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Rating: 
Summary: An extraordinary story
Review: "Operation Cyanide: Why The Bombing of the USS Liberty Nearly Caused World War III," is an extraordinary spy story with tantalizing theories that unfortunately lack convincing proof. Highly regarded British author/journalist Peter Hounam does an exhausting study of the June 1967 attack on a U.S. naval high tech spy vessel during the Six-Day War. He diligently contacts and interviews many senior officials in the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom but fails to provide any credible documentation explaining why the USS Liberty was attacked. Moreover, he does not explain why nearby American planes failed to defend the crew while under attack for two hours. A total of 34 Americans died in the attack and 171 were wounded.Key USS Liberty veterans helped the author's investigation. They are still furious that the United States government bullied them into silence and accepted Israel's explanation that the attack was a regretable mistake. Certainly this book offers a sensational side to the Six-Day War never told. However, the author does not provide convincing proof...only mountains of hearsay and speculation that the bombing of the USS Liberty nearly caused World War III. Having said that the narrative is easy to read and exciting. Unfortunately, much of the skulduggery is hard to swallow. Bert Ruiz
Rating: 
Summary: Just another pathetic attempt to rewrite history
Review: Aloha, Paul Driscoll,Waikoloa,HI. this book will make you crazy.
It is a book to be read, not speed read, READ!! The US has labored under a myriad of excuses and suppositions, all of which seem to be, Class A,Profile One, Lies. The motive was enmeshed
in, you guessed it, A CONSPIRACY. And,you would need 20 years in a rubber room to come up with this one. This one is a Beauty!!The Motive for the Attack on the USS Liberty was not Mistaken Identity, not the ship heard something,or was going to hear something, or it was too close to the 6 Day War. The war was almost over. The motive was deception. Sink the ship, blame the Egyptians, NUKE Egypt, get rid of Nasser.All in a tight little package. But as luck would have it. The ship, wouldn't sink. That which followed, was 2 clicks away from being an operation that resembled a Soup Sandwich. The excuses,would have been done better,by Larry,Moe, and Curly. This book makes the 13 days in October, seem like a Mrs Filberts Margerine Ad. This book makes me stutter.
34 guys died in the Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty. 171,went
to the hospital. The reason, not mistaken identity, they were
bait, US Sailors were bait, Chum, so Lyndon Johnson, could get
rid of Gamel Abdel Nasser, with an A Bomb. Think you have read
some amazing stories, this is AMAZING to the 10th power.
is so well investigated, it will make you re-read it as soon
as you finish.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Storytelling and Investigatory Work
Review: On June 8, 1967, the Israelis attacked the USS Liberty, in international waters, 13 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, and tried to sink it, and kill all 294 American on board the spy ship. The Israelis then falsely claimed it was just a case of "mistaken identity."
However, according to Peter Hounam, the author of the expose', "Operation Cyanide," the murderous Israeli attack was a set up to blame the Egyptians and bring the U.S. into the 1967 war on their side. The Liberty was a "sitting duck" for the Israeli jet planes' missiles and rockets and their torpedo boats. The attack lasted at least 75 minutes, killing 34 brave Americans and wounding 172 others. On first hearing of the Liberty attack by allegedly "unidentified aircraft," the U.S. launched planes from the Sixth Fleet carriers, then located in the Mediterranean, off Crete, armed with nuclear weapons. They were headed for Cairo to retaliate. Only minutes before reaching their target, they were recalled. Why? The Israelis had failed to sink the Liberty! According to Hounam's research, the White House knew within minutes of the Liberty attack, that the perpetrator was really Israel (p. 94). On two separate occasions, the White House recalled aircraft rescue missions for the Liberty. On the last attempt, LBJ told Rear-Admiral Lawrence Geis of the Sixth Fleet, "I WILL NOT EMBARRASS OUR ALLY." The Liberty was then left "dead in the water," without any assistance for over 16 hours.
At pp. 267-268, Hounam said, "Sinking the Liberty and blaming Egypt and the Soviets would have freed Johnson's hand to do almost anything-even to drop an atomic bomb on Cairo. Trouble only arose when the Israel operation failed - and the damned ship stayed afloat." Hounam revealed that within LBJ's hawkish administration, there was shadowy clique that met under the rubric of the "303 Committee." Richard Helms, the late CIA Director, said that entity was, "A device for examining covert operations of any kind and making a judgment on behalf of the President, so he wouldn't be nailed with the thing, if it failed." Out of the "303 Committee," came a project labeled, "Frontlet 615," which was furthered defined as, "A secret political agreement in 1966 by which Israel and the U.S. had vowed to destroy (Egypt's Gamal Abdel) Nasser." The military name for the operation was, "Operation Cyanide." The secrets of our government can kill.
