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Posted by
BradyNet
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Friday, October 24, '03
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<An Israeli pilot who mistakenly attacked the American intelligence ship USS Liberty during the 1967 Six Day War said they were lucky he had no bombs otherwise he would have sunk her. There was a mistake. Mistakes happen. As far as I know, the mistake was of the USS Liberty being there in the first place, said Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yiftah Spector. After 36 years Spector, who this week was dismissed by the IAF for signing the pilots' refusal letter protesting the policy of targeted killings, agreed to speak to a reporter for the first time on his role in the attack on the Liberty, an American spy ship strafed on the fourth day of the war. Flying a Mirage III fighter jet code named Kursa or couch, Spector was the first pilot to reach the ship, which was about 20 nautical miles west of Gaza. He had been on an air-to-air mission and was not loaded with bombs. Spector, now 63, went on to become a triple ace, shooting down
15 enemy aircraft, and take part in the 1981 raid on the Iraqi
nuclear reactor, earning himself a place in the pantheon of
Israeli fly boys. This week he ended a 20-year stint teaching new
generations of pilots.
Spector had always refused to discuss the attack on the USS
Liberty, which killed 34 US sailors and wounded 172, or even be
revealed as the pilot who led the attack on her. Until now.
"I did not fire on the Liberty as a human target. I was sent to
attack a sailing vessel. This ship was on an escape route from the
El Arish area, which at that same moment had heavy smoke rising
from it," Spector said.
"It was thought to be an Egyptian vessel. This ship positively
did not have any symbol or flag that I could see. What I was
concerned with was that it was not one of ours. I looked for the
symbol of our navy, which was a large white cross on its deck," he
told The Jerusalem Post. "This was not there, so it wasn't one of
ours."
The concern of the IAF was that Spector and his wingman, who
had been diverted from the Suez Canal, would strike one of the
Israel Navy ships in pursuit of the vessel, which was assumed to
be Egyptian. IAF archival recordings of the pilots' radio
transmission of the actual attack obtained by the Post show that
Spector was specifically requested to verify that the ship was a
military vessel and not Israeli.
According to the June 8, 1967, radio transmission, Spector
said: "I can't identify it but in any case it's a military ship."
Speaking of the event 36 years later may have caused Spector to
mix what he remembered with what he may have read and his
testimony does not always match archival facts.
"I circled it twice and it did not fire on me. My assumption
was that it was likely to open fire at me and nevertheless I
slowed down and I looked and there was positively no flag. Just to
make sure I photographed it," said Spector, who retired from
active duty as a brigadier- general in 1984.
Experts intimately acquainted with the incident said that the
only photos Spector took were from his gun-sight camera during his
strafing run. Regardless of whether the 455-foot ship bristling
with eavesdropping antennas flew a US flag, which it evidently did
from its starboard halyard, that banner was shot off in Spector's
first strafing pass.
"I was told on the radio that it was an Egyptian ship off the
Gaza coast. Hit it. The luck of the ship was that I was armed only
with light ammunition [30mm] against aircraft. If I had had a bomb
it would be sitting on the bottom today like the Titanic. I
promise you," Spector said.
The 30mm rounds were armor piercing, which to this day led
Liberty survivors to believe they had been under rocket attack.
Spector's first pass ignited a fire which caused the ship to
billow black smoke. Ironically, Spector transmitted he suspected
the Liberty was putting out smoke to deliberately mask itself.
"Every order is given by commanders and the last one to receive
it has to decide whether he will pull the trigger or not. In this
instance I was the fighter. I checked what I had to check [i.e.
that it was a military ship and not one of ours] and pulled the
trigger," Spector said.
"The crew should be thankful for their luck [that I was on an
air-to-air mission and did not have any bombs]. It is a pity we
attacked. I'm sorry for poor Capt. (William Loren) McGonagle, who
was wounded in the leg and the other guys who were killed and
wounded."
"I'm sorry for the mistake. Years later my mates dropped
flowers on the site where the ship was attacked," Spector said.
"I'm the last guy who has a problem with admitting mistakes and
asking for forgiveness. There was a mistake, but it wasn't my
mistake."
He added he remains baffled that the conspiracy theories live
on that Israel deliberately attacked the US intelligence ship. He
suggested it might be due to anti- Semitism, or anti-Israeli
sentiments.
"I know that after the war one of the first things that was
done was the establishment of a [US] senator's inquiry. I know
this personally, because I was called upon to testify before it.
They came to the country and I was questioned. I told them what I
told you just now - that there was a mistake. I am sorry for the
mistake. In war mistakes happen," Spector said.>
Another one to correct your misinformation
<The number of tourists in September rose 24 percent over the same month a year ago, the Tourism Ministry said Thursday. September 2003 saw 90,500 tourists enter the country Of those arriving, 82,800 came by air, an increase of 24% over September 2002. Another 7,300 arrived by land, and 400 entered by sea. The figures also show that the first nine months of 2003 saw 739,800 tourist entries into Israel – 17% more than during January-September of last year, when the corresponding figure was 630,800. Tourism Minister Benny Eilon said the Tourism Ministry's marketing efforts abroad are yielding results. >
<The most incredible is the upswings with very large volume.> some weird stuff out there in the market yesterday.
i agree if you buy in the mid 70's it will be very very painful for whoever sold the bonds as the buyer will be clipping and clipping all those coupons...
thanks to all the DR's remittances and thanks to all the european and american tourists...
