Thundercheif

The radar actually indicates that very few aircraft (almost none) have been traveling through that area.

The BUK system is certified for 80,000+ feet at over mach. 3 - There is no safe zone for any aircraft without extremely specialized electronic countermeasures. It's worth noting that when the U.S. Navy shot down an Airbus in 88' it killed 290 souls including 66 children.

Just because it's not on CNN, doesn't mean that info isn't shared through back channels. All global hotspots and relative information is provided to Airline Companies so they can co-ordinate their flights to avoid potential threats. Its always been that way. I fly domestic routes, but still receive every warning notation concerning NO FLY Zones globally. If I were flying a troubled zone, my airline would provide me with specific GPS co-ordinates that are not to be interpreted........they must be followed. At any rate, I think that people are losing the point of my initial post. It was an accident...........and politicizing the tragedy doesn't serve anyone well. It puts everyone on the defensive, so ultimately the professionals that need to be on the ground to secure the area and take care of the deceased in a dignified way, are having trouble doing their job. Knee-Jerk politics is hurting not helping the effort. Lets face it; job#1 is to get the deceased re-united with their loved ones. That's it. What happened is pretty obvious and little (if anything) will come out of a full scale investigation......that isn't know already.

The questions concerning flight 17 have largely been answered. Ethnic Russian separatists shot the aircraft out of the sky. They've been utilizing the BUK AA System for some time now, and however tragic, it's obvious that flight 17 wasn't the intended target. Unfortunately, this has happened many times before. The United States themselves have been guilty of this type of accident in the past, although you don't hear it mentioned on CNN. In my opinion, culpability falls largely on the airline. It planned a route that was known to be risky. Saving fuel is a pitiful excuse and they know it. The vast majority of reputable air carriers were purposely avoiding the area.....and for good reason. It's a shame that the Western world is politicizing this event to the extent that they are. It was an accident. The airliner wasn't an intended target and it was flying through a war-zone that had 3 other aircraft knocked out of the sky in the past 6 days. I would put the majority of the blame on the airline for flying the route. What a terrible tragedy.

After years of it's own tyrany, the U.N. is finally able to flex its muscle and perform the task it was intended to do. Under the leadership of O'Bama, a new United Nations has emerged with thoughtfull, cooperative and decicive action to combat a Libyian government that has been a problem for decades. It's too late for Rwanda (among many others), but it seems that a co-opperative mentality is back in the fold. This situation may be convienient given the oil question but none the less, its obvious that significant humanitarian issues can be rectified with calculated, decicive military actions on a limited scale. If the United States can finally learn from it's mistakes and be a team player, it will certainly revive its standing in the world theatre. I applaud Presedent O'Bama and Secretary Clinton for their diplomacy and conviction.

It's about time the U.N. puts it's money where its mouth is. Apart from the Yankees behaving like idiots for the last decade, this proves that the organisation can actually perform it's intended function; to protect innocent people from the tyrany of corupt governments. Of course this is simply about oil, but at least it's vailed with decency and restraint and I don't have a problem with that in this case. If a limited but decicive intervention will benefit the people of Libya, I don't see anything wrong with it. We have, as a capable society, a responsability to ensure that Rwandan type (and so many others) situations never occur again. Keep it simple and keep it focussed. Are you listening U.S.A.? Thats how you REALLY win the peace and admiration of the world.