WEBVTT - What Really Happened to the U.S.S. Liberty? Chapter One: Trouble Brewing 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.680 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.080 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.119 learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:13.920 production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.520 Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:30.639 my name is Noah. 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.839 They called me Bed. We're joined as always with our 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:38.120 super producer, Dylan the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.080 are you. You are here that makes this the stuff 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.680 they don't want you to know? And fellow conspiracy realist 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:50.240 on Netflix or your podcast platform of choice. Tonight's episode 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:55.160 has been quite some time in the making. You know 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.760 you guys will recall that ever since we started the show, 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:06.440 certain conspiratory oriole subjects kept popping up repeatedly, and Matt, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.840 you'll re called this, and Noel, you'll recalled this. We 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.080 used to spend a lot of time in the YouTube 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:17.720 comments on our original show. It would be going back 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.880 and forth through like hundreds of week and noticing different 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.280 things that kept resurfacing. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.759 Spiracy, Whack the mole man, conspiracy, whack them all. This 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:34.479 is a fascinating one, A vaguely maritime naval navally themed 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.600 episode and an absolute conspiracy that has been I know 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:40.120 you've been following for a long time. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:44.360 Then, well, fourteen years ago we put out episodes on 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.600 the Old House Stuffworks channel about false flag attacks. We 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:51.400 did a multi video series on false flag attacks, and 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:56.360 that got us extremely interested in all the various times 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.880 that countries and powers have used the flag of so 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.240 someone else to get something done. 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.000 It's dirty, pool man. Isn't that kind of like against 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:06.120 the rules of engagement? 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:07.559 And it seems like, I mean. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:10.680 You know what I mean, it's kind of if you 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.640 if you at least, yeah, it's a bad look. I 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.040 agree with that. If you study the passage of Empires. Uh, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.200 it's street ball. What's the trojan horse? Is that a 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.800 false flag attack? Or is that just a trojan horse attack? 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.000 That's a trojan horse attack? Correct, Yeah, congrats to everybody 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.079 who built that one off one of these topics. Look 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.680 for the movie right right what it's an odyssey. I'm 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.600 sure hopefully not, Honda. One of the one of the 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:44.040 things these topics that we continually saw way back in 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:49.919 the day was historically considered too sensitive to be in 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.000 your textbooks in the United States. This is a true story. 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.880 Even talking about this could get you in trouble, and so, 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:04.160 inspired by a recent conversation on our weekly listener mail segment, 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.959 we decided to dive in. This is a story of death. 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:13.880 It is fraught with communication breakdowns, quite possibly depending upon 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.640 whom you ask. This is one of the biggest cover 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.240 ups in modern American history. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.440 And one of the primary reasons we're talking about this 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.280 today is because a guy named Thomas Massey went before 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.880 Congress and kind of laid it all out as a 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.720 Congressional record. Not that it wasn't already a part of 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.280 American history. The thing we're talking about today and a 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.440 known thing has been known for a long time, but 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.720 a human being that is on the upper echelons of 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:46.680 our legislature spelled it all out in front of everybody 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.960 because he had recently met with some folks who were 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:51.760 at the heart of the thing we're going to talk 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.960 about today. So I think that's important just to put here, 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:56.920 because you can go right now and you can listen 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.280 to those remarks. You can read some Snopes articles that 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.040 are in relation to theories that have popped up around 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.800 the Internet about the things that Thomas Massey said. There's 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.640 a lot of red meat there and things to discover, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.800 and we're going to be talking about it today. It 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.320 is vastly important, but it is it is heated up 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:17.960 I think because of that action. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:23.400 Agreed, this is the true story of the USS Liberty 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.799 or We're going to give you what we know, folks, 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.839 and we want to hear from you. So conspiracy at 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.680 iHeartRadio dot com. You tell us your thoughts at the 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.880 end of this exploration, well, pause for a word from 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:45.400 our sponsors. Will be right back. Here are the facts 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.160 USS Liberty. It's a ship, right. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.279 Body mcbotface would have been a more appropriate name, though, no, 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:51.960 it was not that. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.560 But it was not originally called the USS Liberty. This 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:00.599 ship has had a long and surprisingly distinctive, unique story. