[lbo-talk] Pat Buchanan on Ahmadinejad

Carl Remick carlremick at gmail.com
Wed Sep 26 13:40:19 PDT 2007


On 9/26/07, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Via Sam Smith:
>
> PATRICK J. BUCHANAN - What is it about this tiny man that induces such
> irrationality?
>
> Answer: He is president of a nation that is a "state sponsor of terror,"
> is seeking nuclear weapons, and is moving munitions to the Taliban and
> insurgents in Iraq.
>
> But Libya was a "state sponsor of terror," and Col. Ghadafi was
> responsible for Pan Am 103, the Lockerbie massacre of school kids coming
> home for Christmas. And President Bush secretly negotiated a renewal of
> relations in return for Ghadafi giving up his nuclear program and
> compensating the families of the victims of that atrocity. Has
> Ahmadinejad ever committed an act of terror like this? ...

[No, but the US has:]

Iran Air Flight 655

Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air that flew from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai, UAE. On Sunday July 3, 1988, towards the end of the Iran Iraq War, the aircraft flying IR655 was shot down by the U.S. Navy Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard, including 38 non-Iranians and 66 children. The Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters at the time.

According to the US government, the Iranian airbus was mistakenly identified as an attacking F14 fighter. The Iranian government, however, maintains that the Vincennes knowingly shot down a civilian aircraft. ...

[T]he Vincennes [was] under the command of Captain William C. Rogers III and fitted with the then-new AEGIS combat system ....

The event triggered an intense controversy, with Iran condemning the shootdown as a "barbaric act." On the other hand, George H.W. Bush, at the time Vice President of the United States in the Reagan Administration, defended his country at the United Nations by declaring that the shootdown had been a wartime incident and that the crew of the Vincennes had acted appropriately to the situation at the time. At a news conference on 2 August 1988 he said "I will never apologize for the United States of America—I don't care what the facts are" in reference to the incident. ...

Newsweek reporters John Barry and Roger Charles wrote that Rogers acted recklessly and without due care. Their report accused the U.S. government of a cover-up. An analysis of the events by the International Strategic Studies Association described the deployment of an Aegis cruiser in the zone as irresponsible and felt that the expense of the ship had played a major part in the setting of a low threshold for opening fire. The Vincennes had been nicknamed 'Robocruiser' by crew members and other US Navy shops, both in reference to its AEGIS system, and to the supposed aggressive tendencies of its captain. The US fighter base in Bahrain had refused to provide supporting aircraft to cover the Vincennes — the commander of the base stated that his decision was based on a fear that the Vincennes would accidentally shoot down one of his aircraft. ...

Three years after the incident, [US] Admiral William J. Crowe admitted on American television show Nightline that the Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it launched the missiles. This contradicted earlier Navy statements.

Captain David Carlson, commander of the USS Sides, the warship stationed near to the Vincennes at the time of the incident, is reported (Fisk, 2005) to have said that the destruction of the aircraft "marked the horrifying climax to Captain Rogers' aggressiveness, first seen four weeks ago." His comment referred to incidents on June 2, when Rogers had sailed the Vincennes too close to an Iranian frigate undertaking a lawful search of a bulk carrier, launched a helicopter within 2-3 miles (3.2-4.8 km) of an Iranian small craft despite rules of engagement requiring a four-mile (6.4 km) separation, and opened fire on a number of small Iranian military boats. Of those incidents, Carlson commented, "Why do you want an Aegis cruiser out there shooting up boats? It wasn't a smart thing to do." ...

At first Carlson thought that the 'Iranian Tomcat' identified by the Vincennes must be some another aircraft, as it was difficult for him to believe that the Vincennes crew could mistake a civilian airliner for a Tomcat. The Vincennes' warnings were on a military radio channel, addressed to 'Iranian Tomcat'. When Carlson concluded that the Vincennes was referring to IR655 in its warning to turn away or receive fire, he urgently warned IR655 on a civilian radio frequency that it was in danger, having been mistaken for a military aircraft, and should turn away. IR655 immediately complied and changed course onto a trajectory away from the Vincennes. The Vincennes fired regardless. Carlson expressed the view that the incident was a mistake brought about by an overly-aggressive approach by the captain of the Vincennes. ...

[A] slide presentation published in M.I.T.'s Spring 2004 Aeronautics & Astronautics, as the "USS Vincennes Incident," commented that Captain Rogers had "an undeniable and unequivocal tendency towards what I call 'picking a fight.'" ...

The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of human life but never admitted wrongdoing, accepted responsibility, nor apologised for the incident. Officially, it continues to blame Iranian hostile actions for the incident. The men of the Vincennes were all awarded combat-action ribbons. Lustig, the air-warfare co-ordinator, won the navy's Commendation Medal for "heroic achievement," noting his "ability to maintain his poise and confidence under fire" that enabled him to "quickly and precisely complete the firing procedure." The Legion of Merit was presented to Rogers and Lustig on 3 July 1988, according to a 23 April 1990 article in The Washington Post. The citations did not mention the Iran Air flight. It should be noted that the Legion of Merit is often awarded to high-ranking officers upon successful completion of especially difficult duty assignments and/or last tours of duty before retirement. ...

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

Carl



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