Flight 17: The time the United States blew up a passenger plan and tried to cover it up

[mota bhai 2,675]

By Fred Kaplan

... before accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes or dismissing the entire episode as a tragic fluke, it’s worth looking back at another doomed passenger plane — Iran Air Flight 655 — shot down on July 3, 1988, not by some scruffy rebel on contested soil but by a US Navy captain in command of an Aegis-class cruiser called the Vincennes.

A quarter-century later, the Vincennes is largely forgotten, but it still ranks as the world’s seventh deadliest air disaster (Malaysia Air Flight 17 is the sixth) and one of the Pentagon’s most inexcusable disgraces.

In several ways, the two calamities are similar. The Malaysian Boeing 777 wandered into a messy civil war in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border; the Iranian Airbus A300 wandered into a naval skirmish — one of many clashes in the ongoing “Tanker War” (another forgotten conflict) — in the Strait of Hormuz. The likely pro-Russia rebel thought that he was shooting at a Ukrainian military-transport plane; the US Navy captain, Will Rogers III, mistook the Airbus for an F-14 fighter jet. The Russian SA-11 surface-to-air missile that downed the Malaysian plane killed 298 passengers, including 80 children; the American SM-2 surface-to-air missile that downed the Iranian plane killed 290 passengers, including 66 children. After last week’s incident, Russian officials told various lies to cover up their culpability and blamed the Ukrainian government; after the 1988 incident, American officials told various lies and blamed the Iranian pilot. Not until eight years later did the US government compensate the victims’ families, and even then expressed “deep regret”, not an apology.

...

Many Iranians continued to believe, for many years, that the shoot-down was deliberate. They found it hard to believe that the United States Navy, with its polish and dazzle, could have committed such a ghastly deed by mistake.

...

Things like this happen when the zones of war and normal life intersect. Best to avoid mingling the two or, if it can’t be helped, to hold the reins tight, as they slip out of control too easily.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1121355/

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

By Fred Kaplan

... before accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes or dismissing the entire episode as a tragic fluke, it’s worth looking back at another doomed passenger plane — Iran Air Flight 655 — shot down on July 3, 1988, not by some scruffy rebel on contested soil but by a US Navy captain in command of an Aegis-class cruiser called the Vincennes.

A quarter-century later, the Vincennes is largely forgotten, but it still ranks as the world’s seventh deadliest air disaster (Malaysia Air Flight 17 is the sixth) and one of the Pentagon’s most inexcusable disgraces.

In several ways, the two calamities are similar. The Malaysian Boeing 777 wandered into a messy civil war in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border; the Iranian Airbus A300 wandered into a naval skirmish — one of many clashes in the ongoing “Tanker War” (another forgotten conflict) — in the Strait of Hormuz. The likely pro-Russia rebel thought that he was shooting at a Ukrainian military-transport plane; the US Navy captain, Will Rogers III, mistook the Airbus for an F-14 fighter jet. The Russian SA-11 surface-to-air missile that downed the Malaysian plane killed 298 passengers, including 80 children; the American SM-2 surface-to-air missile that downed the Iranian plane killed 290 passengers, including 66 children. After last week’s incident, Russian officials told various lies to cover up their culpability and blamed the Ukrainian government; after the 1988 incident, American officials told various lies and blamed the Iranian pilot. Not until eight years later did the US government compensate the victims’ families, and even then expressed “deep regret”, not an apology.

...

Many Iranians continued to believe, for many years, that the shoot-down was deliberate. They found it hard to believe that the United States Navy, with its polish and dazzle, could have committed such a ghastly deed by mistake.

...

Things like this happen when the zones of war and normal life intersect. Best to avoid mingling the two or, if it can’t be helped, to hold the reins tight, as they slip out of control too easily.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1121355/

Exactly . I have been saying the same thing. In the Fog of war stuff happens . I firmly believe that no one shot that airline down on purpose.

[MyLittlePony 340]

How did flight 370 vanish to figure that one out.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

How did flight 370 vanish to figure that one out.

Test run for the rapture

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

what is a passenger plan?

[GandD 5,966]

So many places to go with that set up. I shall choose none.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

what is a passenger plan?

You bucking for head mod aren't you.

[JIJourney 96]

You bucking for head mod aren't you.

looks like he is lol

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

You bucking for head mod aren't you.

i'd settle for minor organizer, less headaches.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

i'd settle for minor organizer, less headaches.

In all seriousness. I just can't imagine all the drama

But as long as you can still move threads all is good LOL Sorry have not had all my coffee yet

[Sousuke 1,214]

At least the American ship tried to radio warnings to the passenger plane to deviate its flight path.............

Edited July 27, 2014 by Sousuke

[mota bhai 2,675]

How did flight 370 vanish to figure that one out.

Please try to stay on topic.

Edited July 27, 2014 by mota bhai