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Subscribe to RSSThe RQ-170 stealth drone that crashed in Iran last week has been used by the CIA in the past to spy on Iran's nuclear facilities and Hezbollah training camps inside Iran, U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
Its stealth technology has allowed the drone to operate in Iranian air space, feeding streaming video to the CIA of targets and activities on the ground, undetected by Iranian air defense radars -- just as it did when it circled over Osama Bin Laden's compound, undetected by the Pakistani military.
The sources, however, did not know what specific mission was involved in this case when CIA operators on the ground lost control of the drone and it eventually ran out of fuel and crashed in Iran's mountainous terrain last Thursday.
The wreckage is now in the hands of Iran’s military, and the U.S. is concerned that the Iranians could salvage highly sensitive technology used in the drone for cameras or sensors or even the stealth technology, and try to develop it for themselves.
Iranian media reported on Sunday that their country's military had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran, but a U.S. official said there was no indication the aircraft had been shot down.
Officials in Washington confirmed that the vehicle was a highly secret stealth drone called an RQ-170, which looks more like a flying wing than an airplane.
NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports on the American stealth drone that crashed in Iran and whether it is giving the Iranians access to a wealth of U.S. technology.
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I am sorry, I simply don't understand the lack of contingency planning. A case of over confidence? Someone has some explaining to do.
If you ask me, they took it over and then they jammed it until it ran out of gas, probably with the help of Russian or Chinese technical advisers (who were waiting with baited breath). - RC
Advice for US is keep their noses out of all the countries. It is hard when a country has so many enemies around the world. It is tragic. They have to be always on guard. Tragedy.
And you live on what planet? Iran's problems are self inflicted, The Ayatollah's mouth is too larger for their brains. Wanna build a nuke, don't brag, ask Saddam. Israel may solve Iran's quest for mass martyrdom in a blast of counter-battery.
When every country gets nukes, the world will be in peace. It is equal footing, because no one will nuke no one. Iran's purpose is self-defense at this point. Second, Israel real didn't exist before 1945. Jews in general are from Europe and should find their places elsewhere. Israel is not natural. No offense. Also Israel is becoming religiously radical at this point. They will be no different from other radicals in the region (religiously speaking).
This thing is already in China being disassembled.
.
This particular aircraft was purchased under the auspices of the George W. Bush administration...
Taxpayers will buy another model plane for the military.. How much was that one??
UnitedStates1776,
If it was shot down like they claim. Would'nt it have been disassembled in mid-air?
This is what happens when Israel (AIPAC) controls US! These sort of people should go back in doing money vulture business than getting involved in other things!
And lost under the command of Barack Hussein Obama
Cmon we cant fly over anothr country with a gadget that has super secret device. Something smells here
Leroy-484857
Uh huh. But it was lost under the auspices of the Barrack Hussein Obama administration.
John and FreedomRingsLoud: Stupid Troll shot, nothing more. You lose your credibility cards. Go back to hate radio and FOX for further orders. Your current mission has aborted.
Yakfitguy, They responded to a troll dragging bush into this.
While bush and obama may both be clueless, trolls work both directions.
Not arguing with that. Some liberals can be dishonest too. Just ask the Clintons.
Come on people....this happens every hour in every country across this big ole Earth!
Opps...one fell down...Oh well......I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT DRONE!!!
Tom111 - Obviously you never heard of Jesus the Christ being born in Bethlehem.... What European country is that city in.... Why don't you google it.
I don't care if you believe in God or Jesus. But to make an ignorant statement that all Jews are from Europe - states to me that you are oblivious to the subject of Social studies and Geography.
For the record Tom - Israel was a nation some 5000 years before the 1948 accord giving them BACK their homeland.
.....and the Americas contained many different nations before 1492....
Jews are Semites. Arabs are Semites. They share the DNA of ethnically related countrymen.
Tom you are quite misinformed. The Jewish nation and people have about a 5000 year history....most of it in the area of modern day Israel. The United Nations recognized them as a country in 1945 that does not mean they did not exist before then. The United States added territory from the Louisiana Purchase and the purchase of Alaska but the people and land existed before the United States. Just saying you should read a little history.
