Anti-war activists emerge to end US hostilities against Iran

July 8, 2008

By Dex A. Eastman, Press TV, Tehran

 

Among the many acts of aggression against sovereign nations, one committed by the US has carved an indelible blemish in the pages of history, the anniversary of which has been a day of awareness for American anti-war activists who have vowed to end Washington interference in the internal affairs of Iran.

A TRAGIC LOSS

On Sunday July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes commanded by Captain William C. Rogers III fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles at an Iranian Airbus A300 while traversing through Iranian territorial waters.

The passenger plane, widely known as Iran Air Flight 655, was completely destroyed and all 290 people onboard were killed, 66 of whom were children.

Following the tragic incident, ranked seventh among the deadliest airliner fatalities, unapologetic US officials said their naval officers had mistaken the Iranian Airbus A300 for an F-14 Tomcat fighter.

Iran declared the incident an international crime. The matter was then taken to the United Nations Security Council, but the then US vice president George H.W. Bush defended the military action and said that given the situation, the officers in question had acted appropriately.

In August 1988, George H.W. Bush was quoted by Newsweek as saying, "I'll never apologize for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what the facts are."

While the US government refused to apologize to the Iranian nation, it expressed the extent of its regret over the incident by awarding the Vincennes crew with combat-action ribbons.

US historian and investigative reporter Gareth Porter, the writer of Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, commented on the issue in a Press TV interview.

"It says something not just about US foreign policy but about the culture of this nation in relation to the rest of the world. [It says] that the United States does not apologize, generally speaking," says Porter.

While the White House describes the downing as a mere accident, the reality of the incident was revealed in an official Pentagon report prepared using information gathered by black boxes of both the Vincennes and the USS Sides (also stationed in the area at the time), entitled Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on 3 July 1988.

Despite claims made by the Vincennes crew that Flight 655 was descending and decreasing speed in a way that suggested it planned to attack the ship, the report says the airliner took off from Bandar Abbas for Dubai at 10:17 am in the morning, climbing steadily to its cruising altitude while gradually gaining speed.

"The data from USS Vincennes tapes, information from USS Sides and reliable intelligence information, corroborate the fact that [Iran Air Flight 655] was on a normal commercial air flight plan profile, in the assigned airway, squawking Mode III 6760, on a continuous ascent in altitude from take-off at Bandar Abbas to shoot-down," reads the report, parts of which have been publicized.

While the USS Sides was able to identify the unknown aircraft as non-hostile and turned its attention elsewhere, the Vincennes captain ordered the missile attack.

"What we know is that he (Captain William C. Rogers III) had taken actions both before and after that, which indicated to those who investigated it later, that this was somebody who was deliberately reckless, that he was spoiling for a fight with Iranian forces, and that's really the story behind this," believes Porter, who is also a political analyst on US foreign and military policy.

"The real tragedy and the real scandal is the fact that the US Navy and the US military, in general, covered this up. They knew there was strong evidence indicating that he was at fault, that there was no excuse for it, and they chose to cover it up for political reasons obviously," he says.

A 20th anniversary commemoration of the incident held in the US, however, has raised hope that the tragic loss of life may not have gone unnoticed by the great nation of America and may be the basis for peace between the two countries.

THE RISE OF ACTIVISTS

Conducted on July 3 in Richmond, VA, Iran: Stopping the next war before it starts was organized by the Virginia Anti-War Network (VAWN), a statewide alliance of 22 anti-war, community and labor organizations dedicated to uniting the movement against US wars and interventions.

At the beginning of the 2008 event, organizer Phil Wilayto touched on the objective of the gathering. He said, "Iran refuses to bow down to the empire, and because under its feet is oil, that is why the United States government is hostile to it… So we are here tonight to say that the people of the United States are not hostile to the people of Iran, or to its government or to its sovereignty."

Phil Wilayto, editor of the Richmond Defender newspaper and one of the founders of VAWN, was a member of the People's Peace Delegation to Iran, a group of five anti-war activists who traveled to Iran in July 2007.

"The attempt by the US government and the media to demonize Iran has been pretty heavy and pretty successful," says Wilayto.