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:05.280 It was originally called the SS Simmons Victory, that is, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:07.840 the ship that would become the Liberty. And it was 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.280 finished being built on May the fourth, nineteen forty five, 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.280 intended to serve in. 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:15.320 World War Two. 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.640 The day after it was completed May fifth, nineteen forty five, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.680 it shipped off for the Pacific Theater and then, of course, 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.680 as we know, world War two ended, so the Simmons 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:32.080 became part of what was called the National Defense Reserve. Fleet, 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:37.640 which meant essentially that it was helping assist commercial charter 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.920 vessels and cargo carriers, right, the kind of things you 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:46.200 would see all around ports in the United States. They 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.719 removed all of the armament so it couldn't fire on, 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:55.200 you know, a rogue cargo carrier. This ship, the Simmons, 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.880 could have spent the rest of its career just cruising up, down, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.280 and around the Hudson. Also, we should note that in 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:10.280 maritime culture and tradition, we're supposed to refer to vessels 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.560 in a gendered way. We're gonna say it instead of she, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:15.440 just for the sake of conversation. 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:16.479 That makes sense. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:23.080 Unfortunately, things didn't really work out that way. The Simmons 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.159 could have stayed the Simmons and probably have been up 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.039 and down and around that area of the US until 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:35.400 the seventies, but war was not done. The Simmons got 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:40.120 pulled back into action during the Korean War. From nineteen 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.719 fifty to nineteen fifty two. It made something like nine 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:50.200 trips to the Pacific theater, primarily to carry war supplies. 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.760 Well, what are we talking here, like, how many sailors 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.520 would have manned this vessel? 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.880 Pretty small amount in comparison to the naval might we 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.479 here when other US vessels are discussed to. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.400 Not a warship per se, not like a battleship. This 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.359 is more of a courier. Like you said, it was 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.800 there to ferry supplies to and from the theater of war. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.960 Right right, a logistics supplier, and it did that function 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.320 during the Korean War. The Korean War reached its current 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.440 state as we record on July fourteenth, which is a 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:32.000 Tuesday in twenty six folks, it's important to remember, maybe 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.440 the West won't tell you as often as they should, 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.800 the Korean peninsula is still very much in conflict. They 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.440 just hit the pause button. They've been in a cartoonishly 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:45.920 long cease fire for decades. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:47.440 What's a cold war of its own? 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:47.800 Right? 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:51.000 I mean essentially between the North and the South. They're 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.680 just in like the what is it called the what's 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.640 that line of demarcation called the DMZ the DMZ, right. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.680 But then there's also Joint Security Area. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.000 Yes, got it. 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:05.560 That's a little blue building that you. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.320 Could where they show you a video if I'm not mistaken, Ben, 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.720 that you experienced, right, mm hmm. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:13.800 Yeah, it's all about how the DMZ is great for birds. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.320 That's right. I knew there was. It was bird related. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.040 If I'm coming back to me now. 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.800 Oh yeah, next time we hang out there. Man, you 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:22.080 got to check out the film. 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:24.240 Sounds good. 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:25.160 Uh. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.800 The Simmons, we do know, survived the Korean War. It 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.240 comes back to the United States and it is deemed 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:40.200 a missillaneous auxiliary ship. And that's I'm reading tea leaves here. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.920 But it does sound a lot like Uncle Sam said 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:47.560 down loud. Yeah, it's been in two wars, it hasn't sank. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.199 We should just you know, keep it around. It's a 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:51.280 lunch of money. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.480 Too though, right, Like it's sort of like saying that 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.559 maybe it's seen, it's it's time, right, and maybe it's 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:57.679 time to do something different with it. 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.280 Yeah, and different happens. This is the story of the 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:08.080 Simmons and it's transformation. It's June of nineteen sixty three, 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.640 when the Simmons gets a new lease on life. It 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.720 is renamed. It is now the USS Liberty, and it 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:24.239 is reclassified. No longer civilian stuff, no longer helping cargo carriers. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:30.760 It is now a Belmont class Technical Research Ship or 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:37.360 designation agt R five. Can't let the euphemistic name, fool us. 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:39.600 It is a spy ship. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:45.240 Now, I mean it's researching the business of the enemy basically. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.280 Right, yeah, Joseph or anybody, right. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.000 Yeah, it's gathering intel. 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.800 It's gathered it's it's data mining, you know, out there 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:55.160 in those high seas. