“I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”

George H. W. Bush — August 7 1988

July 3 2019 — On July 3 1988, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III. The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 may have been an “accident”, but Tehran saw it otherwise. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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“The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran.”

Former CIA analyst Kenneth M. Pollack

UPDATE (July 3 2021) — A memorial ceremony was held today on the tragedy’s anniversary, with the participants, including the families of the victims and local officials, tossing flowers into the waters of Hormozgan Province near Hengam Island.

Western media are rather quite on the anniversary of the tragedy. This is hardly surprising.

END of UPDATE

“In 1990, the captain of the cruiser, William C. Rogers, was cleared of any wrongdoing and was even awarded the America’s Legion of Merit medal by then US president George Bush for his ‘outstanding service’ during operations in the Persian Gulf.”

MEHR News Agency (July 3 2021)

July 3 1988 – Iran Flight 655

Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai.

The aircraft operating on this route was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III.

The incident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight’s usual flight path.  All 290 people on board died.

The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of human lives, but never apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.

George H. W. Bush, the vice president of the United States at the time commented on a separate occasion, speaking to a group of Republican ethnic leaders (7 Aug 1988) said: “I will never apologize for the United States — I don’t care what the facts are… I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”

According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft.

The event generated a great deal of criticism of the United States. Some analysts blamed the captain of Vincennes, who had entered Iran’s waters, for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.

Iran Air continues to use flight number 655 on the Tehran to Dubai route as a memorial to the victims. This event ranks among the deadliest disasters in aviation history.

Former CIA analyst Kenneth M. Pollack wrote:

“The shoot-down of Iran Air flight 655 was an accident, but that is not how it was seen in Tehran.”

Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 five months later (December 21 1988), the British and American governments initially blamed the PFLP-GC — a Palestinian militant group backed by Syria — with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Iran Air Flight 655.

To this day, some experts still believe that the two tragedies may very well be linked.

***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****

QUICK NOTE — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of this book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog. END of NOTE

***** Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! *****

Is there any evidence linking Tehran to Lockerbie?

It has long been reported that Iran wired a large sum of money to Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC in the days following the Lockerbie bombing.

This would be rather convincing as circumstantial evidence if it was not for the fact that this allegation has been fabricated… There is no truth to it. It is disinformation.

Over the last two decades, I have investigated the Lockerbie Case. Among other things, I managed to tracked the so-called Iran payment, and I can state with confidence that this transaction has nothing to do whatsoever with Lockerbie.

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I was also able to uncover the origin of the  infamous “fifth device” fairy tale. There is no doubt that this story was fabricated by a crackpot and published by an irresponsible journalist.

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Let me make this point very clear. There is not a shred of evidence that Iran ordered the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie as an act of retaliation for Iran Air 655.

And there is a good reason for that which I have revealed in my book. [Stay tuned for additional technical information….]

PS — In the aftermath of Flight 655 disaster, the US and Iran conducted a series of secret talks in the city of Montreux, Switzerland.  Richard Lawless was representing Bush and Abolghasem Mesbahi was an envoy of Rafsanjani.

By the end of September 1988 — 3 months before Lockerbie — they managed to settle an agreement. None of this has ever been made public for obvious reasons. It would have been perceived as a second Iran-Gate scandal.

USS Vincennes Shot Down Iran Air Flight 655 – 1988 | Today In History | 3 July 1988

REFERENCES

Iran Air Flight 655 — Wikipedia

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Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988)

On This Day — Remembering Iran Flight 655 (July 3 1988) [2021]