Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Case Closed?

Even though a significant progress has been made about what brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, are we even closer from declaring the matter as “case closed”?

By: Ringo Bones 

The recent release of findings by the Dutch Safety Board investigation earlier this week show definitely that a Russian made Buk surface-to-air missile was the cause of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 – a Boeing 777 plane that was shot down back in July 18, 2014 while flying its Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur route that resulted in the deaths of 298 people – 189 of which are Dutch nationals. Almost immediately, the Russian government has challenged the findings that a Russian made Buk surface-to-air missile was responsible for the crash. 

Relatives of the crash victims were shown an early copy of the Dutch Safety Board report a few weeks ago before it was presented to the press. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the report advances the search for the truth about how MH17 was shot down. 

Definitive proof that it was the Russian made Buk surface-to-air missile that brought down the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 as it hit the cockpit first was based on the metal fragments that got imbedded in the bodies of the crew members. 120 metal objects were found in the body of the First Officer, mostly in the left side of the upper torso. More than 100 objects were found in the body of the Purser. “Hundreds” of metal fragments were found in the fragmented body of the Captain. 

In the Annex X of the report – an analysis of the high-energy objects that hit the plane conducted by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory show that the damage observed on the wreckage is not consistent with the damage caused by the warhead of an air-to-air missile – which the Russian government insists that a Ukrainian aircraft shot down MH17 with an air-to-air missile. Instead, the report proves that the metal fragments were consistent with the ones that result when a Russian made Buk surface-to-air missile explodes when it comes near to its target triggered by its proximity fuse. Specifically, bowtie shaped fragments consistent with the damage caused by the 9N314M warhead used in the 9M38 and 9M38M1 Buk surface-to-air missile.    

Even before the Dutch Safety Board conducted its definitive report on the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, there was already a damning evidence that points to pro Russian separatists in the Donetsk region were responsible to bringing down Flight MH17 using a Buk surface-to-air missile that dates back a few days after the crash. A group of American agents imbedded with pro Russian separatist units managed to screen-grab a Tweet between two pro Russian separatists named “Greek” and “Major” of the “screw up” that they accidentally launched a Buk missile that brought down Flight MH17. Would the culpability of the incident even reach as high up as the Russian strongman Vladimir Putin?