patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring) (09/04/89)
MTS BULLETIN: 11:59 AM 9/2/89 ref: 107.WPS
ITN/CNN "USA NEWS"
Saturday, 2nd. September, 1989
Report re. "Vincennes"/Iran Air Flight 655
==========================================
Lou Waters (reporter):
"A US Naval Commander assigned last summer to the Persian
Gulf, says the battleship Vincennes had no good reason to shoot
down that Iranian Airbus, July 3rd., 1988. All 290 passengers and
crew on the airliner were killed. The downing was described at the
time as an act of self defence. Later, a Naval investigator blamed
the mistaken attack on stress, which he said caused the crew to
misinterpret vital data. But Commander David Carlson gives a
strikingly different account. Writing in the Navy journal
["Proceedings"], Carlson states that the Vincennes' actions
'appeared to be consistently aggressive and became a topic of ward
room conversation'. The Vincennes, writes Carlson, was so
aggressive, other crews referred to the battleship as 'ROBO
Cruiser'. Concluding, Carlson states: 'View it as you will, Iran
flight 655 was shot down for no good reason. In that same article,
Carlson suggests the Vincennes crew was out to prove the
reliability of the ship's missile defence system, he says the crew
saw an opportunity for action and pressed hard for permission to
fire."
---
Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information
patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange
-=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-