"What we have found was a country that has not attacked anyone else, any other country in over 200 years while it is surrounded by hostile countries. US domination in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel with 200 nuclear weapons and threatening to attack it, other nuclear-powers in the region, India, Pakistan. We don't think the people of Iran present a threat to the people of this country," the activist has said about his trip to Iran. "We think the threat to peace is coming from Washington."

According to Wilayto, Washington has a long history of hostilities toward the Iranian nation and therefore America needs a campaign to mobilize support against the imposition of sanctions and further US aggression.

"Unless we pay attention to what our government is doing in our name around the world, we will suffer again as we have suffered in Iraq, in Afghanistan, Vietnam and before that," says the activist, citing the coup against former Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and the downing of Flight 655 as tragedies brought upon the Iranian nation by the US government.

During the event, Wilayto addressed activists regarding 'US lies and threats' against Iran and how Washington is paving the way for a war against the oil-rich country.

Activists also watched Bam 6.6, a movie that explores the aftermath of a violent earthquake in southern Iran.

The movie depicts the disaster and rescue efforts through the eyes of two California tourists, one of whom is Jewish. The film strips away cultural and religious differences to provide a glimpse of the humanity of the Iranian people.

It was also announced that Troops Out Now Coalition will call for demonstrations around the country on the issue of Iran on August 2; United for Peace and Justice may also organization demonstrations in July.

A MOMENT OF INSPIRATION

Capt. Habib Ahmadzadeh

On the 10th anniversary of the killing of the 290 civilians, Iranian Naval Capt. Habib Ahmadzadeh was serving on a frigate in the Persian Gulf when his ship passed over the submerged wreckage of the civilian airliner. The Iraq-Iran War veteran used the occasion to write a letter to Capt. Rogers who, to date, has not responded.

His letter was a source of inspiration for the People's Peace Delegation to Iran and was read to the audience in the July 3 meeting.

Following is the full text of the letter that Capt. Ahmadzadeh dedicated to "all those who seek a genuine dialog among civilizations":

Mr. Will Rogers,
Senior officer in the US Navy and former captain of the USS Vincennes:

In the early evening of last night, our frigate here in the waters of the Persian Gulf, whose muggy climate you and the forces under your command might still remember, crossed the coast of Hengam Island silently and with a speed of less than two naval knots. At that time, silence loomed over us all and the sonar screen detected the electric waves of the wreckage of the shot-down Iranian airbus lying calmly on the coral reefs. Most certainly, one can still find the remains of 100 or more lost civilian martyrs among the coral islands. It was a deeply moving moment.

Mr. Will Rogers,

You may or may not find it surprising that an Iranian officer of your rank has decided to make such a contact and recount his feelings to you from this side of the earth and thousands of kilometers away from you.

Mr. Will Rogers,

Do you remember these words? "I will shoulder this heavy burden to the end of my life." This is the sentence the news agencies quoted from you the day after the explosion of the Iranian airliner. For years these words have made me, as an Eastern Muslim captain, think that if I were you at that disastrous moment and ordered such a firing, which direction would my thoughts and conscience would have taken in the future? As regards to you, as a Western man, who was responsible for such a horrible experience, I can only guess about your feelings.

Mr. Will Rogers,

Candor and sincerity constitute the basis of a real dialog. Like millions of other human beings who resort to tranquilizers to escape the small and big problems of life, have you also taken recourse to sleeping pills, alcohol or even drugs in order to push that moment into oblivion? Or have you gone to the other extreme and, in order to overlook your big responsibility in such an event, have you crept into seclusion and resorted to Nirvana with the help of seclusive schools such as Buddhism, Zen, etc.? Or maybe, like another officer of the US Army, who ordered the bombardment of civilians in Vietnam using napalm bombs, you have become a priest and knelt down in front of the iron cross and the tortured body of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and are busy saying prayers?!

