[bnacat]

On 3 July 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 (Airbus A300B2) over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 aboard.

On July 17, 1996, at around 8:31 p.m. TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747-131) exploded in mid-air off Long Island approximately 20 miles southwest of East Hampton, New York, killing all 230 on board.

My theory---TWA was tit-for-tat & Clinton did not want America to know that because he did not have the nerve call out the Iranians on it.

The FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile, shoulder-fired by a single operator, although officially it requires two. The FIM-92B can attack aircraft at a range of up to 15,700 feet (4800 m) and at altitudes between 600 and 12,500 feet (180 and 3800 m) (citation from Wikipedia).

[Ramius]

I don't know. It doesn't need to have been a missile. It quite believably could have been something like the shoe-bomb that Richard Reid was trying to detonate and failed.

I almost wish this were the case. If the idea was to deny Al Queda their prize by floating this story that it was something else other than a bomb... well, while I don't like it so much I can understand the rationale. The mission of the terrorist is to disrupt. If you deny them the disruption then the great part of their mission fails.

I get that. But after something like 9-11 the truth could be told about flight 800 without changing much of the policy on the ground anymore.

Dunno.

[piasa]

On 3 July 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 (Airbus A300B2) over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 aboard.

You do realize the Airbus had the IFF of an F-14 tomcat?

[petercooper]

bttt

[fso301]

The FIM-92 Stinger is a passive surface-to-air missile, shoulder-fired by a single operator, although officially it requires two. The FIM-92B can attack aircraft at a range of up to 15,700 feet (4800 m) and at altitudes between 600 and 12,500 feet (180 and 3800 m) (citation from Wikipedia).

Stinger won't bring down a 747