One year
later, it downed an Iranian civilian airliner.
Kayhan, Islamic
Republic of Iran
Instead of
Celebrating July 4, Obama Should Repent for Flight 655
Twenty
two years ago, on July 3, 1988, everyone agrees that U.S. Navy guided missile
cruiser, the USS Vincennes, shot down an Iranian civilian airliner,
killing all 290 people aboard. This editorial from Iran's state-controlled Kayhan
castigates the 'Great Satan's bloodthirsty' act, and urges President Obama to
finally apologize for what all agree was a tragedy.
Today, July 3, is the fateful
day on which 22 years ago, Iran
Air 655, a three-day-a-week flight from Bandar Abbas to Dubai, was suddenly
deflected from its destination.
Although
two heat-seeking missiles fired by the USS Vincennes shatteredthe
Airbus A300 on contact, causing it to crash into the waters off the Persian
Gulf, the 297 men, women, children and babies on board gently alighted to the
gates of Paradise.
The passengers on board
achieved the immortality of martyrdom, but like all martyrs, they were victims
of brutal and bestial individuals, devoid of conscience or humanitarian
sentiments.
Also tragically, is that the U.S.
regime later awarded a medal of honor on the cowardly terrorist who ordered the
missile firings, Captain
Will T. Rogers.
Vincennes air-warfare coordinator Lieutenant Commander Scott Lustig, was even awarded the U.S. Navy Commendation Medal
for what the criminals in the White House shamelessly called his “heroic
achievement,” lauding his “ability in quickly and precisely complete the firing
procedure” on a large passenger aircraft gently ascending within its commercial
air corridor.
As usual, the Americans, who
have no inhibitions about shedding innocent blood, lie frequently and alter
their accounts. They initially claimed to have targeted what they called
"an aggressive Iranian jet fighter coming in at the USS Vincennes."
Then they said it was a case of mistaken identity by radar equipment that is
supposed to detect even the minutest detail of a flying object.
By whatever Washington has
said over the past 22 years, it has yet to offer an official apology to the
Iranian nation and government for its unpardonable crime. Even after its sheepish
admission that its sophisticated ship had entered Iran's territorial waters and
in advance, positioning itself under a corridor used by commercial aircraft
with the intent of shooting one down.
Not that the Islamic Republic
expects the Great Satan to drop its hostility toward the Iranian people, who
have been targets of U.S. state terrorism since the coup to
reinstall the fugitive Pahlavi potentate 57 years ago in 1953.
The Muslim people of Iran,
whose grassroots Islamic movement once and for all ended the U.S. stranglehold
on their homeland in 1979, know full well the devilish designs of regimes that
march in and out of the White House.
Iran, which has successfully foiled
all of America's plans for the past 31 years thanks to its firm faith in God
Almighty, is determined to defeat every sinister move by Uncle Sam and its
surrogates in the region. And it will do so as it marches steadfastly toward
the pinnacle of progress scientifically and technologically, even in the face
of futile sanctions against its peaceful nuclear program.
Islamic Iran is confident of ultimate
victory and the seeping away of the inflated power of the U.S. super-terrorist.
It will be as true for them as it was for Saddam and his minority Baath Party regime
in Iraq, who sided with the Americans who had so blatantly interfered in the
closing days of the eight-year Iraq-imposed war by scuttling merchant vessel Iran Ajr,
attacking Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf, and criminally downing an
Iranian passenger plane.
Thanks to the inspiration drawn
from the Islamic Revolution of Iran by the people of the region and beyond, it
is clear that Washington has achieved nothing but disgrace and humiliation - despite
its military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and despite the Zionist
usurper regime's brutalities against the sons of the soil, the Palestinians, and
the Lebanese.
It's obvious that Right eventually triumphs over Brutal and DeceitfulMight. On the eve of July 4, a day that an illegally-expanded
U.S. celebrates a Declaration of Independence issued by 13 New England colonies,
the Free World knows very well that July 3 is a Day of eternal shame for the U.S.
regime.
Before it's too late, there
is a chance for Barack Obama to acknowledge the crimes of his predecessors and
offer an apology to the Iranian people. More blunders like those that came
before and he'll be presiding over the ignominious end of the United States - history's
most evil power.
The souls of the passengers
of Flight 655 are watching the unfolding drama on planet Earth from the Divine
Court of Justice.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
[Editor's Note: The events
described in this editorial took place near the end of the Iraq-Iran war, which
involved attacks against oil tankers and merchant ships from neighboring
countries. In April of 1988, the U.S. expanded U.S. Naval protection to all
friendly neutral shipping in the Persian Gulf, which set the military scene of
the Vincennes incident. This is the account from Wikipedia:
On the morning of July 3, the
Vincennes was passing through the Strait of Hormuz returning escort duty.
A helicopter from the Vincennes received small arms fire from Iranian
patrol vessels, as it observed at a high altitude. The Vincennes moved
to engage the Iranian vessels, in the course of which they all violated Omani
waters and left after being challenged and ordered to leave by a Royal Navy of
Oman warship. The Vincennes then pursued the Iranian gunboats crossing
into Iranian territorial waters to open fire. ]
