Iran Air Flight 655 | Shot Down by US Navy Captian | USS Vincennes | US Govt Lies & Cover-Up

SOURCE | here America’s Flight 17 The time the United States blew up a passenger plane—and tried to cover it up. By Fred Kaplan Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci answers questions from the press regarding the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 at the Pentagon on Aug. 19, 1988. Photo by Josn Oscar Sosa/U.S. Federal Government SELECTED EXTRACTS ONLY [... ] ... 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 U.S. Navy captain in command of an Aegis-class cruiser called the Vincennes. [...] ... and one of the Pentagon’s most inexcusable disgraces. [...] ... 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 U.S. Navy captain, Will Rogers III, mistook the Airbus for an F-14 fighter jet. [...] ... the American SM-2 surface-to-air missile that downed the Iranian plane killed 290 passengers, including 66 children.  [...] after the 1988 incident, American officials told various lies and blamed the Iranian pilot. Not until eight years later did the U.S. government compensate the victims’ families, and even then expressed “deep regret,” not an apology. The USS Vincennes returns from deployment on Oct. 24, 1988, just months after shooting down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Strait of Hormuz. Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich/U.S. Navy As the Boston Globe’s defense correspondent at the time, I reported on the Vincennes shoot-down, and I have gone back over my clips, chronicling the official lies and misstatements as they unraveled.  Here’s the truly dismaying part of the story. On Aug. 19, 1988, nearly seven weeks after the event, the Pentagon issued a 53-page report on the incident. Though the text didn’t say so directly, it found that nearly all the initial details about the shoot-down—the “facts” that senior officials cited to put all the blame on Iran Air’s pilot—were wrong. And yet the August report still concluded that the captain and all the other Vincennes officers acted properly. For example, on July 3, at the first Pentagon press conference on the incident, Adm. William Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Iranian plane had been flying at 9,000 feet and descending at a “high speed” of 450 knots, “headed directly” for the Vincennes. In fact, however, the Aug. 19 report—written by Rear Adm. William Fogarty of U.S. Central Command—concluded (from computer tapes found inside the ship’s combat information center) that the plane was “ascending through 12,000 feet” at the much slower speed of 380 knots. “At no time” did the Airbus “actually descend in altitude,” the report stated. When I pointed out this discrepancy at the press conference where the report was handed out, Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci waved me away and said, “It’s really questionable whether a different reading would have affected the judgment” to shoot down the plane. (I still find this astonishing.) There were other equally disturbing discrepancies between Crowe’s July 3 press conference (which struck me as suspicious even at the time) and Fogarty’s Aug. 19 report. Crowe had said the plane was flying “outside the prescribed commercial air route”; the report said it was flying “within the established air route.” Crowe had said the plane’s transponder was “squawking” a code over the “Mode 2” military channel; the report stated that it was squawking over the “Mode 3” civilian channel. Crowe had said the Vincennes issued several warnings; the report confirmed this, but noted, “Due to heavy pilot workload during take-off and climb-out, and the requirement to communicate with” two air traffic control centers, the pilot “probably was not monitoring” the international air-distress channel. Adm. George B. Crist, head of U.S. Central Command, issued a “non-punitive letter of censure” to the ship’s anti–air warfare officer, but Secretary of Defense Carlucci withdrew the letter. Not only that, but two years later, Capt. Rogers was issued the Legion of Merit “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service” as the Vincennes’ commander “from April 1987 to May 1989.” One more shocking bit, which I didn’t know until just now: In 1992, four years after the event (and shortly after I moved on to a different beat), Adm. Crowe admitted on ABC’s Nightline that the Vincennes was in Iranian waters at the time it shot down the plane. Back in 1988, he and others had said that the ship was in international waters. It also came out that some other Navy officers had regarded Rogers as “aggressive” and found it strange that he was moving his Aegis cruiser into those waters to pursue Iranian patrol boats—overkill at best, asking for trouble in any case. The distractions of the chase, possibly combined with the fact that the Aegis radar-guided missile system was new at the time, may have led to his fatal misjudgment. Not long after the shoot-down, Iran asked the United Nations Security Council to censure the United States for its “criminal act” against Iran Air Flight 655. Vice President George H.W. Bush, who was running to succeed Ronald Reagan as president, said on the campaign trail, “I will never apologize for the United States—I don’t care what the facts are.” Finally, in 1996, President Bill Clinton’s administration expressed “deep regret” and paid the Iranian government $131.8 million in compensation, of which $61.8 million would go to the victims’ families. In exchange, Tehran agreed to drop its case against the United States in the International Court of Justice. 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. And they were ready to believe that America—“the Great Satan,” after all—was capable of such evil. [ ... ] First, 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. More than this, it’s best to own up to horrible mistakes. America might have come away with a better image, at a crucial moment in Middle East conflicts, if President Reagan or George H.W. Bush had quickly acknowledged what was clear to several senior officers, admitted blame, and compensated the victims. [...] SOURCE | here MORE  |  here COMMENT That was very interesting. I would have read about this some time ago, but I have poor recall of the details.  It was good revisiting. The dishonesty, the cover-ups, and the arrogance shouldn't be surprising ... but I'm always shocked. Iran Revolution 1979: " ... royal reign collapsed shortly after on February 11 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power."  "Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979, and to approve a new theocratic-republican constitution whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979."  [source | here ] So the present Iran authorities (in power since 1979 revolution) accepted compensation 1996. No use complaining that the US does not get prosecuted if governments are willing to accept compensation in exchange for dropping law suits. ꕤ

