Jeremy Boreing@JeremyDBoreing
No. The story was not overlooked or buried.
Israel immediately informed us the attack happened. There were numerous investigations. The Captain of the USS Liberty was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Israel apologized and paid reparations.
The truth is, it's just not a big story. It's a tragic story, and no doubt. But it isn't a big story.
34 Americans died on the USS Liberty in 1967.
11,363 Americans died in the jungles of Vietnam in 1967.
Friendly Fire is horrific, but not uncommon. There is very little reason for a sixty-year old friendly fire incident to be widely known about, much less widely discussed.
For example, that same year, 1967, a US Marine Corp jet attacked a US Army position on Hill 875 in Vietnam, killing 42 American soldiers.
59 years later, not many remember Hill 875, not because it wasn't horrific -- it killed more Americans than the attack on the USS Liberty -- but because it isn't useful as a talking point to implicate the US/Israel relationship.
As to the second part of your question, we aren't discussing the USS Liberty today because of new information. We are discussing the USS Liberty today because of old -- even ancient -- grudges.