Rating:
Summary: Just another pathetic attempt to rewrite history
Review: One of the most overused myths of this friendly fire accident is that Israel should have seen the American flag on the ship, however when there is no wind a flag does not fly, it lies limp against the pole. A. Jay Cristol investigated this accident for 14 years and even viewed the plane's gun camera film which showed smoke rising from the Liberty, proving that that the flag would have been impossible to see. Neither of the authors here spent $75,000 of their own money. Neither of these propagandists interviewed the CIA's then station chief at the Tel Aviv embassy. Neither of these bogus authors talked with the 3 living IDF pilots who strafedthe Lberty. In short the information here is mostly based on hearsay that cannot be affirmed by anyone i.e. it's a book based on lies. Don't waste your time with these venomous opinions.
Rating:
Summary: It's really just a well-written piece of fiction
Review: The book by Peter Hounam appears to be an attempt to update the first conspiracy book on the subject of the Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY during the Six-Day War. That book was "Conspiracy of Silence" by Anthony Pearson (1978.) Whether it means anything or not, both are British writers. Mr. Hounam is indeed a gifted writer, however his research techniques and conclusions leave much to be desired; especially with a subject as controversial as this. Far too many unnamed sources and uncollaborated stories, a complete lack of fact-checking, multiple mis-statements of available documentation when used, and lastly; stated conclusions not supported by anything verifiable. In a nutshell the author attempts to tell a tale which states that the US was prepared to bomb Cairo with nuclear weapons in 1967 and that the Six Day War between Israel and several Arab countries was in reality a "joint" operation between the US and Israel aimed at destroying Egypt. The latter story is in fact an expanded telling of the Wilbur Eveland book "Ropes of Sand" (1980.) Supposedly the attack on the LIBERTY was to be the pre-text for this nuclear strike on Cairo. Any adult alive during that period should immediately recognize the fallacy of the US using nuclear weapons outside a direct threat to its vital national interests; such as a Soviet strike on NATO to name one. The idea that the US would go nuclear over a *staged* (or not) naval incident involving Egypt is fundamentally flawed in its very concept. The only redeeming feature of the book, such as it is, is that the author quotes from a number of former Israeli officials who tell him his story-telling of a "joint" operation and LIBERTY attack story is nonsense. The book is not recommended except in the context of learning what is yet the latest in conspiracy theories to grow out of the mistaken attack by Israel on the USS LIBERTY some 37 years ago.
Rating:
Summary: It's really just a well-written piece of fiction
Review: The book by Peter Hounam appears to be an attempt to update the first conspiracy book on the subject of the Israeli attack on the USS LIBERTY during the Six-Day War. That book was "Conspiracy of Silence" by Anthony Pearson (1978.) Whether it means anything or not, both are British writers. Mr. Hounam is indeed a gifted writer, however his research techniques and conclusions leave much to be desired; especially with a subject as controversial as this. Far too many unnamed sources and uncollaborated stories, a complete lack of fact-checking, multiple mis-statements of available documentation when used, and lastly; stated conclusions not supported by anything verifiable. In a nutshell the author attempts to tell a tale which states that the US was prepared to bomb Cairo with nuclear weapons in 1967 and that the Six Day War between Israel and several Arab countries was in reality a "joint" operation between the US and Israel aimed at destroying Egypt. The latter story is in fact an expanded telling of the Wilbur Eveland book "Ropes of Sand" (1980.) Supposedly the attack on the LIBERTY was to be the pre-text for this nuclear strike on Cairo. Any adult alive during that period should immediately recognize the fallacy of the US using nuclear weapons outside a direct threat to its vital national interests; such as a Soviet strike on NATO to name one. The idea that the US would go nuclear over a *staged* (or not) naval incident involving Egypt is fundamentally flawed in its very concept. The only redeeming feature of the book, such as it is, is that the author quotes from a number of former Israeli officials who tell him his story-telling of a "joint" operation and LIBERTY attack story is nonsense. The book is not recommended except in the context of learning what is yet the latest in conspiracy theories to grow out of the mistaken attack by Israel on the USS LIBERTY some 37 years ago.
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