New intelligence from US defense officials suggests that the Syrian version of the story of how the Turkish F-4 warplane was shot down was accurate, and threw serious doubt into NATO ally Turkey’s version of events.
Syria had insisted that the warplane was speeding toward Latakia Province when they fired a missile at it, and it crashed in Syrian waters off the coast. Turkey admitted to the plane violating Syrian airspace, but claimed it was shot down over international waters some 15 minutes later.
The US intelligence says that the type of fire used to shoot it down suggests the plane was flying low, as Syria claimed, and agreed that it was almost certainly hit inside Syrian airspace. They also expressed doubts about Turkey’s claim that the surveillance plane just happened to enter Syrian airspace on “training.”
“You think that the airplane was there by mistake?” one official said, saying that Turkey was likely trying to see how deep they could get into Syrian airspace without a response. Turkey expressed surprise at the comments, saying they were “unaware” of any US doubts about their story.
I thought the Syrian claim was that they shot down the Turkish F4 with anti-aircraft fire and not a missile, and that they retrieved wreckage with shell holes and handed it over to Turkey. The Syrians have always insisted that automatic antiaircraft fire with a maximum range of 2500 metres downed the Turkish plane, and the fact that the US admits their version is true validates this claim. On the other hand, the Turks claimed a missile downed their plane and this article's sloppy reporting gives the Erdogan regime and its provocative actions a way out.
I also remind: "shot down the Turkish F4 with anti-aircraft fire and not a missile, and that they retrieved wreckage with shell holes and handed it over to Turkey." and I have posted it here. However, now I can not remember the source. One always should add the sources. There are too many interested information collectors and interested misunderstandings or conclusions out there, that anything needs a clear source.
Shocking honesty from a US government/military official. We can safely assume any mention of this will be completely stricken from the record and superceded with statements moving forward the War on Syria agenda.
I believe Syria maintain they shot the jet down with anti-aircraft artillery, not a missile. And it would appear that the US opinion regarding "type of fire" concurs. Since the artillery's range is reported to be approx. 5 miles, it could not hit a target 13 nautical miles off the coast as Turkey claimed.
Finally it is not of importnace if shot by anti-aircraft guns or missiles.
Since the NATO-PROXY-Guerillas are infiltrating fro Lebanon and can also come from seaside (a US special operations floating naval base ship was recently reported to enter the region) so areal photos are important to find the best places to enter Syria and to wipe out military check posts.
Also because such Phantoms can carry radar and radio communicationsignal measurment to spy air defense, Syria had to down the plane.
So even when it would have escaped outside the Syrian airspace – because it was inside before, it is required to down it.
Of course it matters. Not in the fact of the downing itself but its propaganda use. If it was downed by anti-aircraft fire, then the Turks are so obviously lying that even the NATO warmongers won't be able to spin this as anything but an act of self-defence by Syria. If it's downed by a missile, the NATO warmongers have propaganda wiggle room. NATO is utterly shameless, as we saw in Libya. If it can lie and stretch something, it will.
As for the link, if you go to my site, I've written in detail about the shooting down and provided plenty of links. The article is called "Shootdown! The Atlantique Incident and the Phantom of the Syria."
I don't doubt the article, but please provide a source, link or name to the news other than the SANA telegram which we have read several times.
This is the link to the full story in Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304…
The turkish president is simply making a rats ass of himself and placing his country in harms way.
do you mean prime minister?
Please do continue to link to SANA! If I want to read the US propaganda, I'll just go to CNN.