Wouldn't want to be any of the guys directly involved with the shooting down of MH17

[Kaleva]

From the person who gave the order to fire down to the low man on the totem pole whose only job was to make the coffee, I wouldn't be surprised if they all just up and disappeared.

In the old NKVD days, many people got a late night, one way car ride out to some secluded wooded area. Never to be seen again.

[Historic NY]

1. They will end up in a slit trench somewhere out in the countryside...

dead men tell no tales.

[Blue_Tires]

18. I'd said in another thread

they would probably all be "killed in enemy action" (wink-wink)

[NaturalHigh]

2. I had a similar thought.

They are not just expendable - they are loose ends.

[pnwest]

3. LOL, oh yeah, those guys are deader than Elvis - they just don't know it yet...

[Cha]

8. Or maybe they know it very well.. that's why they went busy scrubbing all the evidence they could..

too bad about those screen shots and twitterbots.

[oldhippie]

4. I suspect the operators of the missile system ....

.. were sheep dipped members of the Russian army and are already back in Russia and in hiding waiting for this to cool down and then go work for the equivalent of the KGB.

[Kaleva]

5. I'd be worried about some higher up deciding to hide me forever.

Like 6 feet under the surface and at ambient ground temperature.

[oldhippie]

7. Being somewhat familiar with the covert world ...

... I think those folk are always useful and valuable to their organization. Their loyalty is now tested and they will be used until their loyalty is suspect or they are no longer useful.

[grasswire]

9. they are compromised now, and will be even more useful

compromised operatives are eager to please the handlers.

[RobertEarl]

10. Yours is a conspiracy theory

You are saying the Russian military was directly involved. And the missile operators are now heroes.

You should delete your post and re-post it in the creative speculation forum.
But really, it's not even creative, just pure speculation. Shamefully so .

[oldhippie]

11. "You are saying ..."

Hey, buddy. How ya doing?

Telling me what I am saying again, huh?

[TeeYiYi]

15. Why do you care...

...what oldhippie posts? It's just an opinion; like every other opinion in this thread and sprinkled throughout DU. They're all a combination of conjecture and speculation.

Opinions. Why would you want to relegate the opinion of oldhippie to the CS dungeon?

Seriously, just curious.

TYY

[Lurks Often]

17. Your post shows you don't know what you are talking about

Russia has a long history of "loaning" it's troops to other countries, including the Spanish Civil war, the Korean war, the Vietnam war and the Syrian civil war. I don't doubt you can add some other countries to the list with a little digging.

[FrodosPet]

19. Sergey Kurginyan said "representatives of citizen community in Russia" helped fix the launcher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17#cite_note-77

Speaking on "Buk" (from 3:30): "I believe that our talented electronicians have already fixed the Buk launchers taken from Ukrainian Bandera bandits. As far as I know the genius electronicians that flew over as representatives of citizen community in Russia to support brother nation, they are already fixed or will be fixed very soon. And for that reason I do not recommend that Kiev repeats the air bombing tricks they did in Lugansk. That story is over! I also know that they have fixed a Su bomber so DPR will soon have their own aviation". Sergey Kurginyan (13 July 2014). "С.Е.Кургинян. Доклад на летней школе о ситуации в ДНР". ECC.TV. Retrieved 18 July 2014.

---------------------------------------

RUSSIAN media - including ITAR-TASS - reported the capture of the launcher on June 29th, 2014

---------------------------------------

http://en.itar-tass.com/world/738262

DONETSK, June 29, /ITAR-TASS/. Self-defence forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic have taken control over a missile defence army unit equipped with Buk missile defence systems, the press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

So far, no details are available about the number and condition of the missile systems taken over by the self-defence forces. The press service refused to comment.

The Buk missile defence system is a mobile medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend field troops and logistics installations against air threats in conditions of heavy electronic countermeasures and intense enemy fire.

~ snip ~

[All_Corners]

6. Correct...

[Lurks Often]

12. Maybe not

If Russia or the pro-Russian separatists can prove that the crew of the launcher were acting on their own with no orders from above, it might prove politically useful to turn that crew over to either the UN or Malaysia for trial.

[Kaleva]

13. I'm just guesssing here but I think Russia is involved.

Meaning that Russia may have been party to supplying the equipment, the training or even some or all of the manpower.

If true, putting the people on trial would only bring that info out.

[Lurks Often]

14. There is no doubt that Russia supplied the equipment or training

there is nothing illegal about that. The basic question is "Was MH17 KNOWN to be civilian airliner and intentionally targeted?"

I'm inclined to say no and that the launcher crew believed that they were targeting a Ukrainian military aircraft.

[Kaleva]

16. But Russia is and has denied any involvment with the seperatists

If you are correct and Russia wants to continue to deny involvement, then I go back to what I said in the OP. I wouldn't want to be one of those guys who had any direct connection with the shooting down of MH17 even if it was a case of mistaken identity.

[FrodosPet]

20. Russians flew over and helped get the system operational

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5263182