Mr. Will Rogers,

"I will shoulder this heavy burden to the end of my life." If that sentence was not pronounced from the depth of your heart or has slid into oblivion with the passage of time, you are now leading a comfortable life alongside your family. You have framed the medal of courage that President Reagan awarded you in front of the eyes of all at the pier after you returned from that excruciating mission. You are keeping it in the best place in your house and (though I do not like to apply this sentence to any other human being) you are proud of that bloody medal?!

Mr. Will Rogers,

I don't need or want to prove that what happened was wrong. Rather, I have come to open the gate of dialog so as to reach the truth of the event after these years -- the truth that will illuminate the cause of firing by the super-advanced Vincennes at a defenseless passenger plane in an international air corridor. I want to clarify whether, as the captain and commander of the Vincennes ship, you actually ordered the firing deliberately or, as presented by your propaganda apparatus, it was a hardware or software mistake in the computer system of the fleet that caused you to mistake the airbus with an F-14 Tomcat fighter plane? Or does the truth lie between these two answers? As a military captain, I seek the cause somewhere else.

Mr. Will Rogers,

You might at first be amazed at my words, but the main reason for ordering the firing of the two Standard missiles on July 3, 1988, stands on one pillar, contrary to all the one-dimensional analyses presented up to the present day. That pillar can be called, to put it tersely, the ideology of the "American Dream."

Mr. Will Rogers,

We had better go back some years ago for a better understanding of this ideology that has spun the entire warp and woof of the life of you Americans, so that we can better observe the application of this American Dream, at least in your military approaches. Americans always consider themselves as the heroes of freedom and democracy in the world. This fabulous savior came to the battlefield in two world wars after the exhaustion of the allied and coalition forces, thrusting the last sword like a matador at the last moment and being called the single victor of the war. This dream of fabulous savior gradually turned into a second habit of your military.

Mr. Will Rogers,

The popularity of television and the screening of bloody scenes of mass killings of Viet Cong and the villagers supporting them and setting fire to the huts by hand-held, fire-throwing guns as well as the chemical bombardment of rice farms by using wide-bodied B-52 planes that had been made for war with the northern bear (Soviet Union) - all this brought intense humiliation to your people, government and army. American soldiers who had rushed to war, inspired by the ideology of the American Dream, came to their senses after the tapering of their primary feelings. They sought those responsible for these crimes, just like any other cheated human beings. It was here that your militaristic designers thought of how to prevent this spiritual and mental repercussion of your soldiers.

Mr. Will Rogers,

After many years of military inventions, at last your sophisticated arms industry has discovered a new maxim: "Fire and Forget." With the invention of a new generation of propelled weapons that did not need to be controlled and guided after firing, a generation of "fire-and-forget" weapons was created. Your men fired the missiles and bombs to destroy the target after traveling kilometers away from the scene of battle. With this new generation, the Pentagon set up another column of that ideology - the American Dream -- in order to escape the reality as well as the casualties and damages. However, this generation of weapons with human and angelic appearance ended in a satanic creature, resulting in what I see corresponding to the words of the commander of the Nazi Air Force, Field Marshal Goring, who said, "Hitler was first a human being, then he became an angel, and at last he returned into the devil."

Mr. Will Rogers,

"Fire and forget." For years the US Army has used such weapons in any type of clash in different parts of the world. The pilot or artilleryman has not watched the result of his act directly. A glaring example of the satanic use of this apparently human invention is the missile attack by the US cruiser against the Iranian airbus.

Mr. Will Rogers,

Let's take a look at the issue from another angle. When you and the crew in charge of operating the radar system in the Vincennes were trained in military training centers, you repeatedly destroyed bogus targets on the simulators by pressing a key. But the designers of the simulators only provided two options for you: if the bogus aircraft or vessel sent familiar signals, showing that it was not an enemy aircraft or ship, shooting was not allowed. Otherwise, you were expected to fire at it. Now the question is, had the designers of the simulators provided you with a third option in case of non-military targets? The answer is certainly "no."

Mr. Will Rogers,

Thus you became addicted to a kind of psychological reaction. You became conditioned to firing, just like a person who has been practicing how to drive by playing a computer game. Now he starts to drive a real car in a crowded street. Consequently, in the Persian Gulf waters, on the world's most advanced cruiser, you waited for an accident to happen. Those tedious training hours had made you, like other servicemen, quite nervous. Unconsciously, you were all waiting for an opportunity to change yourself from a hero of computer games into a real hero of the battlefield.

