by James Scott.
http://www.jamesmscott.com/Site/Home.html
I'd buy it again in a heart beat. Gripping, heartbreaking and infuriating.
James Scott is a journalist and the son of a surviving Liberty officer. In this riveting book, he recounts the story of the horrifying attack and the tremendous impact it had on the lives of the crew. He puts the attack in context, showing how political considerations trumped the demands for justice from the survivors and their supporters in the military and in Congress. Drawing on new interviews and recently declassified documents in both the United States and Israel, he demonstrates that Israel’s initial insistence that the attack was a mistake caused by misidentification of the ship is implausible. He documents, for the first time, the fact that at least one Israeli pilot correctly identified the Liberty during the attack and that others inside Israel’s chain of command were aware of the ship’s identity as the assault unfolded. His descriptions of the crew under fire and their frantic work to save the ship are dramatic and unforgettable. Scott takes readers into the conference rooms at the White House where the most senior officials in the government debated how to respond to the attack and then eventually devised a plan to protect Israel from public outrage. He shows the debate inside the Israeli government over whether to punish the attackers, and reveals the widespread disbelief many American leaders had with Israel’s explanation.
