The USS Forrestal fire in 1967 resulted in two major investigations, including a 7500 page JAG final report in 1968 (not available online).

Department of the Navy, Manual of the Judge Advocate General Basic Final Investigative Report Concerning the Fire on Board the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) on July 29, 1967. (Washington, D.C.: US Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General, 1968).

It seemed clear that a missile hung on an F-4 unintentionally launched, struck a crewman, went through an A-4 across the deck, rupturing a fuel tank, and went into the sea. Fuel from the A-4’s ruptured tank spread aft and caught fire, leading to additional fires and explosions from cooked off ordnance, including 1000 lb. bombs apparently hung on racks designed to carry 500 lb. bombs. There were 27 aircraft on deck being made ready for launch. Twenty were lost. One hundred thirty-four men were killed, one hundred sixty-one wounded. Repairs cost $72 million in 1967 dollars and took two years to complete. It was the largest post-WWII shipboard fire.

Why the rocket went off is not clear, despite the lengthy investigations. There are multiple versions of what happened before and after. The ship was operating in the Gulf of Tonkin during a bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The tragedy was a very hot potato about a very hot war; it ended lives and careers, circumstances in which the whole truth is often also a casualty.

That’s not to denigrate the Navy. Bureaucracies in general are not good at investigating their own failures. They inherently protect their hierarchies and diffuse blame. Witness Mikey Mukasey’s “testimony” today.

Regardless of who shot Kennedy, for example, the massive Warren Commission investigation and report were badly bungled. Parkland Hospital staff who were the first to administer to Kennedy, for example, were not interviewed until thirty years after the event. The SSCI reports on Iraq and Cheney’s 1980’s minority report on the Iran-Contra investigations, demonstrate that politics often interfere with accurate reporting.

The Challenger Report was an exception. The disaster took place on national television, public interest remained high, and the investigation was led by an outside Nobel Laureate, not a bureaucrat from NASA or any of the vendors whose products or services might have contributed to the craft’s loss. Imagine what a Challenger investigation would look like under Dick Cheney or Mikey Mukasey.

An subsequent investigation revealed that the Zuni was improperly loaded onto the Phantom which caused it to “cook off”. The ensuing tragedy cost many, many sailors their lives and also changed ordnance-handling procedures on flight decks forever.

Them’s the facts as I know’em… we had to watch the Forrestal Video in safety school and also in shipboard firefighting school… seen it enough times to know what’s what with the accident. No “wetstarts”, no conspiracy theories, a lot of good men died in a tragic accident.

Then, DOJ attorney Thomas Bondy stood at the lectern and delivered a mind-boggling rebuttal to our argument that the surveillance of our clients was no longer a secret.

“They don’t know,” Bondy said. “Let me make clear what I mean by that. When plaintiffs explain what they mean when they say they, in quotes, ‘know,’ they don’t know. What they mean when they say that is that they — although they think or believe or claim they were surveilled, it’s possible they weren’t surveilled … When they say they know, what they mean by that, on their own terms, is that they don’t know.”

There’s more, but I didn’t want to be a spoiler. The whole story is a great way to explain to non-wonks just what has gone on and what is at stake.

Thanks for all you do to keep us informed.

Consulted a member of my family who is an Army vet. His opinion: Well, a lot of the grunts are onto him, those photo ops in the Baghdad markets etc. didn’t do him any good there, the officers respect his service but realize he’s talking out of his ass on staying in Iraq, & the vets I know have him pegged as a welcher @ best & a liar @ worst on vets’ issues. I don’t think McCain can count on the military vote the way he thinks he can.”

saw these 2 on my way to dreamland via Kos – FISA

Smintheus on IG canard link

and the diarist links to a POGO report on IG’s functionality you may find interesting -POGO

anyhoo, leaving them here in the event someone wants them later

THANK YOU AGAIN MARCY – for all the GREAT liveblogging yesterday.