Mr. Will Rogers,

In the years when the US fleet was in the Persian Gulf to support an aggressor state like Iraq, your marines were watching the waters around your ships and even the aircraft carrier through their binoculars to prevent the Iranian forces from attacking them in their small fiberglass speedboats. The US fleet, equipped with the most advanced weapons, had prepared for a sophisticated warfare, as if it were about to confront the former Soviet Union. However, the Pentagon strategists had offered no theories on how to deal with martyrdom-seeking Iranian fighters on speedboats. Thus, a thick fog, a dark night or the slightest reflection of light on the sea waters could be viewed as a serious threat, such as a speedboat carrying some Revolution Guards. Do you know why so much publicity about the technological advancement of your arms and aircraft carriers had lost its effectiveness in the face of our small boats?

Mr. Will Rogers,

I will try to clarify the matter through an example. You may probably have worked as a navigator under a clear night sky and have seen the glittering stars in the far distance. But one should accept the fact that your nation has, for many years, observed the world through your color TVs, and thus, is not able to appreciate the greatness and grandeur of the world. Also, observing the world through a medium is one of the main causes of your fear of death, the future and the lack of a proper relationship with nature and God. That is why you cannot bear to be alone and contemplate for even a single moment. This fear of death and a materialistic attitude towards life, which is part and parcel of the American Dream, was the main cause of the firing at the Iranian airliner.

Mr. Will Rogers,

When Iran Air Flight 655 took off from Bandar-Abbas Airport with a 15-minute delay at 10:17 am, you were in a state of alert. Some 35 days had passed since you were stationed in the Persian Gulf -- 35 days of continuous nightmare and fear of martyrdom-seeking operations. One of your crew anxiously told you that he had seen an airplane on the radar screen. At this stage, the tragedy took place. Later, you said that due, to some technical problems, the screen had shown the airbus smaller than usual, equal to the size of an F-14 fighter jet. But in fact, nothing was wrong with the equipment. The main problem was with your stress and fear that made you give the order to fire before identifying the airplane. The result of the American Dream coming into confrontation with reality was to see an airbus airliner as a diving fighter jet on the screen. Let me quote a beautiful saying from our first Imam Ali (AS) who observed, "Never-ending dreams lead man astray and leave him alone in the face of reality." Firing the missile put an end to the lives of 290 women, men, and children who never thought of such a destiny at that moment. But was that the end of the story? Not for you, at least.

Mr. Will Rogers,

I have also fought for several years, but prior to those years I used to read the memoirs of American soldiers, including the biography of the American pilot who dropped the A-bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima. And the biographies of those who burnt up the Vietnamese villages along with their residents. What was common in all these biographies was that such acts were always followed by remorse.

Mr. Will Rogers,

Why couldn't the "fire-and-forget" ideology solve their problems? What's your opinion in this regard? Haven't you found an answer after a decade of living and bearing such a heavy burden? One of your presidents once made an interesting statement: "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." After the Allies defeated Iraq, a party was held in the US Congress. All the senators claimed that they were present in Saudi Arabia, in order to have a share in the victory. Although such a presence was hundreds of miles far from the battlefields, even out of the reach of the Iraqi Scud missiles, they viewed themselves as the heroes. Did they also try to share the regretful event that happened to you and your friends? Didn't President Reagan portray you as the only hero in the event that was a sheer defeat, by conferring a medal on you? Isn't Ronald Reagan the only person who, thanks to his Alzheimer's disease, has forgotten about this event?

