Do you have any source to back up this claim?
I swear, in all my times I have heard about the USS Liberty incident, I have never heard about them machine gun the boats.
Here ya go. Bolded for emphasis.
This column is about events so counterintuitive that Hollywood would reject the plot as being too unbelievable. Fifty years ago on June 8th, another nation
countercurrents.org
"After the air attack ended, three torpedo boats appeared and came in for the kill. They opened fire with 20 and 40-mm guns and torpedoes. One torpedo hit just below the waterline and opened up a 39-foot-wide hole in the U.S. Navy ship, now basically dead in the water. The torpedo boats continued to fire armor-piercing projectiles into the ship for forty minutes.
Three lifeboats that were still usable were secured and dropped over the ship’s side. The attackers shot up two of the lifeboats and carried the third lifeboat away. Shortly afterward, more jet fighters and two assault helicopters carrying armed troops appeared. However, before the final assault, these aircraft suddenly departed."
www.veteranstoday.com
"First: It was impossible for the attacking Israelis not to know the identity of their target. From the masthead on the ensign staff the Liberty was proudly flying the standard American flag -five feet by eight feet. The ship’s US Navy markings, GTR-5, were on both sides of its bows in white letters and a figure ten feet high. And the ship’s name was clearly visible on its stern. Not to mention the sophisticated system of radio antennae."
"Phase two of the attack was executed by three Israeli motor torpedo boats (MTBs). The Liberty’s crew were fighting the fires caused by the air attack when the MTBs announced their arrival by opening up with their 0.20-mm and 0.40-mm guns.
Their main task was to sink the Liberty. For that purpose – could there have been any other? – they fired three torpedoes. One struck the communications room dead centre in Number 3 hold, killing in an instant 25 of the 34 men who died in the entire attack. The 25, including the “Major”, were entombed in the flooded wreckage."
"The order “Prepare to abandon ship!” was followed, naturally, by the lowering of the first lifeboats.
As they touched the water the Israeli MTBs moved closer and shot them to pieces.
Among the Liberty crewmen who witnessed this was Petty Officer Charles Rowley. He also observed the concentration of machine-gun fire on the life-boats still stored on deck. After the attack he carefully photographed the shredded boats, thinking that one day his pictures would help to tell a story. When eventually he told it to Stephen Green, Rowley said, “They didn’t want anybody to live.”
Avoiding the question:
Why would they want to attack an American ship during a war where they relied heavily on the USA to keep the balance with the USSR, esp considering that the Arab states (excluding jordan) were Soviet sponsored?
And they did machine gun the lifeboats before they backed off.
Great question.
Whatever it was, it sure as shit wasn't "We thought it was another vessel". They knew who they were shooting at.
Still, that they did it and lied badly about it later doesn't mean shit to me. We should have straight up invaded and tore Israel to pieces for what they did to us.