Leroy wrote: "This particular aircraft was purchased under the auspices of the George W. Bush administration..."
Not quite sure what you're trying to infer, but one thing is certain: This particular aircraft was USED under the auspices of the Barack H. Obama administration...
Maybe in today's world but I've read where the original Jewish people were Celts, but all the inter relations over the years has blended them with just about every nationality, its hard to say what is the nationality of a Jewish person, Russian, German, English, American (muts), Persian or Egyptian. they have lived every where I doubt there is a pure race to judge from. they have been cross breading for thousands of years.
Yakfitguy You could ask the Clintons but that don't mean you will get a honest answer.
FreedomRings sounds an awful lot like another troll who use to come here. For a guy who knows everything, you would think he would move on to a new hobby rather than try and convert liberals at a liberal site. Who goes around confronting those with opposite views other than someone who just likes confrontations?
I question why liberals are not more liberal, then again I don't know everything so I actually learn from others here.
@tom I do see your point and agree in part however I'm not sure, but who were the Israelite people Moses led from Egypt? Also, what about the crusades. I think Jews in general have been in the region for quite some time. I think it's the fact that the country was formed smack dab in the middle of an already hostile region...with neighbors who historically don't agree to your existence. Food for thought?
Not being facetious by any means...I'm just not a religious person and was speaking purely on historical terms so to speak. I've personally always thought Jewish people were all over the area for a long time.
Sorry - why did that troll get the subject of Jews in Israel into the discussion ? We are talking about Iran. That is a different country, troll. Incidentally, the Israelites have been in Israel as long as the Persians have been in Iran.
Back to the drone : it has been, according to the info in this article, used before. How many people are suffering in Iranian jails, subject to daily savage torure, because their government believes them to be spies ? When all along, most of the information came from a drone like this. And the Iranians had not considered that ? Unfortunately, it is possible that they could not imagine modern technology to be that advanced.
Other than that, I am sure in my gut that there is some self-destruct mechanism within this device. We ma be Americans, but we ain't stoopid !
To those who advocate ceasing all our intelligence gathering in the world : you wish.....
Average run of the mill.
Intended to provoke.
It lets them know, without letting them know. ; ]
Cheers
thanks Denverbob, Tom111 is either young, ignorant, drunk, provocative or all of the above. Scary the "beliefs" some people have about one of the oldest recorded religion and civilized people.
back to the article, Iran probably doesn't have the manufacturing know-how but china and Russia might and are definitely interested. Iran has got something to trade with, finally, and it came from the sky. Praise Allah.
I hope that drone had a good service life and that it was amortized. I also hope in the future that self destruct C4 will be on board, after say 10 minutes of no response, or upon opening by unauthorized personnel. something better.
lol why does young have to be a part of that... old is just as stupid these days.
If the United Snakes are wanting a nuclear free Middle East - The ball is in thier court. Meanwhile, a nation that has not attacked anyone in 200 years, currently surrounded on all sides (remember Libya and why Gaddafi is gone now?) by nuclear armed thugs - is entitiled to all the weapons it can muster up to 'defend' itself against these hyena's - foreign and domestic. Seems if you want to make your natural resource yours - you are demonized by the colonits and called a terrorist. Terrorist! 5.9m slaughtered civilians in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, AF/PAK, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Chile, Grenada, Guatemala, et. al. tell you about the monsters Iran/Syria are having to deal with - I didn't think so, Pilgrims
Go Drones!!
The fact that Leroy referenced Bush purchasing the Drone is ridiculous. For starters, does he have the invoice? Has Obama purchased any since? Is this a political tool or military? The comment is irrelevant and useless to the discussion. Any which way it still doesn't matter.
What does matter is that this is the new method of today's intel gathering. And the drone doesn't care which party is in office when it was budgeted for, and purchased.
