Iran Air Flight 655 shot down by US Navy

[Brian4Liberty]

This is merely a historical footnote at this point, but it does serve as an example, and perspective, on how this type of accident has been handled in the past.


Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.

All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.[1] This attack ranks tenth among the deadliest disasters in aviation history, the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Persian Gulf and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus aircraft anywhere in the world.[2] The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.[3]

According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft, and operators of Vincennes mistook for Mode II.[4]

According to the United States Government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter (a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force).

The event generated a great deal of controversy and criticism of the United States. Some analysts have blamed U.S. military commanders and the captain of Vincennes for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.[5][6]

In 1996, the United States and Iran reached "an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims" relating to the incident at the International Court of Justice.[7] As part of the settlement, the United States agreed to pay US$61.8 million, an average of $213,103 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims. However, the United States has never admitted responsibility, nor apologized to Iran.
...
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

[ChristianAnarchist]

WE DON'T APOLOGIZE TO NOBODY NO HOW !!!

[Anti Federalist]

In 1996, the United States and Iran reached "an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims" relating to the incident at the International Court of Justice.[7] As part of the settlement, the United States agreed to pay US$61.8 million, an average of $213,103 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims. However, the United States has never admitted responsibility, nor apologized to Iran.

Cops, on a grander scale.

LOL @ "they hate us for our freedoms".

I wonder what every flag feeding Boobus out there would say if Iran "accidently" smoked a bunch of people flying down the east coast to DisneyWorld?

[XNavyNuke]

More apropos to this situation would be KAL 007 given that Former Soviet Union parties are involved and denials are flying around like crazy.

Link for the majority here that were not yet born when it occurred.

http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/johnson/johnson-i84-2.pdf

XNN

[Anti Federalist]

Maybe some day they'll fess up to the fact that is what smoked TWA flight 800 as well.

[dillo]

Maybe some day they'll fess up to the fact that is what smoked TWA flight 800 as well.

or the one over Lockerbie

[pcosmar]

More apropos to this situation would be KAL 007 given that Former Soviet Union parties are involved and denials are flying around like crazy.

Link for the majority here that were not yet born when it occurred.

http://www.pirp.harvard.edu/pubs_pdf/johnson/johnson-i84-2.pdf

XNN

Well,, Who was on this flight?

[acptulsa]

Dorothy Wetzel Day Goutiere Hunt (April 1, 1920 – December 8, 1972) was an American employee of the Central Intelligence Agency[citation needed]. Hunt was the first wife of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt. She died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 553,[1] during the unfolding of the scandal.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hunt

[presence]

Cops, on a grander scale.

LOL @ "they hate us for our freedoms".

I wonder what every flag feeding Boobus out there would say if Iran "accidently" smoked a bunch of people flying down the east coast to DisneyWorld?

LOL

Forget shooting down a bunch of Disney goers... what would boobus have to say about:


The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/USS_Vincennes_returns_to_San_Diego_Oct_1988.jpg/1280px-USS_Vincennes_returns_to_San_Diego_Oct_1988.jpg
USS Vincennes

An Iranian ship like this off the coast of Florida?

[Brian4Liberty]

Reagan: "It was an understandable accident."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYyvpGmxZUI

[XNavyNuke]

Declassified report on .mil site. Large PDF.

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/other/172.pdf

XNN

[Brian4Liberty]

Declassified report on .mil site. Large PDF.

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/International_security_affairs/other/172.pdf

XNN

Interesting. It looks like the key mistakes were 1) wrongly identifying the aircraft as an F-14, and 2) erroneous information that the aircraft was descending.

Oh well, a mistake is a mistake. I don't believe that they shot down a passenger plane on purpose. Most likely the same case in the Ukraine.

[AZJoe]

Remembering the "Forgotten" US Shoot Down of a Passenger Airliner (https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2017/07/03/the-forgotten-us-shootdown-of-iranian-airliner-flight-655%C2%AD/)

[July 3] marks twenty-nine years since the shootdown by the USS Vincennes of Iran Air flight 655, which killed all of the plane’s 290 civilian passengers. …

This incident is, of course, something that the people of Iran well remember. Americans who rely on the US mainstream media, on the other hand, would have to be forgiven for never having heard about it. …

Fred Kaplan in Slate noted (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2014/07/the_vincennes_downing_of_iran_air_flight_655_the_u nited_states_tried_to.html) in a 2014 piece that the incident “is almost completely forgotten” (at least in the US). His article was appropriately subtitled “The time the United States blew up a passenger plane—and covered it up.” … Kaplan noted that “American officials told various lies” intended to blame the Iranians for the tragedy.

