Iran mourns the 290 civilians of a 1988 airliner downed by US warship

(AP) — "... The USS Vincennes shot down the Dubai-bound airliner shortly after it took off from Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. Washington said the Vincennes mistook the airliner for a hostile Iranian fighter jet. Iran maintains it was an ordered attack — a month before the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war."The crime by the United States is never forgivable. The stain will remain on the U.S. forever," said Hesameddin Ansari, 34, who lost his father in the crash... The anniversary has become an annual outpouring of anger at America and has drawn wider coverage in state media in recent years as the standoff deepens over Iran's nuclear program.... Tehran has called for the commander of USS Vincennes at the time, William C. Rogers III, to be brought to trial. In 1990, then-President George H. W. Bush awarded Rogers the Legion of Merit for his service as a commanding officer, without mentioning the Airbus downing..."