Did the USA blame Iran for flying in the danger zone on purpose when they shot down a plane full of innocent children?

Question

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The incident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.

All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.[1]

Answer 1

No, they realized pretty quickly their error, but even after realizing they still refused to accept responsibility for it.



Both H W Bush and Clinton refused to apologize for it, and it wasn't until a decade after the fact that the US finally paid a settlement to the family victims. Yet even then, they refused to accept any liability for it.



Basically it would be like the pro-Russian separatists saying: "Yeah, we shot it down, but we thought it was a military plane so it's not our fault."



But hey - that only flies if you're on the West's side. If you aren't on the West's side than it's 100% your fault and you and everyone who knows you should be held accountable before all the facts are even known.

Answer 2

They pretty much did, yes;

One July 3rd a US Presidential statement stated; The course of the Iranian civilian airliner was such that it was headed directly for the U.S.S. Vincennes, which was at the time engaged with five Iranian Boghammar boats that had attacked our forces.

(Of course, since the plane was climbing, it wasn't headed directly for the Vincennes, and the Iranian boats that "attacked our forces" could only fire upon a US helicopter because the helicopter had broken the rules of engagement and flown too close to the Iranians - something the helicopter pilot admitted in testimony).



Another statement on July 11, 1988 read; The responsibility for this tragic incident, and for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of other innocent victims as a result of the Iran-Iraq war, lies with those who refuse to end the conflict. A particularly heavy burden of responsibility rests with the Government of Iran, which has refused for almost a year to accept and implement Security Council Resolution 598 while it continues unprovoked attacks on innocent neutral shipping and crews in the international waters of the Gulf.



So, yes, that would be placing a huge amount of blame on Iran for the incident.

Can't argue with facts.



The US claimed the "self defence" angle but that is bull, you have to be under attack before you can use "self defence", and it was the US who over-stepped the mark to draw fire in the first instance.

Answer 3

The Iranian airliner was flying into an area where American warships were conducting operations against Iranian naval units that were mining the Persian Gulf. The airliner was warned several times by USS Vincennes before the American cruiser engaged and shot down the airliner, which never deviated from its flight path despite the warnings.



You might consider a better source than wikipedia to copy and paste from.

Answer 4

Took full responsibility for the mistake.

Answer 5

Nobody tried to avoid responsibility or lie about the mistake like the Ruskies.

Answer 6

It was not in Iran airspace and took off from a joint military/ civilian air field and flew directly at that ship and had their transponder turned off

The way the U S handled this shows the exceptiomalism of America in days were all know what took place

Answer 7

Nope they usually do the crime.