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.280 Yeah, and this is highly important to our story today, 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.160 this moment. Don't let it slip past you. The concept 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.000 that a ship was refitted to be a spy implement 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.480 that floats around on the water and is big and imposing, 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.680 but also just a ship and it's a research vessel. 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.680 It's fine, where do they get all those marvelous toys? 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.960 Happened right now? This is why we're saying it's a euphemism. 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:24.920 Fellow conspiracy realist, that title technical research it refers to 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.960 in this case, when the million dollars worth of spoopy 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:34.840 Dupe upgrades, and for a quick inflation calculator, that equates 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:39.160 to a little over two hundred and nineteen million dollars 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.480 worth of upgrades here in twenty six. 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.600 That's the budget of Avatar three f ash And so 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.280 of course they expect to return I think so how 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:49.800 it hopes to. 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.080 Yeah, it's an interesting thing. To consider because often on 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:57.040 the show we've talked about spy planes and satellites, you 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.600 know technology that's usually up above that has the capability 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.080 of looking down and observing things. 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.760 Well, it makes more sense logistically, like it's a bird's 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.200 eye views, and it's a lot more out of the way, 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.520 it's easier to kind of hide. But these, you know, 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.480 naval vessels out in the ocean, they're also got their 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.679 own kind of way of hiding for sure. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.680 But if you're going to do any kind of let's say, 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:24.480 visual spying, you're at sea level literally, and anything you 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.280 know above sea level, you're going to have a problem 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.679 checking out and seeing. If you've got high level microphone 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.240 systems they can pick things up from far away. You're 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.199 going to pick up other vessels potentially, or stuff at ports, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.640 things that are happening very close to the coastline. It 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.480 does maybe wonder what are they actually, like, how are 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:45.960 they spying on people? 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:50.920 Ben, Yeah, the mission of the newly minted Liberty is 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:57.959 to support our friends at no such agency, national Security Administration, 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:02.880 by collect national security agency, by collecting and processing what 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.000 is called signals intelligence. So, like you were saying, Matt H. 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:12.720 Scuttle butt off the port radio communication WORSE code, which 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.720 was very huge at the time. Anything related to a 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:22.000 very vague definition of national interest is up for grabs, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.480 up for hoovery. It also got four pretty heavy machine 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.520 guns added on to you know, make it look serious 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:31.160 in the case, right, justin. 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.600 You know you have not need it, then need it 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:34.600 and not have it, you know. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.199 Yeah, you get in situations. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.600 So they're they're intercepting. That's what they're out there. 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.360 They're out there in the in those seas, intercepting communications 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.800 and then funneling that information to the appropriate parties in 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.160 the NSA that they can then add that to their 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:50.920 bundle of intel. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.040 You know, yeah, intercepting but not interfering. Kind of like 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.559 lurking on a subreddit. This is photographers want to get 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.600 back to what you were saying earlier, because this is 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:07.120 a pretty brilliant concept. The problem with so much land 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:11.600 based collection stuff is that your HQ often ends up 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.880 being static. It's difficult to move all your equipment without 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.360 being noticed, and once an enemy force clocks you, the 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.840 jig is up. So if you basically what they did 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.360 with the Liberty is they created a pop up spy 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.680 store on the high seats. It was very easy to 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.559 move and as long as you're not looking for something 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:40.280 super far in land, you have a catbird seat. Pretty cool, 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:48.040 and they were pretty successful for a while. So where 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.040 are you going to park your pop up spy store 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:55.160 right if your uncle Sam. In June of nineteen sixty five, 0:13:55.559 --> 0:14:01.280 the Liberty went off on its first leg of monitoring missions, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.960 and like you were saying earlier, Nol, they were not 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.880 intervening in things, they were collecting stuff. Into your earlier 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.960 question that I think we know they had radio monitoring capabilities, 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:18.200 so totally if they could, if they could clock or 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.920 track some sort of aircraft, they were doing that too. 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.880 They were off the western coast of Africa and Ran 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.480 I don't want to sound too weird about it or paranoid, 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.240 but they ran five missions that we know of, five 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.960 spy missions in that area on the western coast of 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.480 Africa from nineteen sixty five up to nineteen sixty seven. 