<Despite the widespread pessimism regarding the economic situation, 90% of those questioned said they were proud to be Dominican. Interestingly, 81% of those polled said they were "very happy" or "somewhat happy" on a personal level. Also on the positive side, 7 out of 10 people were aware that Miss Universe was Dominican, and 46% felt her win was helpful to the country.>
<400,000 private sector jobs lost Hoy newspaper quotes a business leader as saying that 400,000 private-sector jobs have been lost as a result of the economic crisis. According to the estimate of the former president of private business association CONEP, Marino Ginebra, stated while this was occurring, "the government was persisting in its efforts to sustain the peso artificially." Ginebra blamed the job losses on the increase of government appointees, the government's failure to tackle the Baninter collapse in time, and its excessive public spending bill. ….>SD news
Allowing for some inaccuracies, 400,000 is a huge number for a country of 8 million population.
<The country is apparently desperately poor and messed up…….> : Not < desperately poor > DR is classified as middle income country. Messed up ? very much.
But I think that those that recommend DR bonds are more messed up and those that buy them ?
What does Peterson thinks?
Advice101?
Cheetah?
On Monday, Oct. 20, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez told the telecommunications company that grouping all of its general unsecured creditors together was problematic, because the creditors don't all receive the same compensation under the plan.
Most creditors in the group, called Class 6, would get about 36 cents on the dollar for their claims. But those that could show claims against the MCI unit that predated its 1998 merger with WorldCom would receive 60 cents on the dollar.
In addition, members of an unofficial committee of investors who purchased debt owed to MCI's vendors will receive about 53 cents on the dollar through a settlement. However, 17 cents of that amount will come from other creditors, not directly from WorldCom, and so is not technically considered a plan recovery.
The judge on Monday told WorldCom it could either solicit votes separately from each of the three groups in class six, or ask the court to confirm the plan in spite of the disparity.
WorldCom chose the latter. The company will deem the creditors receiving 35.9% and 60% recoveries to have rejected the plan, and the ad hoc trade group to have approved it. WorldCom will then ask Gonzalez to "cram down" the plan, or to confirm it despite its failure to receive approval from all its creditor classes.
When WorldCom filed its first reorganization plan in April, class six accounted for $2.8 billion in claims. Since then the company has reached settlements with large trade creditors such as Verizon Communications Inc., SBC Communications Inc., Sprint Corp. and just about every other large telecom.
In the most recent vote, class six creditors with about $650 million in claims submitted ballots, with close to 85% in terms of value accepting the plan. While the exact value of claims still entitled to vote has not been disclosed, it would be relatively small compared to the $35 billion or so in debt being restructured in WorldCom's Chapter 11 case. Most of the other classes had approval rates in the mid- to high-90% range.
WorldCom's counsel planned to outline the cramdown in a pleading on Tuesday, though it had not been filed by press time. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Oct. 30. Responses and notices of witnesses to be called are due Oct. 27.
Gonzalez said any objections should be limited to the cramdown.>
Didnt sell like Cheeth just stand still my price for increase its around 6.40.
But with the recent bad mood I think that 6.00 is a possibility so I wouldnt use all my power.
The most incredible is the upswings with very large volume.
Savo, as I am with a very slow dial up modem here in my modest app. in Netania, I read the worldcom "anal" from debttraders, it looks interesting, but it is now a pure schtok play, I asked for prices, you must pay now 37 for the normal Worldcom bonds, I put an order at 36.5, but nothing done today, in my opinion all the out of CH11 C° are very low quoted, like Conseco, I think they need a few months to be rediscovered, I only speak about cash flow positive C°, GX is still not cashflow positive, and therefore I think it is a casino
Schpal, TISA, nobody react when I speak about it, but Pharmos is a gamble (up big way the last days), but this WE, I will meet more sophisticated anals.. >
PT it is your interpretation, I had a full year work with this issue (27 years ago), you are b°°°ting again with your misinformations...
9.125% 5/1/08 91.000 11.75%
0/10.50% 12/1/08 91.000 12.67%
0/12.875% 3/15/10 80.500 13.76%
<This morning, Level 3 Communications (LVLT) hosted a conference call at 11:00 am to discuss financial
results. Net loss for the third quarter of 2003 was smaller than the Street consensus, driven by reduced
costs. The tone of the conference call was cautiously optimistic. While the long-haul fiber sector remains
challenging in the near term, the company’s recent debt restructuring has strengthened its financial
position and credit profile. A replay of the call is available through October 27 by calling 320-365-3844
(access code: 696685).>
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