The behaviour of the US after shot down of Iran Air 655 is just as bad as Russia

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At July 3 1988 a United States Navy vessel launched two missiles at an Iran Air Airbus 300. All 290 people on board died.

The United States never expressed an apology. The US never admitted liability. Eight years later the US paid compensation on an ex gratia basis.

On August 19, 1988, nearly seven weeks after the event, the Pentagon issued a 53-page report on the incident. The report contained many clear lies. For example, In 1992, four years after the event  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.

Pentagon officials  ever since the first news briefing on the downing, held 11 hours after the incident – stated that the ship’s commander, Capt. Will Rogers III, had acted properly under the circumstances.

*Crowe said on July 3 that the plane had been flying “outside the prescribed commercial air corridor.” A report confirms earlier admissions that the plane had been flying “within the established air route.”

The state of Iran filed a complaint at ICAO. ICAO in the end published a resolution but did not condemn the act of the United States. Iran then went to the International Court of Justice requesting to court to determine whether the US has violated the ICAO Convention. The state of Iran also requested the court to determine the amount of compensation.

Fred Kaplan, journalist for Slat.com wrote a  good story about Iran Air 655 and the similarities with MH17 here.

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