Malaysian airliner downed in Ukraine with 295 aboard

[WILCO]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...ssia/12779763/

[Gator 45/70]

Yeah, Not looking good at all !!!

[knobster]

Tragedy. Prayers to all those affected by this.

Wonder how Obozo will spin this to blame US gun owners?

[RayinNH]

Tragedy. Prayers to all those affected by this.

Wonder how Obozo will spin this to blame US gun owners?

..or George Bush.

[HarryT]

NSA knows exactly what happened to the plane. President Obama should have got a flash message within seconds of the crash (shoot down).

[Deliverator]

they know what happened to the plane, they DON'T know WHO shot it down. They do know that it was shot down.

[Larry Gibson]

Flight 370? I wouldn't be taking any Malaysian Airlines flights out of Kuala Lampur.........

Larry Gibson

[sthwestvictoria]

Terrible. Would this be the first MANPAD strike on a commercial craft that has been successful? If so it demonstrates how fragile commercial aircraft are to this type of attack - flying at cruise and still struck.

Edit: Unfortunately not the first non-state use of MANPADs according to wikipedia. However the first use against an aircraft at cruise, unrelated to the parties on the ground. The Ukrainian military also shot down a Russian passenger plane in 2001, possibly in a training exercise.

[lylejb]

not a MANPAD. The flight was at 10km altitude, too high for manpad.

news is saying BUK mobile SAM system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system

[MtGun44]

Definitely not MANPAD. If they are correct, a BUK which has two or three tracked vehicles to make
up a battery. Not something that amateurs could operate, seems extremely likely that Russian technicians
are operating this SAM site. Ukrainian security has intercepted a Russian intelligence officer phoning
home and reporting that they "f***ed up" and shot down a civilian airliner by accident. Sounds like
the truth to me, I'll bet that Putin is trying hard to figure out how to blame this on someone else.
Look for "innovative" stories on what happened.

Sounds likely that they have the Rooskie gear and techs but a clueless or non-existent command and
control net to make decisions.

Bill

[500MAG]

This is going to be real interesting how this plays out. All the grumblings over there along with the Middle East Gaza invasion, lets see how Obama handles this. Obama phones & welfare checks won't do snot for foreign affairs.

[MaryB]

He went fund raising.... time to impeach him and be done with it.

Russians are in trouble and it is going to be interesting. Bet they blame an inexperienced operator who violated rules. He will be shot by a firing squad so can't answer a court...

This is going to be real interesting how this plays out. All the grumblings over there along with the Middle East Gaza invasion, lets see how Obama handles this. Obama phones & welfare checks won't do snot for foreign affairs.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Maybe it is goose hunting season over there that some rebels were "sky busting" at anything that flew over and did an "OOPS"?Robert

[quilbilly]

CBS news in San Francisco reports that 100+ of the victims were AIDS researchers headed to a conference. That ought to get the leftist's attention.

[Col4570]

An awfull event,not a time for flippancy.

[jcwit]

He went fund raising.... time to impeach him and be done with it.

Russians are in trouble and it is going to be interesting. Bet they blame an inexperienced operator who violated rules. He will be shot by a firing squad so can't answer a court...

Mary, impeachment must go thru the Senate after the Congress, tell us how do you expect to get thru Harry Reid?

And You would wish for Joe Biden for President?

This November we need to gain control of both houses, then and only then mayhap can we see improvement.

[Deliverator]

Mary, impeachment must go thru the Senate after the Congress, tell us how do you expect to get thru Harry Reid?

And You would wish for Joe Biden for President?

This November we need to gain control of both houses, then and only then mayhap can we see improvement.

Also the impeachment process requires crimes to have been committed in office. Going to a fund raiser isn't illegal.

[Deliverator]

Maybe it is goose hunting season over there that some rebels were "sky busting" at anything that flew over and did an "OOPS"?Robert

From what I understand of the information so far it sounds similar to this situation. They have been targeting Ukranian cargo aircraft for a couple of weeks now, and they tweeted that they shot down another Ukranian cargo plane at the time this jet was shot down, and then deleted the post when reports of a commercial airliner was shot down over Ukraine.

Sounds like a "shoot anything that flys over" and "Uhm, that wasn't a military airplane...whoops..." situation.

[JeffinNZ]

An awfull event,not a time for flippancy.

+1. I was thinking that same.

[Col4570]

Hopefully this tragedy will bring the warring factions to their senses.Europe is on the brink,we are seeing shades of 1939_45.What was a set of minor scuffles has now escalated into a potential war.The fact that a group have deployed highly sophisticated weaponry is enough to indite those who supplied this equipment.