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On this day in 1988, the US Navy committed a major act of terror by shooting down an Iranian airliner, killing 290 civilians (including 66 children). The US attempted to cover-up its responsibility for the atrocity & has never apologized. Many of the bodies were never found. 
Capt. Will Rogers III, who commanded the USS Vincenees, which attacked the airliner, was described by others Navy officers as “aggressive”, “trigger happy”, and looking to gain combat experience, even if it meant committing war crimes.
On, July 3 1988, Rogers went out of his way to pick fights with Iranian Navy vessels when the electronics on his ship detected a plane, in Iranian airspace, on a regular airline route, leaving at a regularly scheduled time. Rogers ordered a launch, blowing the plane to pieces.
The US navy turned its most expensive Naval warship on defenseless civilians. US tax dollars at work. The ship was also illegally in Iranian waters when it shot down the airliner, in blatant violation of international law.
The US immediately began its cover-up approved by top military officials. The US claimed the plane was not on an established civilian air route, that it was "driving" at the ship, and was identifying as military. Each of these statements were lies. newsweek.com/sea-lies-200118
The attack came at the end of the Iran-Iraq war where the US backed Saddam’s ruthless invasion of Iran, supplying him w/ arms, money, intelligence & even chemical weapons. The US had begun to intervene directly on behalf of Saddam, attacking Iran’s ships & oil platforms.
In May 1989, Iran sued the US in the International Court of Justice over the massacre & in In 1996, the US finally paid US$131.8 million in settlement. To this day, events are held in memorial for those murdered by the US Navy on flight 655.
In 1990, the US awarded the Legion of Merit to the commander of the Vincennes and the officer in charge of anti-air warfare for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service” during the period it shot down Iran Air Flight 655.
