Lonewolf wrote:
before all that our CIA k**led their president and installed a bloody dictator.
we also shot down an Iran airliner with 390 people on board don't you think they would be pissed
Especially since it posed no threat. The civilian airliner was still ascending when it was shot down, even if it were an Iranian F-14, as some thought it may have been, if it had intentions of attacking the U.S. naval ships, it wouldn't have still have been ascending.
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Early on the morning of July 3, the Vincennes joined other Navy ships, the Sides and the Montgomery, in responding to an attack by small Iranian gunboats on a Pakistani merchant ship.
There were three U.S. naval vessels in the area, the Vincennes (the one that shot the civilian airbus down), The Sides (strange name for a ship) and the Montgomery.
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10:47 A.M. The radar on the Vincennes first detects a plane flying from Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port and air base used by military and civilian vessels. As the plane, an Iran Air Airbus departing 27 minutes late on a scheduled flight to Dubai, rises over the gulf, it is assigned the status of ''unidentified, assumed enemy'' by the crew of the Vincennes.
10:48 A.M. The airliner continues on its course, ascending, and a ship's officer consults commercial air schedules. It is not clear how he interprets the schedule, although the flight does appear in published schedules. Another Iranian aircraft, a P-3 surveillance plane that is 64 miles away, is of some concern. The Vincennes warns the plane away, and the P-3 responds that it will stay clear. Meanwhile, the Sides aims her targeting radar at the Iranian Airbus, which is as yet unidentified, but takes no other action.
10:47 A.M. The radar on the Vincennes first detect... (
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The start of the situation in regards to the aircraft in question. At this point, there IS warranted cause for concern. This whole situation could have been avoided had that particular plane NOT been running behind schedule, but as we all know, this world is not perfect and things happen.
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10:51 A.M...On the Sides, an officer notes the airliner's identifying signal and concludes that the plane is a civilian flight. Later, this officer tells investigators that he reported this finding to another Sides officer. That officer says he does not recall the report.
On the Vincennes, an officer watches the plane slowly rising. He jumps to his feet and says ''possible comair,'' for commercial aircraft, to the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Will. C. Rogers 3d. The captain acknowledges this by raising his hand.
10:51 A.M...On the Sides, an officer notes the air... (
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On the Sides, the airliner's identifying signal is identified as a civilian aircraft.
On the Vincennes an officer observing the plane's ascent determines that it might be a commercial airliner and announces that fact, the ship's commanding officer acknowledges the officer's assertion.
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10:52 A.M. The Iranian airliner is at 20 miles and nearing steadily, but still rising. It is warned several times, and in one warning its altitude is cited at 10,000 feet.
Note the plane's altitude at this point.
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10:53 A.M. On the Sides, an observer in the command room hears ''growing excitement and yelling'' about the possibility that the aircraft is commercial. The ship's commander decides the plane is not a danger to his ship because it is not approaching directly and because it is flying at 11,000 feet. Even if it is an F-14, he reasons, it is not likely to attack a surface ship.
On the Vincennes, the captain is hoping for an electronic clue that will identify the plane. An F-14 and an Airbus emit different radar signals, which can be easily distinguished. But the aircraft, now 15 miles from his ship, has no radar in use.
10:53 A.M. On the Sides, an observer in the comman... (
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The commander of the Sides has determined that the approaching aircraft is no threat based on logical determinations based on facts about the plane's flight path and it's continued ascent.
The captain of the Vincennes is still looking for clues to determine if it is an Iranian F-14 or any other type of aircraft but since the aircraft isn't actively using RADAR and the captain is trying to make this determination based on RADAR signal emissions, he can't make a determination.
First off, why didn't the Sides radio the Vincennes that they had determined the approaching aircraft was of no threat? Secondly, wouldn't a military aircraft with intentions of engaging the U.S. ships be utilizing their RADAR capabilities? Wouldn't it be emitting radar signals? Why didn't he take that into consideration? That coupled with the fact that the craft was still ascending...
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*Still 10:53 A.M.*The captain begins to get ''continuous reports of declining altitude.'' At every opportunity when the ship's internal communication link is silent, an officer known as the tactical information coordinator calls the attention of the other officers to his belief that the plane is accelerating and descending. His computer terminal, like others on the ship, actually shows the aircraft rising. Other officers do not double-check his reports.
If EVERY computer is showing that the plane is ascending, why is this one officer claiming that it is descending? Why aren't the others contradicting his false claim?
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10:54 A.M. The plane is 12 miles away. It is at 12,000 feet, according to the Vincennes's computers, although three of the ship's officers later say it was as low as 5,000 to 8,000 feet. One last warning is issued, on military channels. The plane rises to 12,500 feet as the missile officers confirm the order to fire. It is at 12,950 feet as two missiles are fired. It has climbed to 13,500 feet before the first missile hits.
The last time I checked, 12,000 feet is greater than 10,000 feet and therefore the plane WAS ascending, not descending and therefore NOT a threat yet one officer inciting fear contrary to available evidence and nobody doing their due diligence aboard the Vincennes leads to the destruction and MASS MURDER aboard the civilian airliner. I do not recall whether that officer that made the false claims that led to the shooting down of that aircraft ever saw justice, but he should have.
In the span of 7 minutes, a cascade failure CAN cause tragedy. The plane's identifier isn't examined on the vessel that shoots down the plane, the vessel that HAD identified it as a civilian aircraft didn't relay the information to the other ships in the area, the fact that the RADAR isn't in use on the craft as it would have been if it was a military craft intent on targeting the U.S. vessels wasn't considered, a trigger happy officer falsely claims that the aircraft is descending even though it was ascending as evidenced by all the computers tracking the craft and nobody bothers to confirm the inciting officer's claims, innocent plane gets shot out of the sky, hundreds die needlessly.
The shooting down of that aircraft was a very avoidable mistake that never should have happened. Had people done their jobs properly, it never would have happened.