D-Buck:
Ummm... No. Celts lived in Northern Europe, were tall, fair-haired, blue painted "giants" that gave the Romans hell (that's why they built Hadrian's wall--anything north of it was considered unconquerable). Jews, on the other hand, are derived from early Mesopotamian cultures (the Babylonians, Sumerians, etc). The two cultures are incredibly disparate and have few similarities in mythology-- the Celts were polytheistic, for example, while the Jews were monotheistic. I don't know where you read that the Celts were the precursors to the Jews, but I can tell you unequivocally that that is unsupported by all extant archaeological evidence and probably any extant DNA evidence as well. While the ancient Celts were widely traveled-- more widely than was generally believed 20 odd years ago (they found Celtic mummies in China) -- they were not the progenitors of the Jewish/Semitic races.
Thanks cdahl. I can't believe either side went there. Ridiculous things to say.
Yakfitguy,
I guess that other option would be the Iraq plan. Amass 100,000 troops, send them in and ascertain for ourselves what Iran is doing. I find the former more non-political.
On a side note, it looks like the Iranians broke our code and took over the aircraft during take off or landing either before the drone made satellite contact or after the satellite dropped the connection to the ground crew. Meaning, it is very possible that the drone is intact, functioning and the technology will soon be in Russian and Chinese hands.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29899.htm
So you see fellow Americans, there are reasons not to trust what your government is saying, and also reasons to sometimes take seriously what Iran says. Underestimating the opponent is a common rookie error.
I have to wonder whether that particular drone was capable of carrying fairly large bombs, as there have been two very large and unexplained explosions in the last couple of months at Iranian alleged nuclear facilities, at the same time that a whole lot of aggressive hot air has come out of the mouths of the Israel warhawk community too. It may be with stealth bomber drones that the need for a covert insertion team has become a thing of the past. Certainly Israel could not use its air or missile power without the certainty of a devastating response from Iran. Jamming the drone's signal would be one way for our guys to "lose control" of it, in which case it lands in their territory, in much better shape than if it was shot down.
Anyone remember back in the 1950s when our CIA overthrew the legally-elected democratic government of Iran because their then-President was clamoring for nationalizing the Iranian oil industry? This same reason was one of two major provocations that resulted in the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya too. Perhaps this is why the Iranian leadership wants so little to do with us?
Quoted text from: http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html
1953
Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.
It was CIA-puppet dictator Shah Reza Pahlavi that was overthrown by the supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, which was also the same year that our oil investments in Iran were nationalized, and our fuel prices here at home went shooting upwards, which was one of the reasons behind the 1979-1983 recession here at home!
Bravo CIA, a quarter-million auto workers and another million support people around the southern Great Lakes region lost everything that they owned during the 1979-1983 recession because the CIA chose to overthrow the elected government of Iran in 1953, on top of our not-so-secret resupply of Israel during the 1973 War, which caused the Arab Oil Embargo, a fuel price rise of 75%, and another recession in 1974-75!!!
And you thought that our big banks, big corporations, and Wall Street were respectable entities right up until the great real estate bubble??? What are we going to do when we run out of oil in 30-40 years, on top of running out of phosphorus for fertilizer before that??? Glad that I'll be too old to care by then, but what about the lives of your kids and mine???
This book should be required reading for everyone:
http://www.postcarbon.org/end-of-growth-chapters/
should be auto programmed to head to take off point in event of loss of ground signal. FAILSAFE!
(Actually, the problem does ultimately resolve itself as a problem with programming, however you prefer to initially define it. Programmers are still very badly needed these days, if only because of (hugely important) advances in intelligent (smart) operational systems) - RC (no fight here)
Yeah seems so simple to have it go to a predetermined beacon upon loss of signal. I totally agree! I'm sure that little feature will make it into the next model...
I think this wreck will be a valuable intelligence on stealth design. China will copy the characteristics and make stealth airplane themselves by looking at the skin of the airplane. First of all, US should've stayed out of Iranian air space. Don't make a lot of enemies around the world is the ultimate answer. It costs money and risks technology.
I agree its very odd that they wouldn't have some sort of second option. Maybe its bait for the Iranians with some malicious software embedded into it. Lets hope so
You would think the thing would self destruct? bad CIA! we should take away their allowance.
Not only did these incompetent dicks put a $7M piece of taxpayers money in Iran's hands, what was the technology worth? $1B? $10B? You defense guys aren't going to the world court and complain that China is knocking off your spy planes and WMD's. Now, they're bragging to the Iranians that we have spy planes in their air space.
