MH17 Shootdown May Have Been A 'Mistake' By Pro-Russian Rebels: US

[Purveyor]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Malaysian flight MH17 may have been shot down by 'mistake' by ill-trained pro-Russian separatists, US intelligence officials said on Tuesday, while dismissing Moscow's accounts of the incident as propaganda.

Evidence gathered so far suggests separatists launched the SA-11 surface-to-air missile that blew up the Malaysian airliner on July 17, but it remains unclear "who pulled the trigger" and why, said a senior intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The most plausible explanation... was that it was a mistake," and that the missile was fired by "an ill-trained crew" using a system that requires some skill and training, the official said.

The intelligence official cited previous incidents over the years in which both Russian and US forces have mistakenly shot down civilian airliners.


Read more: http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/mh17/mh17-shootdown-may-have-been-mistake-by-pro-russian-rebels-us/article1-1243522.aspx#sthash.JcfR5jLZ.dpuf

[Octafish]

1. They may've been trying to shoot down Putin's jet.

No matter what happened, war involves murder.

[geek tragedy]

2. Which is pretty much what the Ukrianian rebels are saying--that

their guys blew the plane up, then sent the missile back to Russia to avoid blame

[Starry Messenger]

3. Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity.

[Igel]

4. Probably true.

Which Russia has turned around and used as an argument against declaring the LPR and DPR "terrorist organizations."

If that was a mistake, how can they be judged terrorists?

Of course, that argument makes the assumptions that nothing else they've done merits the designation.

Yesterday there was a suicide car bomb SW of Donets'k. Killed some soldiers. First one reported. Minibus pulled up ... BOOM. One dead suicide bomber, some wounded soldiers, and dead people.

That's what happens when you get a bunch of Chechens fighting for you, I guess, and you send them to be "partisans" behind enemy lines.