Ted Koppel: [voice-over] That same Sunday, July 3rd, Admiral William Crowe, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with reporters at the Pentagon to brief them on the incident.In the interview, which took place four years after the incident, Admiral William Crowe admitted on Nightline that the Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters when it was shot down.
First reports, as Admiral Crowe would later note, are almost always wrong.
William J. Crowe Jr. (Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral, U.S. Navy): [July 3, 1988] The suspect aircraft was outside the prescribed commercial air corridor.
Ted Koppel: [voice-over] That was wrong. The aircraft was flying well within the commercial air corridor.
William J. Crowe Jr.: More importantly, the aircraft headed directly for Vincennes, on a constant bearing, at high speed, approximately 450 knots.
Ted Koppel: At the time it was shot down, the Iranian aircraft was actually turning slowly away from the Vincennes. Its top speed, a relatively minor point, was 385 knots.
William J. Crowe Jr.: There were electronic indications on Vincennes that led it to believe that the aircraft was an F-14.
Ted Koppel: [voice-over] The only electronic emission from the plane was its correct transponder signal, identifying it as a commercial aircraft.
William J. Crowe Jr.: Decreasing in altitude as it neared the ship.
Ted Koppel: That, too, was wrong. The aircraft had been steadily climbing from liftoff and was still gaining altitude at the time of missile impact.
“ Ronald Reagan: The plane began lowering its altitude. ”
--“Questions and Answers with President Reagan Regarding USS Vincennes Shooting Down of Iranian Aircraft,” White House, South Lawn, 12:00 P.M. EDT, Monday, July 4 1988, on return from a weekend at Camp David (Federal News Service transcript), AP880704-0133.
Koppel: We know all these things now because the information was later retrieved through a detailed analysis of a tape made by the USS Vincennes’ own Aegis radar tracking system.
And indeed, over the days and weeks to come, corrections would be made.
But two critical issues were never addressed in public, not truthfully, at least.
Where, precisely, was the Vincennes at the time of the shootdown?
And what was she doing there?
The official response to those two questions has been a tissue of lies, fabrications, half-truths and omissions.
Ted Koppel: Remember the Stark?Interesting, how so many things that seem so confusing at the time become all too clear in retrospect.
The USS Stark, the Navy frigate that was hit by Iraqi missiles the year before the Vincennes incident?
Remember?
Thirty-seven American sailors were killed.
[voice-over] At a memorial service in their honor, President Reagan reminded us how important the Persian Gulf and its oil are to America’s national interest.
Ronald Reagan (U.S. President, Jan. 20 1981-1989 Jan. 20): [May 22, 1987] Peace is at stake here. And so, too, is our own nation’s security and our freedom. Were a hostile power ever to dominate this strategic region and its resources, it would become a choke point for freedom, that of our allies and our own.
Ted Koppel: [voice-over] Peace, security, freedom at stake.
A gloves-off warning to that “hostile power” that it won’t be allowed to dominate the Persian Gulf.
Well, you’d expect the President to be outraged, after Iraqi missiles killed 37 American sailors.
Except that the President’s warning wasn’t directed at Iraq.
Ronald Reagan (U.S. President, Jan. 20 1981-1989 Jan. 20): [May 29, 1987 {copy}] Mark this point well. The use of the vital sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians.
Ted Koppel: You heard correctly. Iran. Not Iraq.
In fact, privately, behind the scenes, the Stark incident brought the United States and Iraq closer together, would make them, ultimately, covert allies in the war against Iran.
James H. Webb Jr. (U.S. Secretary of the Navy, 1987-1988): Ironically, it probably brought us closer to Iraq, because after that Iraq allowed American teams to come in and talk about deconfliction and to share intelligence information and this sort of thing.
Ted Koppel: U.S. military officers were stationed in Baghdad.
Initially to help keep Iraqi planes from hitting any more U.S. ships.
But the end result was that the United States helped Iraq conduct long-range strikes against key Iranian targets, using U.S. ships as navigational aids.
“We became,” as one senior U.S. officer told us, “forward air controllers for the Iraqi air force.”
The intelligence-sharing relationship between Washington and Baghdad expanded.
In fact, as we reported a few weeks ago, critical targeting information was carried to the Iraqi capital on a weekly basis by U.S. military personnel.
You heard correctly. Iran. Not Iraq.
Both missiles were accidentally fired by an Iraqi F-1 Mirage aircraft, killing 37 sailors and wounding 21 others. The pilot later claims that he had mistaken the STARK for an Iranian oil tanker.See, we're not the only ones who make mistakes.
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posted by iamck at 6:39 AM on December 6, 2005