US lying about attack on Iranian Airbus A300: Scholar

American scholar James Henry Fetzer says it is impossible to believe that USS Vincennes, which shot down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, was incapable of distinguishing between an F-14 fighter jet and an airbus.

Carrying 274 passengers and 16 crew members, the Airbus A-300 (IR655) had just taken off from the southern Iranian coastal city of Bandar Abbas and was climbing inside an internationally recognized route to Dubai when it was targeted by two missiles fired from USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 people aboard.

US officials later claimed their warship mistook the jetliner for an attacking Iranian F-14 plane. The allegation was made as highly sophisticated radar systems and electronic battle gear had been mounted on the warship.

“It is very difficult to believe that the Vincennes did not have the radar capability to distinguish between an attacking Iranian F-14 fighter plane, which would ultimately be offered as an excuse for shooting down a jetliner, an Airbus A300, that had nearly 300 passengers,” Fetzer told Press TV on Friday.

If we are unable “to discern the difference between an airliner in terms of its trajectory, its speed, and its relative location and relation to the ship, then we must be among the most incompetent navies in the history of the world; and an attacking plane approaching the Vincennes at high speed would be clearly discernible from an airbus transporting passengers on a commercial route,” he added.

On Thursday, Iran condemned the US military attack on its passenger plane, saying the heinous crime will be etched in memories forever.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry made the comments in a statement issued to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the US Navy’s shooting down of the Iranian airliner.

“Giving the Captain of the Vincennes an award, the Legion of Merit to William C. Rogers, when he ought to have been held responsible for his actions and punished or even removed from his command  is a stunning indication that this may have been perfectly deliberate on the part of the American warship,” Fetzer stated.

“In any case, it’s an appalling incident, the United States would be acting in its own best interest to come clean and acknowledge the responsibility for this criminal act in a forthright fashion,” he said.

“If they want to maintain it’s a mistake, it’s just very difficult to reconcile even that claim,” he continued.

AT/GJH

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