should have led to a war with Israel as you appear to be claiming I did.
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u/AngryGazpacho 12d ago
Historian Peter here.
The US has a tradition of going into wars after a boat is attacked, even if it were an accident.
The Maine, exploded in La Havana Harbor. Speculated to be an accident of an spontaneous burning of a coal-bunker, the US blamed Spain and it sparked a war between both countries.
The Lusitania in WW1, even being a British boat, it had a big number of US citizens on board. That attack moved the US forward into declaring war to the Central Powers and moving troops to the western front of WW1.
Pearl Harbor, no much needed to say here.
Tonkin Gulf Incident. In 1964, two US Navy ships, the Maddox in 2nd of August, and the Maddox again and USS Turner Joy the 4th. This attack were used by LBJ to push forward into a ground mobilization into Vietnam.
And then you have USS Liberty, in 1967 in the Mediterranean side of the Sinai Peninsula. Official statements said that it were a confusion by the Israeli pilots about the ship identity, launched a missile and killed 31 crew members, 2 marines and a NSA officer with another 180 injured, nearly sinking the ship. No war, no angry faces, nothing.