ID :
131142
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 16:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/131142
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July 3rd marks depth of US hostility toward Iran
Tehran, July 3, IRNA – July 3rd is the anniversary of the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane by a US warship in 1988. The day remains as a tragic memory in the mind of all Iranians.
On July the 3rd, 1988, when the country was burning in fires of an imposed and unfair war by the US-backed Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, an Iranian Airbus A300 plane was shot down by the USS Vincennes warship in the Persian Gulf waters when it was making a routine flight from Bandar Abbas, in Iran, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The warship had tracked the plane electronically and fired two surface-to-air missiles towards it which led to the tragic death of all the 290 passengers and crew on board of flight 655.
Among the victims were 57 under 12-year-old children.
The American officials had later claimed that the USS Vincennes had mistaken the Iranian passenger plane for an F-14 fighter. The claim was later proved to be unfounded by more evidence.
An Airbus plane can easily be recognized by radar systems as it is bigger than an F-14 fighter and is different from in terms of shape and the ability to fly in high altitudes.
Additionally, listening to the talks of the plane’s captain with the control tower could make it easily clear that it was a commercial and a passenger flight not a fighter jet.
Although Iran filed against the US in the United Nations and ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, both bodies adopted a politicized attitude and declined to follow up the case legally, they only bothered to sympathize with the bereaved families of the victims.
Iranians mark July the 3rd each year by showering the site of the disaster with flowers, a ceremony which is attended by a large number of senior officials and the bereaved families of the victims.
Although it has become clear that downing of the Iranian plane was an intentioanl act and a crime against humanity, none of the crew or commanders of the US warship were legally prosecuted or punished for their blatant crime.
On the contrary, the USS Vincennes commander, will Rogers, had received medals at the end of his service for targeting the Iranian passenger flight and killing all its defenseless passengers which included 53 women, 65 children, 156 men and a crew of 16. Some of the passengers were of Indian, Pakistani, UAE and Yugoslav nationalities./end
On July the 3rd, 1988, when the country was burning in fires of an imposed and unfair war by the US-backed Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, an Iranian Airbus A300 plane was shot down by the USS Vincennes warship in the Persian Gulf waters when it was making a routine flight from Bandar Abbas, in Iran, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The warship had tracked the plane electronically and fired two surface-to-air missiles towards it which led to the tragic death of all the 290 passengers and crew on board of flight 655.
Among the victims were 57 under 12-year-old children.
The American officials had later claimed that the USS Vincennes had mistaken the Iranian passenger plane for an F-14 fighter. The claim was later proved to be unfounded by more evidence.
An Airbus plane can easily be recognized by radar systems as it is bigger than an F-14 fighter and is different from in terms of shape and the ability to fly in high altitudes.
Additionally, listening to the talks of the plane’s captain with the control tower could make it easily clear that it was a commercial and a passenger flight not a fighter jet.
Although Iran filed against the US in the United Nations and ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, both bodies adopted a politicized attitude and declined to follow up the case legally, they only bothered to sympathize with the bereaved families of the victims.
Iranians mark July the 3rd each year by showering the site of the disaster with flowers, a ceremony which is attended by a large number of senior officials and the bereaved families of the victims.
Although it has become clear that downing of the Iranian plane was an intentioanl act and a crime against humanity, none of the crew or commanders of the US warship were legally prosecuted or punished for their blatant crime.
On the contrary, the USS Vincennes commander, will Rogers, had received medals at the end of his service for targeting the Iranian passenger flight and killing all its defenseless passengers which included 53 women, 65 children, 156 men and a crew of 16. Some of the passengers were of Indian, Pakistani, UAE and Yugoslav nationalities./end
