http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

I'm kind of in shock. For some reason I had not previousy heard about this incident. Whats particularly disturbing is how GHWB said he "will never apologize no matter what the facts are" and that the crew responsible for the shootdown recieved medals!!!!!

Is there anyone else that find this as disturbing as me? I would expect this kind of ridiculousness from North Korea. You don't award medals to people who mistakenly shoot down commercial jets.

What is going on here?

Amazing how those American Navy jerks could mistake an Airbus A300 for a F-14 Tomcat.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

As disturbing as that is, accidents happen and I accept that. Especially since there had been skirmishes with Iranian gunboats in the area shortly before and tensions were high.

What I cannot accept is the attitude of GHWB and the fact that the crew were given medals for having been in combat. There must be something that I'm missing here.

Not much in the U.S military makes sense if you ask me. They are more interested in covering up for those who make mistakes, rather than punishing them.

__________________

It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

Not exactly an uncommon attitude

The Iraqi military mistook a formation of jets for a 747. The USSR shot down a Korean airliner. Errors occur in warfare.

I am not sure how you missed this. It was widely covered.

If you read the facts from the article you posted, it is very easy to see how this happened.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

must be a slow BASH AMERICA news day........


this was widley covered and a huge fuck up by the US NAVY

Danny I am surprised you just naturally assumed this must be a scandal.
You seem to be ready to believe the Iranian account readily..I also doubt you even read the link you posted.
Had you, you would have know that there were numerous circumstances that when added together made the tragic error:

1) The radar system was new and unfamiliar.
2) The gun ship had been involved in two skirmishes in 24 hours.
3) The Iranians set mines in the area.
4) The Iranians were darting small gunships in and out of Iranian waters and near US fleets.
5) An Iranian P3 fighter was only moments before flying in the same area and pattern.

Add these and other circumstances and you have the makings of a disaster.

Once again, you also did not ask the obvious question! - Why in God's name were Iranian passenger flights flying in the middle of a warzone????
Do you think if this kind fighting was occuring just off of NY waters, passenger jets would be taking off in that area - or in any European country?? - of course not.

I remember it being in the news, as I recall the airport in question was dual civilian and military, an additional contributing factor.

Mat and Iamwhatitseem, I read the entire article. Had you spent the time to read my posts you'll notice that I'm not trying to figure out how this happened. Why are you posting the reasons behind, and circumstances leading up to this accident while ignoring the goal of the thread?

Look at the korean airliner which was shot down.

Danny America should not apologize in the manner Iran wanted one.

If America apologized, in their eyes it would be admitting guilt.

America released a number of statements stating we regreted the loss of innocent lives, the event was aggresively investigated and changes were made in procedures and technology to prevent the accident in the future.
America gave $61.8 million dollars to surviving families.

That is exactly what should have been done.

Perhaps because I don't see this legitimate - although horrible - mistake as a reason to make some broader negative statement about America.

Sorry.

Matt

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De duobus malis, minus est semper eligendum

This topic is a reminder of what could happen when things get out of control. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed in the more recent incident.

Did America pay tort to the families of the deceased - just like they wanted Libya to do for the Pan Am bombing?

__________________

It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?