George H. W. Bush then-vice president of the United States defended his country at the United Nations by calling the attack as wartime incident and the crew of Vincennes had acted appropriately to the situation. The crew of USS Vincennes was awarded Combat Action Ribbons for completion of their tours in a combat zone.
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It was the first day of autumn 1988, a group of school girls at primary school in northern Tehran, lively discussing how they had enjoyed their summer vacation. To the teacher’s question, however, the girl on the second row remained speechless. Desperate and in tears she shortly said had lost her father on the early days of that very summer. Her father, 47-year-old Morid Arshad, was on the Flight 655 from Iranian southern city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai which was targeted by two surface-to-air missiles shot by the USS Vincennes.
Graduated from London in engineering, Morid Arshad Bakhtiari, returned to Iran following the victory of Islamic Revolution. He was the goal keeper in Shahin soccer team from Dorud County, Lorestan Province and a financial supporter of the team who left a legacy of scientific and athletic achievements behind.
All 290 on board including 16 crew members, 274 passengers, 66 of them children below 13 years of age, 46 foreign nationals (from United Arab Emirates, Yugoslavia, Pakistan, India and Italy) were killed in an incident which marked a tragedy in world aviation history.
The attack was known by some as another phase in US confrontation with the Islamic Republic and a contribution to Iraq which was then at war with Iran.
The flight number 655 for Iranian airline Homa Friday flights from Tehran-Dubai could not be missed by an American warship in constant interception of Iranian air traffic control dialogues. No neutral side could also admit that a warship was equipped with highly sophisticated radar systems and electronic battle gear, and the passenger plane was transmitting Mode III 6760 squawk code, typical of a civilian aircraft, and maintained radio contact in English with appropriate air traffic control facilities let alone mistaking the size of Airbus 300 with a jet fighter as claimed by US officers.
Following the tragedy Rear Admiral William M. Fogarty was appointed to conduct formal investigation into the circumstances of the downing of commercial airliners by the USS Vincennes. The investigation however concluded “stress” and “inexperience” of the crew in warfare, resulted in “misjudgment” and unconscious distortion of data leading to one of the darkest points in history of US.
George H. W. Bush then-vice president of the United States defended his country at the United Nations by calling the attack as wartime incident and the crew of Vincennes had acted appropriately to the situation. The crew of USS Vincennes was awarded Combat Action Ribbons for completion of their tours in a combat zone.
80 divers, two ships, two hovercrafts and four helicopters were mobilized in an operation to recover the bodies during 52 days at 122 Fahrenheit. Scorching sun and decaying bodies scattered across a vast area did not let the search operation to fulfill its mission and eventually the body of 178 people were found with the rest went missing.
The week between June 27 which marks the terror attack on June 28th 1981 when a powerful bomb attack at the headquarter of the Iran Islamic Republic Party in Tehran led to assassination of 73 leading officials of the Islamic Republic and July 3, anniversary of the US attack on Iran’s Air Flight 655 with 290 people onboard.
More than three decades have passed since the incident but daughter of Morid Arshad still avoids giving details on her father and the moments she had been through since the tragedy. Instead she refers to her annual trip every July to commemorate the father whose body was never recovered.
American style of human rights is still pointing its fingers at governments across the globe while the question on how it could mistake a commercial plane remains unanswered.
