On: Leading HIV researchers lost as flight MH17 is dow...

[SideburnsOfDoom]

This is right. It has been pointed out that both the Ukrainian government and the rebels now have the capability to do this, the Ukrainian government has had it for a long time, without incident. Because under a government it is operated by soldiers who follow procedures and have access to the data about known civilian flights.

[runlevel1 → SideburnsOfDoom]

Tragically, the Ukrainian government has had an incident.

On October 4, 2001 they accidentally shot down Siberia Airlines Flight 1812, killing 78.[1]

For what it's worth, I do agree with your sentiment.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia_Airlines_Flight_1812

[markdown → runlevel1]

Nobody beats the US though. They shot down a huge passenger aircraft and then claimed they thought it was an F-15.

[SG- → markdown]

It gets a bit worse than that I believe, officially to this date the blame is still on Iran for flying an airliner according to it's flight plan and in the commercial traffic corridor.

[personZ → markdown]

They shot down a A300 thinking it was an F14, and they were in a heightened level of alert because they (the USS Vincennes) were in Iranian waters, chasing a small naval boat that they claimed shot at their helicopter.

As an aside, the IR655 tragedy was one of the first were data was available to separate fact from fiction.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/opinion/witness-to-iran-fl...

This tragedy, IR655, and KAL007 are all stark reminders that war is often without discretion.