The military has way too much power and spends way too much money. Cut the DoD and the CIA's budget to Clinton era or lower. We are warred out. If Israel wants to tangle with Iran-let em, independently. They've talked so much bulls**t for so many years and we have to calm down their neighbors---after Israel pisses them off. Chirac said of the US's relationship with Israel, "Let the US befriend The State of Israel. The cost and risks are far too high."
The US should have gone in immediately and destroyed the drone when it was on the ground. From my understanding, they considered it but then abandoned the idea. Unfortunately, CIA personnel are devoid of good practical idea when things go terribly wrong with Plan A. Stop bashing Israel. They are on our side Remember? They have brainpower and a yearning to remain safe from nuclear attack.
sandtrich: Chirac is currently on trial for corruption. Why is his opinion of Israel relevant here?
harv32: That is an act of war and violation of UN charter. There is no sanction for that. Sounds good, but unworkable. The fallout, politically would be very bad.
What the hell does anyone of these military fools expect if you keep flying drones in Iran, sooner or later they are going to shoot one down. Now they have gone ahead and given Iran sensitive equipment that they shouldn't have.. good move CIA...
Everrett I think you are a little unclear on the concept here. They didnt shoot it down, the pilots made a poor calculation and ran out of fuel, probably because they needed to continue with priority surveillance as a calculated risk. The Iranians cant even keep their planes together because they cannot import parts and manufacturer their own junk.
Not a bad thing. It just means that technology is now obsolete. Time to funnel a few more billions into rushing the next tech on the drawing board into production. Private sector win!
/sarcasm
riley.....keep on believing that!
Obsolete is a relative concept. Iran has a demonstrated capability of inventing something that was invented by someone or everyone else did decades ago and then bragging about it. The should invent an airplane that can fly in Iranian airspace without falling down. For how many years has the drone been flying around Iran and Iran didn't know about it?
Theyknow about it now! I don't think Iran will be able to do much with it Russia, China different story, pity all those years of technology handed over in a miniature. China already has most of the technology, this will give them the few missing pieces. their program will be speed up a few years and we will have to upgrade sooner.
So its clearly had a history of malfunctioning and ending up in Iran. It happens.
That's funny!!
These are not the Drones you're looking for.........
I wonder if the drone will be shipped off to China or Russia from Iran. Those two countries could more easily reverse engineer the technology than Iran could.
It'll go to whoever promises more military aid. Hell I bet we (have already considered) might send a few rockets to iran in exchange if they'd go for it. It wouldn't be the first time.
Or....have a great chance to work along side some engineers, scientists and technicians from countries that are more technologically advanced.....sorta like being an apprentice. It might open up some interesting joint ventures.
And we were upset with the Russians and Chinese because of their stance concerning Iran before? I don't think our cause has been helped with this drone incident.
Tiptoe through the Tulips long enough and you'll invariably distrub the bees.
OK, anyone who actually thinks that this drone was in Iran 'accidently' is pretty naive...I do wonder what would be the reaction here if a russian or chinese drone was over this country 'accidently'.
(Hey, if (they) made intentional overflights before, guess what, it was PROBABLY an intentional overflight this time as well. But guess what, they also prepped the 'enemy' at the same time. (My previous Cold War mentality is (just) starting to rear its VERY UGLY HEAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, watch out, PLEASE, before we get (permanently) separated here !!! Trust me, I really, really, really DON'T want to go there, it is PERMANENT stagnation for the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!) - RC
(((((((((((And guess what, these outside OFFENSIVE TOTALITARIAN ETs totally KNOW IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!))))))))))) - RC
China is smarter than that. They use spies on the ground and spy satellites.
Thats whats so great about America any one can run around and take all the pictures they want. you dont need a drone.
why no self destruct mechanism? are you serious, with all of that technology. Might as well send russia and china a fully working one for christmas as a nice gesture..........cause they now have it anyway,good job C A. left the intelligence out for a reason.
Central Agency hmmmm sounds socialist! might work in the OA.
This drone will self-destruct in 5 seconds.... dunt-dunt-dunnaa-dunt-dunt-dunna dun-nnaa-naaa dun-naaa-dunnnna!
