On this day, 3 July 1988, the Iranian Airbus A300 was shot down over the Persian Gulf by a missile fired from the cruiser Vincennes of the U.S. Navy. All 290 people aboard the plane were killed, including 65 children. About why the criminal negligence of the us military and has not been punished and why is the US so easily forget about his crimes.
During the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. sent its warships into the Persian Gulf. The official reason for this was to protect oil tankers from attacks by both the belligerent States, but in fact, America pursued a very different purpose. The US openly supported Iraq, and not only financial, but also directly participating in hostilities. At the time of the tragedy the cruiser Vincennes to monitor the air space over the Gulf, to hinder the flight of Iran air.
The last flight
That day nothing foretold misfortunes: the weather was wonderful, and even the fact that the flight was delayed for 27 minutes, did not dampen the mood of the passengers and crew. 10:17 the plane took off after an intermediate landing at the airport of Bandar Abbas. It is important to note that the flight occurred in international air corridor of a width of 35 kilometers. As expected, the plane reached within this corridor altitude of 4300 meters and set a course for Dubai.
What happened next defies logical explanation. Seeing the aircraft on the radar, the us military has made several radio warnings. The crew of the aircraft did not respond, thinking that did not appeal to him, and to the Iranian reconnaissance aircraft P-3 Orion, which shortly before it were flying in the area. They had no idea that civilian aircraft can be caused a missile attack.
The captain of the American ship William Rogers decided that the flight profile multi-ton passenger liner is very similar to the profile of the output to attack of a group of supersonic fighters Iranian F-14A Tomcat and took the decision to launch SM-2MR. She went straight into the fuselage, after which the liner broke in two and fell into the water, which became a mass grave for all who were on Board.
“All the talk about the fact that the crew was not able to distinguish a fighter from a civilian aircraft – “excuses” of the us military. In fact they all understand, but the captain decided to play safe and did not engage in further identification purposes. It’s his decision and led to the tragedy”, – said the military expert, Colonel Victor murakhovski.
Crime without punishment
The reaction of the us military in this incident shocked the whole civilized world. That shot down a passenger plane, not a fighter, the crew realized immediately after being hit by a missile as was reported to the authorities. An official investigation was headed by Admiral William Fogarty, a report which was declassified only in part, and the second part became available to the General public only in 1993. According to this document, the actions of the crew of the American ship was considered justified. The main cause of the incident in the document labeled “psychological state” of a team that experienced “great stress”.
“Moreover, the victims in this situation, the Americans considered themselves. They stated that the US military on the ship received a deep psychological trauma, realizing that they had killed almost three hundred innocent people,” – said the shopping center “Star” associate Professor of Russian state humanitarian University, Sergei Seregichev.
That the American command did not bother to establish a normal contact with civilian air traffic controllers, and that the experts on the weapons later admitted insufficient training of the crew, the report was not mentioned.
The version of the Iranian authorities is that the plane was shot down deliberately, in order to put pressure on them to conclude a truce in the Iran-Iraq war. In favor of this version says that none of the crew of the ship did not suffer any criminal or even disciplinary action, were not dismissed from the armed forces or demoted. Moreover, the commander of the cruiser was later awarded the “Legion of honor” for good service.
“Quite possibly, such statements aim to cover the actions of the leaders of the military Department and the state. Could find, for example, that the US President was aware of what is happening on the eve of the election, it would play against his party, not to mention the threat of impeachment. In the end, is psychologically easier to admit a mistake than intentional actions. Anyway, the overall chain of events shows that the actions the us military could have been intentional,” believes independent political analyst Vladimir Peshkov.
“No apology”
Not “dropped” the US government to apologize to the relatives of the victims: expressed regret that people died, but his guilt in this, the US government has not recognized until now. The American newspaper Newsweek published the following words of the Vice-President of the USA George Bush on the tragedy with the plane: “I will never apologize for the United States of America, no matter what the facts.”
However, the U.S. government attempted to pay off. After Iran filed a suit against U.S. in international court of justice, America signed him to a settlement agreement, according to which the relatives of the victims were paid compensation at the rate of $ 300,000 for every working family, and the total amount of payments for the downed aircraft was 131,8 million dollars. After that Iran refused further claims to the United States in connection with this accident, and the court case was closed. The problem is that the lawsuit was necessary not so much for reparations as for a guilty plea, United States and the international community. Made this and was not.
“Iran has made a decision on conclusion of a settlement agreement are largely under pressure: the US has used all available leverage for that. You need to understand that the country was at that time under US sanctions and all its accounts were blocked. Rather, America has hinted to the government of Iran that if it does not go to the world, your money in the future can no longer see, and billions of dollars”, – said the Seregichev. In addition, according to the expert, Iran in that time were the required currency for purchase of foreign components, including for military equipment, and compensation USA was very helpful.
Sleeping murder
The tragedy of 1988 is unprecedented for the reason that downed a civilian airliner was not a trespasser (and therefore any comparison is shot down over Sakhalin a few years earlier the Boeing 747 pointless), and also because no one was punished for the senseless murder of almost three hundred people.
“In essence, the plane crash can be considered one of the last acts of the Iran-Iraq war: the plane was shot down on 3 July, and in August the war ended. However, this does not remove the responsibility from the military, which destroyed three hundred civilians. But the analogy with the nuclear bombardment by the United States of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when the cost of thousands of innocent lives of American leaders to settle scores with his political opponents,” – said the MP.
In addition, the question arises, why is the US so quickly forget about their mistakes and so can easily start to blame the other. A good example of something that the us government immediately after the collapse of the Malaysian Boeing in the Donbass came to the conclusion that the culprit of this tragedy is Russia.
According to the materials of broadcasting company “Zvezda