Mr. Will Rogers,

The bitter experience of the American soldiers who go to bed at night with a disturbed mind and, as soon as they wake up in the morning, remember what a heavy burden they should bear until the end of their lives, has caused me to think twice before I pull the trigger. One year of living in a besieged city that was under constant fire made me understand that the laboratory philosophy of Buddha is no more than a trick when facing a brutal enemy that knows no language but force. When man's 5,500-year-old written civilization records only 129 years without wars, how can one live with the philosophy of "never fire," while considering man's short life span? If Buddha passed through his quarantine in the mountains of Indochina and from behind several thousand years entered the internal war of Sarajevo at the present time, could he sit cross-legged and go into ecstasy as a responsible citizen in the face of the everyday massacre of the people of his city? Or he might have written a letter to Radovan Kradic to withhold genocide? When my country, Iran, with all its customs and beliefs, was disconcertingly attacked by its western neighbor, I had two options: the heroism of the Buddha type, remaining holy and, in a sense, escaping responsibility, or being briskly in the war and finally turning into a defeated hero of your kind. But an experience coming from 1,400 years ago could show me how to maintain equilibrium and find the only way leading to absolute happiness, by means of religion.

Mr. Will Rogers,

We Muslims have an Imam and hero named Hazrat Ali (AS). In the very early days when Islam began to propagate monotheism in the Arabian Peninsula among idolaters, a big army of the idol-worshipers in the city of Medina besieged the residence of the prophet of Islam (PBUH). The greatest warrior of the polytheists, Amr bin Abdevood, crossed a moat dug around the city and challenged a fighter. Despite the fact that Hazrat Ali (AS) was still too young, he rushed to the battlefield. No one, not even Amr bin Abdevood himself, had the slightest idea that Ali would return alive from the battlefield. Fighting erupted between the two. In the first minutes of the fight, to the amazement of all, our Imam knocked down the opponent. Then he moved away to a corner and minutes later returned to the scene and was again engaged in a man-to-man fight that ended with the death of Abdevood. After the battle, the Imam was asked about those few minutes of pause. Ali (AS) replied, "When I knocked him down, he threw spittle at me. I became angry for a moment and thus rose up so as not to kill the enemy of God on account of anger and my selfishness. After my anger waned, I returned and was again engaged in the fight."

Mr. Will Rogers,

What do you understand of this experience? A moment of contemplation for God's gratification and never considering one's passion. However, when your men at the Vincennes command became ensured of the fact that the fired missiles had hit the passenger plane, they shouted "Yoo-hoo." Does this echo the snort of the American infantry in the massacre of the Red Indians or the hanging of the Blacks by Ku Klux Klan? Yes, "Yoo-hoo."

Mr. Will Rogers,

The totality of these experiences taught me and my friends that, contrary to immoderate people like you and submissive ones like Buddha, we should clasp at our own religion and think before any firing and then pull the trigger, so that after eight years of presence in the front lines of defense that we aptly call sacred we would not need to take sleeping pills. In time of war, 4 million volunteers rushed to the battlefields and, under the canopy of religion, the invading country could not record even one case of rape to their girls or women, and this is one of the greatest human achievements in the defense. However, with the departure of American soldiers from the Far East, according to official statistics released by UN organizations, 20,000 prostitutes remained in Cambodia alone. This is a real record left by your army.

Mr. Will Rogers,

I am writing this letter now on the coast of the Persian Gulf in memory of 290 innocent martyrs whose remains are still resting in the depth of the sea, about whose memory Hollywood will never make a "Titanic" epic. In every moment when I look at the sonar screen, I think of you and what you can do to diminish this heavy burden. How, you may ask? In my opinion, it would suffice to show the American Marines the starry sky and nature without the hustle and bustle of the cities, the neon lights and the empty politicians, and only express that God of this mother nature is far greater than television or radar screens. Under the shadow of God are living other human beings who have hearts and feelings and whose hearts beat for other human beings, but who do not like to forget the truth of life in excessive pleasure-seeking. If we think this way, never will any other fleet move from San Diego (the cradle of the manufacture of the famous planes of Charles Lindbergh) to create one of the greatest air disasters of history, rather than Lindbergh's unforgettable flight over the ocean. In this way, a day will come that, by fulfillment of this enormous mission, the heaviness of this burden will be placed on every single human being, so that a man by the name of Will Rogers can also live a tranquil life with a clear conscience.

Let us hope for such a day to come.

 

~ Press TV ~