Iran will probably try to turn it into a felafel maker or something with which to torture thier citizenry.
They will apply the technology to their fleet of flying boats.
At least it wasn't a plane with Americans on board. If Iran did down this thing maybe it's a result of the key-logging virus that was found on our drones. If you have a time-stamped log of commands sent to the drones and a separate log of radio signals where they were operating, it doesn't take a genius to match the two and learn how to control the thing.
i am happy they found it cause america needs to stop invading other countries airspace i hate american POLICIES
THAT ARE ONE SIDED
What no self destruct? Don't these guys read sci-fi?
Sensitive technology?? I fear this will be used as just another pathetic excuse to continue warring with Iran. The Iranian people are not stupid... they are not uneducated. Many of the Iranian people are very, very educated, and perfectly capable of creating their own technology. I would hope the american people are not so fooled by the media that they beleive all Iranians ride camels, live in tents, and become suicide bombers.
The media is making a HUGE deal out of this only because it provides an excuse for further missions in Iran. Reality, the military 'loses' equipment more often then its made public. This is being over dramafied for the sole purpose of further alienating the Iranian people to the americans. Stop feeding into the media frenzy. They use fear as a weapon to control the sheeple.
"pathetic excuses for warring with Iran?" Better strap your helmet on, Hezbollah has declared war on 'whitey'
Watching the earth......you are exactly right...most Persians are highly educated and cultured......
This story is being used to further the demoniszation of Iran to justify a future attack by the US or Israel...Like you said they could have easliy buried this story if it did not serve their agenda of further demonization.......Iran has not attacked, occupied or threatend any other country in the region. The US as you probaly know has a long cynical history of relations with Iran starting in 1953 when the CIA overthrew the democratically elected president and we installed our Puppet the Shah......we then supported and supplied Saddam Hussein with WMDS in a war of aggression against Iran but also sold weapons to Iran to support the Contras in Nicaragua.......we cynically supported both sides.......
Now present day we have declared them part of the axis of Evil, imposed sanctions and are now flying drone aircraft over their country which really is an act of war.....
The US is responsible for more death of innocents and destruction in the region than all other countries combined...
well tbh irans a pain in the ass for everyone. and for being as educated as u guys say... they do alot of stupid @!$%#. IE: trying to make nukes. when everyone and they're mother (other countries) are disarming in nuclear munitions its a no-no for a unstable country in the middle east with clear and hostile intentions for some of its neighbors to be making nukes. especially with a society that places merit on martyrdom and supports a known terrorist organization.
also to all the people on here bashing isreal get real those people have a hell of a-lot more common sense then 80% of the middle east.
see first Iran builds reactors to ' help their people' then those reactors are being used to enrich uranium and we caught them. now if we dont stop it. we will be left with nukes being 'stolen' from Iran. when countries that openly support terrorism get nukes we will be in a different age of global terrorism
i cant wait for green technology to be perfected and watch as the middle east sinks into absolute ruin when they cant sell their oil anymore. the rest of the world should just adopt a nuke it from orbit mentality in regards to iran give the civilians a week to gtfo of the country and then wipe it form existence.
The most well funded terrorist organization on the face of the earth is our own CIA.......how many elected Govts has it overthrown??/ From Arbenz in Guatemala Allende, Mossadegh and the list goes on......you do know that they overthrew democractically elected govts and installed our puppets that brutalized the people of those countries???The CIA has supported and armed AL Qaeda when it suits us then turns around and blames them for for every terrorist attack that occurs.....
SO who did Iran threaten or attack again??? how many countries has Iran attacked or invaded and occupied in the last 30 years???? Now how many countries has the US invaded , occupied or attacked in the last 30 years??? How many Govts has Iran overthrown in the last 40 years???? Now answer the question....How many Govts has the United States overthrown.....30 maybe 40???While attacking, and invading another 30-40 or more....
So who are the real terrorists???? Which country is responsible for more deaths of innocents around the globe than all other countries????/
Iran is a pain in the ass???/ How about your own country???
Russia or China does not have to send a drone? We will let them buy one as they pretty much own us now with a 15 trillion dollar deficit and our president on Vacation. What I want to know is why there is not a button that makes it go boom? Dont we have GPS on those things?