Iran | Civilian Aircraft Downed by US 1988 | 290 Killed

[source:  twitter] Caught my attention on Twitter. I'd forgotten about the passenger jet shot down. Not sure who posted it; was too lazy to make a note at the time. Well, too tired & sleepy.  Signed out now.  Can check tomorrow, I guess. I'd like to keep going, but I think I'd better get out of this chair before I have an embolism or something.  lol UPDATE America’s Flight 17 The time the United States blew up a passenger plane—and tried to cover it up. By Fred Kaplan  EXTRACTS ... Iran Air Flight 655—shot down on July 3, 1988, not by some scruffy rebel on contested soil but by a U.S. Navy captain in command of an Aegis-class cruiser called the Vincennes. A quarter-century later, the Vincennes is almost completely forgotten, but it still ranks as the world’s seventh deadliest air disaster (Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is the sixth) and one of the Pentagon’s most inexcusable disgraces. SOURCE  |  here UPDATE Was curious what was happening circa 1988 & here's just a couple of events: 1988 ECHELON surveillance  |  ('Five Eye') Duncan Campbell revealed existence of the ECHELON surveillance program in 1988  / (US-Anglo 'Five Eye' alliance satellite trunk communications sweeping intercepts).  | here South Africa (Eastern Cape) spy cover was blown Olivia Forsyth spy of apartheid era     imprisoned by ANC in Angola     escaped to British Embassy     recruited by 'notorious' Craig Williamson     infiltration of ANC supporters     spying on lefties     defection to ANC     journalist One of the most notorious of the Eastern Cape spies was Agent RS407 Olivia Forsyth - code name "Lara" - who infiltrated activist groups at Rhodes University as a student and sang freedom songs while passing on information to the security police. In 1988 her cover was blown and she was detained and tortured in an ANC prison camp in Angola, from which she escaped.  |  LINK  |  here South Africa government spy organisation links with: 1986 assassination Sweden PM Olof Palme *** key suspect no longer has an alibi for the night in question  *** "Larsson passed police the name of Bertil Wedin, a Swede with links to South African security services, as the man who organised the killing. Wedin, now living in northern Cyprus, denies this and police say he is not a suspect." "Kerstin Sharp, a Swedish prosecutor who has worked on the case since 1997, said earlier this week that Larsson's tip about Wedin was not part of the police investigation." Source | The Guardian |  here ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- Sweden does not follow up on the assassination of their iconic Prime Minister, but Sweden mounts a European Arrest Warrant, Interpol Red Notice, and dramatic London arrest of journalist Julian Assange ... to 'make inquiries' about Sweden police 'allegations' ... that were contradicted by the alleged 'victims.' Think about that for a moment & consider that 5 years down the track, Sweden has refused to interview Julian Assange (granted political asylum) in London, where Sweden has interviewed 44 others in the 2010-2015 period.  Sweden’s double standards on Julian Assange http://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/civil-liberties/sweden-s-double-standards-julian-assange ꕤ

MH17 Ukraine - Why flying over war zone?

The Independent 
Article


...

The jet was travelling east across Ukraine ... co-ordination centre for air-traffic ... said: “This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 [32,000 feet] but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying.” The plane was flying at the lowest permitted altitude over the area, flight level 330 [33,000 feet], when it disappeared from the radar.

Since the crash, all the airspace of eastern Ukraine has been closed to civil aircraft until further notice. Flight plans submitted by pilots are automatically checked against closed areas of airspace. Eurocontrol said: “All flight plans that are filed using these routes are now being rejected.”

...continued...
SOURCE - The Independent - here.

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COMMENT

Finally, someone addressing why the plane was even flying over a war zone.

Full article is at link provided.


The Independent article mentioned Iran flight 655, so I thought I'd check it out:

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.  ... The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.

[Wikipedia]

OMG!
Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and company have nothing to lecture about.
Look at what they're responsible for.