As so often, those initial reports were wrong.
One of the Dutch citizens on the plane also held American citizenship. He was the only American.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/19/malaysia-airlines-releases-mh17-passenger-manifest/
Interestingly, I did NOT see a single United States’ citizen on the official Passenger List. The anti-Russian propaganda machines were thrown in full throttle, yet to be totally false. The plane was shut down by Ukraine fighter plane!!!