The government had claimed that the Vincennes was in international waters at the time, that the plane was flying “outside of the prescribed commercial air route” and descending at the “high speed” of 450 knots directly toward the Vincennes, and that the plane’s transponder was squawking a code over a military channel. In truth, the Vincennes was in Iran’s territorial waters, the plane was ascending through 12,000 feet at 380 knots within the established commercial air route, and its transponder was squawking the plane’s identify over a civilian channel. …

a November 1988 piece (http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/opinion/witness-to-iran-flight-655.html) acknowledged that, contrary to the US government’s claims, “Flight 655 was behaving normally for a commercial jet”. … the Times revealed (http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/04/world/world-aviation-panel-faults-us-navy-on-downing-of-iran-air.html) that this attempt to blame the Iranians was also untruthful. As the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) determined in an investigation of the incident, seven of the eleven warnings issued by the Americans “were transmitted on a military channel that was inaccessible to the airliner crew.” The other four were transmitted on the international civil aviation distress frequency. Of these, only one, transmitted by the USS Sides “39 seconds before the Vincennes fired, was of sufficient clarity that it might have been ‘instantly recognizable’ to the airliner as being directed at it.” …

In 1992, a Times article reported (http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/02/world/us-account-of-downing-of-iran-jet-criticized.html) on the further unravelling of the US government’s official account. It noted that, contrary to the government’s claims, Flight 655 was ascending and flying within the commercial air corridor. … as government officials were now admitting, the Vincennes was in Iranian waters at the time. …

The Facts about the US Shootdown of Flight 655
After the Vincennes shot down Flight 655 … Vice President George H. W. Bush responded by saying, “I will never apologize for the United States of America—I don’t care what the facts are.”

The facts were that the Aegis cruiser USS Vincennes, under the command of Captain Will Rogers III, had entered Iran’s territorial waters and opened fire on and sank (https://archive.org/details/ussvincennescg4900mcca) two Iranian gunboats posing no threat to the American vessels.
(Aboard another Iranian boat the Vincennes was passing by at the same moment Rogers gave the order to open fire, the crew was seen relaxing topside, as captured (https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1993-08/vincennes-case-study) by the camera of US Navy journalists.) …

the Vincennes detected a plane ascending “on a normal commercial air flight plan profile” and squawking a transponder signal identifying itself as a commercial aircraft. Aboard the Sides, with identical radar information as received aboard the Vincennes, Captain Carlson determined (https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1993-08/vincennes-case-study) the plane was a “non-threat”.
Aboard the Vincennes, Lieutenant William Montford warned Captain Rogers that the plane was “possible COMAIR”, but Rogers nevertheless ostensibly convinced himself that his ship was under attack from an F-14 fighter plane and minutes later ordered it shot down. … Well aware that his action might kill civilians, Rogers ordered his gunner to open fire on the plane, shooting it out of the sky.

The Navy’s self-investigation attributed the discrepancy between the known facts and Rogers’ actions to “scenario fulfillment”. Rogers had made “an unconscious attempt to make available evidence fit a preconceived scenario.” In other words, even though the information the officers and crew aboard the Vincennes were receiving indicated that the plane was ascending along a commercial flight path and squawking its identify as a civilian airliner, Rogers imagined it to be an F-14 fighter jet coming down out of the sky to attack his ship. …

Far from being held accountable for the mass murder of 290 civilians, Captain Rogers was later presented with the Legion of Merit award “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service” during his time as commanding officer when the shootdown occurred. …

The real story, in sum, is as follows:
Twenty-nine years ago, on July 3, 1988, US warships entered Iranian waters and initiated hostilities with Iranian vessels.
The consoles of the radar operators aboard the USS Vincennes at the time unambiguously showed an aircraft ascending within a commercial corridor in Iranian airspace, with the plane’s transponder signaling its identity as a commercial aircraft.

Captain Rogers nevertheless ordered his gunner to open fire on the plane, shooting it out of the sky and killing the 290 civilians on board.
Subsequently, rather than being held accountable for committing a war crime, Rogers and his entire crew received awards for their actions. …

https://www.antiwar.com/photos/iran-655.jpg

[sparebulb]

Subsequently, rather than being held accountable for committing a war crime, Rogers and his entire crew received awards for their actions.

https://moviegoings.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/slimpickens.jpg

"I want you to remember one thing, the folks back home is a-countin' on you and by golly, we ain't about to let 'em down. I tell you something else, if this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with."

[ChristianAnarchist]

ummm... goons gonna goon...