u.s.s. vincennes which shot down that civilian aircraft, the commanding officer of that ship was honored one of the highest awards for his service commanding that ship during the time when it shot down that airliner. they even gave the navy commendation medal specifically to the ship's anti-aircraft officer who was the officer in charge of recognizing real threats from hostile aircraft and directing and appropriate response. that officer led the team that looked at what turned out to be an airbus passenger jet and that team decided it was an f-14 and they shot it out of the sky and even though they were terribly, terribly wrong, they gave him a medal for it. the history of the armed forces of various countries shooting down passenger jets mistakenly, i mean, obviously you hope it's always mistakenly, that history is terrible enough without considering the way those countries and militaries have tended to respond when they've been confronted with the realization that they've done something so terrible. the way they respond is usually somewhere along a pretty horrific continuum between denial

u.s.s. vincennes which shot down that civilian aircraft, the commanding officer of that ship was honored one of the highest awards for his service commanding that ship during the time when it shot down that airliner. they even gave the navy commendation medal specifically to the ship's anti-aircraft officer who was the officer in charge of recognizing real threats from hostile aircraft and directing and appropriate response. that officer led the team that looked at what turned out to be an airbus passenger jet and that team decided it was an f-14 and they shot it out of the sky and even though they were terribly, terribly wrong, they gave him a medal for it. the history of the armed forces of various countries shooting down passenger jets mistakenly, i mean, obviously you hope it's always mistakenly, that history is terrible enough without considering the way those countries and militaries have tended to respond when they've been confronted with the realization that they've done something so terrible. the way they respond is usually somewhere along a pretty horrific continuum between denial

in 1988, iran air flight 655 was brought down by a missile fired from the u.s.s "vincennes." it was mistaken for an iranian fighter. 290 people were killed. more on flight 17 later in the broadcast. "cbs this morning" will have the latest developments tomorrow morning. in a major development, israeli troops have launched an invasion of gaza. the 32-mile gaza strip is a homeland for palestinians displaced by the creation of israel. over the last 10 days, islamic militants have fired hundreds of unguided rockets into israel, killing one civilian. and israel has responded with air strikes that have killed 240 palestinians and wounded more than 1,800. nearly all of them civilians. israel has occupied gaza often over the decades. holly williams is in gaza tonight. holly, what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, scott, the sky here tonight in gaza has been lit up over and over again as israel pounds this tiny strip of land with its air strikes. this is the heaviest bombardment we've seen during this escalation, and it comes as the israeli media reports that tens of thousands of isra

u.s.s. vincennes, commanding officer and aircraft chief got themselves medals for their performance then the united states government ended up paying $62 million in restitution to the government of iran as an apology after iran sued the united states and the international court of justice over that shoot-down. well now the denials today have already started. the denials have started on all sides. anybody who could plausibly have shot this down has denied it was them. and the resolution will take a long time and whatever the resolution, it will not bring back the 298 people who died in the air over eastern ukraine today through no fault of their own. the process starts with figuring out what happened and figuring out who did it and figuring out how they are going to pay, and the start of that story is next. a breakthrough in whitening. from crest 3d white, new brilliance toothpaste and boost. after brushing, our exclusive boost polishes your smile and whitens with 3x the stain lifting ingredient for a smile that dazzles. new crest 3d white brilliance. take them on the way you always have. liv