While I share in the sadness and outrage over what appears to be Putin's involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, I also squirmed in discomfort when politicians such as Republican John McCain began demanding accountability and repercussions.
Remember Iran Air flight 655? I didn't. I was a child when it happened and the US news somehow didn't spend much time reporting it. I did just yesterday read an article by Fred Kaplan that made my stomach turn. You can find the article here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2014/07/the_vincennes_downing_of_iran_air_flight_655_the_united_states_tried_to.html
If you can stomach it, you can also find the more in depth Newsweek article from 1992 here: http://alt-f4.org/img/seaoflies.html
Basically, we lied, lied, lied, overrode anyone who said otherwise, covered up the facts, and lied some more. President George H.W. Bush clearly stated his regards on the matter: "I will never apologize for the United States—I don’t care what the facts are.”. Navy captain Will Rogers III was honored and promoted for behavior that other officers described as aggressive, not to mention illegal. In fact it took eight more years and a Democrat president before the U.S. expressed regret (no exactly accountability) for the incident that killed 290 people.
Putin can hardly do worse.
Remember Iran Air flight 655? I didn't. I was a child when it happened and the US news somehow didn't spend much time reporting it. I did just yesterday read an article by Fred Kaplan that made my stomach turn. You can find the article here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2014/07/the_vincennes_downing_of_iran_air_flight_655_the_united_states_tried_to.html
If you can stomach it, you can also find the more in depth Newsweek article from 1992 here: http://alt-f4.org/img/seaoflies.html
Basically, we lied, lied, lied, overrode anyone who said otherwise, covered up the facts, and lied some more. President George H.W. Bush clearly stated his regards on the matter: "I will never apologize for the United States—I don’t care what the facts are.”. Navy captain Will Rogers III was honored and promoted for behavior that other officers described as aggressive, not to mention illegal. In fact it took eight more years and a Democrat president before the U.S. expressed regret (no exactly accountability) for the incident that killed 290 people.
Putin can hardly do worse.
Comments