US responsible for Russian Airbus A321 crash: American researcher

An American researcher says that it is highly likely that the United States is responsible for the crash of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt this week.

On Saturday, the Airbus A321-200 broke up in midair and crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

An investigation is underway to find out how the disaster happened; however, the airline has said that technical faults or human errors could not have caused the tragic crash.

“New information from sources with contacts in the CIA are reporting that the US recently sold ships to Egypt in return for a drone base and money,” said James Henry Fetzer, who is also a journalist with Veterans Truth Network and a retired professor in Madison, Wisconsin.

“New drones can operate at up to 45,000'. This new data makes it increasingly probable that the United States was responsible by using an air-to-air missile fired from one of these new drones or even causing a mid-air collision,” he told Press TV on Monday in an email interview.

“This would further confirm the duplicity of the government and willingness to sacrifice the lives of innocent civilians to promote its political agenda as the world's leading terrorist state,” he noted.

An Egyptian militant group affiliated with Daesh (ISIL) terrorists said on Saturday it brought down the plane "in response to Russian airstrikes” in Syria. But Russian officials say it's too early to tell what caused the crash.

On September 30, Russia began its military campaign against militants in Syria. Moscow has carried out scores of airstrikes, killing hundreds of terrorists.

Unnamed US officials have told The Associated Press that Russia has directed parts of its military campaign against US-backed militants and other extremist groups in an effort to weaken them.

They say the CIA-trained militants are under Russian strikes with little prospect of rescue by their American supporters.

CIA provided anti-aircraft missiles to ISIL

“The almost immediate descent of the plane with no distress call and other data that has been reported strongly suggests that the plane was blown apart either by a bomb planted inside the plane or, perhaps more likely, by a missile from the ground,” Professor Fetzer said.

“It was at over 30,000' altitude, however, which means it would have had to have been a very sophisticated device,” he stated.

“If ISIS [ISIL] was responsible, it may very well tie back to the attack on the CIA compound in Benghazi, which some sources have explained was about the transfer of anti-aircraft missiles” to militants fighting against the Syrian government, he said.

“We know now that they were virtually all created and funded by the United States, where its hypocrisy in claiming to oppose ISIS is beyond measure. We even have photos of ISIS members sporting ‘US ARMY’ tattoos. It is embarrassing,” he added.

The terrorist attack on the US diplomatic compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi on September 11, 2012 left four US diplomats, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead.

According to CNN, up to 35 CIA operatives were working in Benghazi during the attack, but it has never reported how many of them died or were injured.

“My understanding is that Chris Stevens, the US Ambassador, wanted to retrieve those missiles out of concern that they might fall into the wrong hands,” Fetzer said.

“Those anxieties now appear to have been well-founded, where the US has been utterly irresponsible by sending weapons of all kinds to virtually any group that gives the appearance of promoting US foreign policy objectives. Shooting down a civilian airliner is a perfect example, it is grotesque,” the analyst noted.

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