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:44.840 And we were talking a little bit off Mike, just 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.000 trying to like come up with an appropriate comparison in 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:50.600 the spy world of like a land version of this, 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.160 and I think we landed on like it's sort of 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.680 like the unmarked van sitting outside of like you know, 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.640 a mafia headquarters, like with the dudes with headphones on 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.520 the end, but at sea and completely moveable and much 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:08.600 more focused on intercepting communications rather than like listening in 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.040 on like you know, physical bugs or something like that. 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:15.120 Yeah, like a spy food truck. You know, there you go. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:21.360 Everything changed in nineteen sixty seven, in summer in June, 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.720 the Liberty deployed to the Mediterranean. And this is where 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:30.239 it lingers technically in international waters, so they're not intruding 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.920 upon sovereignty. They're in international waters near the north coast 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:40.160 of Sinai, Egypt. And as in previous missions, they're not 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.600 there to fire munitions, they're not there to try to 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.960 storm the beach or anything. They just want to collect 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:53.280 as much intelligence as possible. So why the Mediterranean, right, 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.640 why West African coast to the Mediterranean. 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.440 Well, historians seem to have a pretty good idea of 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.600 why the Mediterranean, and that would be the infamous Six 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:04.840 Day War, right. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.680 Yeah, pretty much everybody in the know felt something bad 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.320 was in the wind, kind of like remember that scene 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.440 in the Lord of the Rings adaptation where the elf 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:21.360 legalis walks out on a promontory and says, there's a 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:22.240 fell wind. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.960 Oh I do love a fell wind. And that's an 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.600 elden ring thing too, the fell omen isn't that one 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.200 of the bad guys? Margot, Margot, Margot anyway, Yeah, fell 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:34.960 it's a good word, very very spooky. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.240 An open conflict had not broken out in the Middle 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:43.359 East just yet, but everybody was thinking this is inevitable. 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.560 It's a matter of when rather than a matter of if. 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:52.760 The usual diplomatic off ramps are failing. So Uncle Sam, understandably, 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.760 the biggest superpower post World War Two, they want to 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:02.400 know what's going on, and they successfully predicted, as you 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:06.040 mentioned earlier, Noel, a six day war. They didn't call 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:07.800 it that until after it was. 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:08.520 Over, for sure. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.640 Yeah, I was not aware of the Sixth Day War. 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:14.240 Were aware of the Hundred Years War and other spans 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.560 of time, but didn't know about the Sixth Day War. 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.520 So maybe some folks out there didn't either. So let's 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.600 jump into what that was all about. It took place 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:25.240 from June fifth to the tenth six days of nineteen 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.640 sixty seven. It was an escalation of ongoing tension. 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:31.920 It's been going on for so so long. 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:34.639 It's exhausting in the Middle East, with the nation of 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.240 Israel fighting a group of other countries in the region, 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.480 mainly we're talking about Egypt, Syria. 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:41.960 And Jordan. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.240 I'm not an historian, but it is a fascinating moment 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.480 in history. The reason that six days is literally because 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.640 of six days, but it also reminds everybody how quickly 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.240 the conflict was ended by Israel, right like it was 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.080 one and done. We knocked this out six days. That's 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:05.840 what's up. It was a coalition of countries and I 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.000 mean you could there's gorilla groups involved. There's just as 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.679 we talk about in many of the conflicts that have 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.480 occurred in the Middle East, there's money flowing into you know, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.720 groups right that end up operating and doing things and 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:25.240 attacks taking over places like in an individual city, a town, 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.640 a region. But then you also have full fledged countries 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:34.480 that are stepping up and doing military operations. There is 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:36.920 a lot to learn about the Six Day War. I 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:38.879 would just put out there, and we're not going to 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:40.480 be able to cover all of it right now, but 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.320 this is we're going to give you the overview. 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:46.120 Yeah, the quick and dirty. The quick and dirty is 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:52.000 this Israel had already stated to the nation of Egypt 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:56.040 that if they closed the straits of Tehran t I 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.760 r a n, they would consider it a hause for 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.320 a hot war, an open conflict. And they were saying 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:09.680 this because Egypt had banned Israeli vessels from that straight earlier. 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:15.159 The reason that's important is because the vital port of 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.800 Israel El Yat is you need the street to get there, 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.800 basically for shipping to happen Egypt. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.120 Before we keep going there, just think about how much 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:26.920 this is lining. 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:27.040 Up with. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.000 It seems like it's like a one to one with 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.400 like the Straight of Hormuz, only in this case we 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.560 did the action that led to the closing of the strait, 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.440 whereas this was I'm curious it's maybe some a little 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.960 more uh detail around why. 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:43.480 They closed it in the first place. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:47.360 It didn't seem like they were provoked in the way 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.200 that Iran was in this current situation. 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.239 There was a lot of back and forth leading up 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.600 to the Six Day War, and these nations, not the 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:03.399 people necessarily the government, hated each other. They're an economic competition. 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:08.679 They are both attempting regional control. That's just the truth, 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:14.080 plainly put. And Egypt pulled Israel's bluff and they banned 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.600 not all ships from the strait because they still wanted 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:22.280 to make money, they banned all Israeli flagged ships. Israel 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:27.639 did retaliate. They had something called Operation Focus. This was 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.320 a series of concurrent air strikes and ground force movements 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:39.040 that absolutely demolished Egypt's air force, establishing regional air supremacy. 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:45.080 And then they entered and occupied the Snai Peninsula. It 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:49.639 was terrible for the innocent people living on the peninsula 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:54.320 at the time because the Egyptian government said, hey, everybody 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:59.040 has to evacuate, and this land was overtaken. And this 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:04.480 occupation of the Nai peninsula inspired or galvanized, we could say, 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:08.320 other Arab nations to join with the cause of Egypt. 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:11.560 Now they weren't all like Syria and Jordan, weren't all 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.640 attacking with the same ferocity, but they were very much 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:20.560 on on on the side of Egypt. So we've got 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.920 the one nation, Israel, and then we've got the other 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:29.160 nations responding in force. This is one the multiple fight. 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.240 And again i'm I might get some of this wrong, 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:34.680 but this is my understanding. So if we've got historians 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:36.920 right in and tell us and we can we can 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:41.240 fix things. But my understanding is that that is a 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.160 pretty aggressive move by Egypt to say, hey, everybody could 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.199 come through, but you Israel, you can't come in. 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:48.360 That's a pretty out. 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.720 I mean, that's like you know, calling calling them out 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.320 and then the most you know, public way possible or 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:55.520 at least among the coalition. 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:58.359 But it's still not hot conflict, right, it's not. 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:02.280 That's not a violent, dangerous It is a lead up 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:03.280 to that, for sure. 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.840 It feels like, yeah, them's fighting words, right. 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.239 Last thing here is just that the attacks that that 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:15.960 Israel carried out in response to some of this uh 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.000 been the way you describe them as perfect. But there's 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.479 that there's a word that's really important in here. And 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:24.760 this is my understanding of it too in writing about it. 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.960 Even the US historian on the website you can find 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:30.720 now talks about the surprise, the nature of the surprise 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:38.600 attacks like the not that attacks are announced. Right, it's different, right, 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.159 It's it's all of a sudden, bombs are going off 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.360 at an airport, an airfield, and now you can't get 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.159 any flight, like you can't send anything out of that 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.840 airfield anymore. And it just happens like that, and it's over. 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.600 When Ben you were you were talking about gaining air superiority. Again, 0:22:56.200 --> 0:23:00.040 just the nature of it happening in a flash, rather than. 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:03.680 Even some warning me. 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.760 Again, they did say, they did say if you, if 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.960 you ban Israeli vessels from the Strait, this will be 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:16.320 caused as belly, which is the Latin phrase for reason 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:20.199 to go to war. Egypt called their bluff and the 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.879 other nation responded. And we're just being objective about that. 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.320 We're not we're not trying to tilt the scales on 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:29.879 this one, folks, but we do want you to know 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:35.040 the context because in the midst of this sudden chaos 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:40.600 and bloodshed what could indeed be called disproportionate response, our 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:45.960 little USS liberty is continuing its mission and they get 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.960 they get notes from I call it good stuff. 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.440 I bet they're getting some good stuff during all of this. 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:54.640 Well, they get. What was going to say is they're 0:23:54.680 --> 0:23:59.520 getting notes from their command that says, okay, scoop back 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:04.160 a little bit further, right, make sure you're in international waters. 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:08.200 My understanding is that on June second, so before this 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:13.000 this whole conflict got hot, they were headed from Spain. 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:16.159 I think there were the USS Liberty was in Spain 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.040 and it was heading towards that Egyptian coast over there 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.399 by the Sinai Peninsula. But so they were already, as 0:24:22.400 --> 0:24:24.800 you're saying, they were already doing their thing kind of 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:27.040 all the way over there, and then all of this 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:30.760