Its amazing they know where every American with a cellphone is, they should know where their million dollar drone is. and if that little red button don't exist, send in a cruise missile to remove it from the Iranians custody. simple. on second thought they probably removed the batteries.
sooo.. if Iran was flying a spy plane over Washington, what would the US response be?? Probably more sanctions, embargo or all out war. Now the US flies spy planes over Iran, they are so bad, they did not gently pick it up. and quickly return it to the US military at the destination our military requested. Come on, who are the champion HYPOCRITES
Reminds me of the U-2 incident . It had to eventually happen.
Either we sent it in and crashed it, or they shot it down. In any case it's theirs now.
But it is VERY hard to believe they didn't have some cast iron self destruct technology in that thing.
Maybe it's that self destruct technology that didn't work.
Now the Iranians have one of the best drones in their hands. They now can reproduce it, put bombs on it and fly it over any country in the vicinity they want.
Did the US want Iran to have the drone maybe ???
clearly, the CIA are to dam dumb to install a self destruct, their ignorance has just cost the USA alot of valuable technology that will bite the US in the rear. CIA i believe you need to bend over and kiss your a$$ bye bye cause you obviously have no intelligence working in that department. "CIA= crackerhead idiots again".
What I still do not get is this.Why in the name of hell would they use a perfectly goof drone for this?I mean we have sats dedicated to just this type of thing.They have infra red,slar photos,you name it and the resolution is like that you could practicaly find or see the head of a pin if one was so inclined to do so,they also can listen in on all phone and computer conversations.So why waste an expensive piece of classified equipment for somthing a sat could do just as well and as quickly.makes absolutely no snese at all
maybe it's a trojan horse??
There are some very dumb people at work in the US Govt (of course among the good ones). Just recall the poor falsification of Obama's birth certificate, the bad planning of so many military missions (wars included), and so many other situations.
How come that the US Govt is not able to hire the best people? Or the right people for the specific jobs. Is favoritism staying in their way? Those who decide who is hired and who not are in a pretty bad shape ... and I mean mentally.
Or is the education of the different Govt services become so low level that the graduates are even dumber when they finish the training ???
hey Vishanthewise, i have news for you, the Russian's, Israeli's, French, English and Chinese fly spy satellites over the US multiple times every day. So go hate America somewhere else, ya douche
Lived and worked there '77-'79 around Irans' military. If they say they shot it down then you can BET they didn't!! To be fair, the Iranian people are in general a good and warm hearted people like many but the deception, manipulation and lying genes runs deep in Persian culture. Couple that with a radical Muslim government/military and let the BS begin. Outside of the upper middle class that were basicaly well educated and more European than Middle Eastern (and most of whom lost terribly with the religious revolution), they are the most childish people I have ever seen. True, they don't have military capabilities even remotely approaching ours but don't make the mistake of considering them inept. With enough oil money to "donate" $100 million yearly to fund terrorism, you can bet they can hire the best to reverse engineer what more than likley is a crumpled debris field than a working unit. Otherwise they would be more than glad to show their "find".
I would like to see a picture of the drone they have, I know lying is second nature to a Persian, they just cant help it, how much or how little damage did it sustain.
Exexpatriot
Iranians have been the kindest and most hospitable people of the earth for Ions.
What you said about lying,deception and manipulation can be said about any Nation French,Mexican or American or anybody.there are HONEST and DISHONEST people everywhere no exception.
Iran is light years more capable and advanced than 1970s. Revisit Tehran just go to Youtube and watch
"3 minute trip to Tehran" and then google "SAMAND" to see where iran is today.
The DRONE is 100% intact as it was HIJACKED and NOT shot down. they jammed its signals.
They declared it as a great victory for Revolutioary Guards Cyber Unit.
Time for the Massad to step in.
You mean MOSSAD?
yeah Galatick I agree, and after the massad, who ever they are are done, we can send the Mossad. They do a great job infiltrating the US interests they want to keep an eye on, and we all know isreal does occassionally act as a puppet contractor for the US. They can get those 'ol iraneannes.But Galatick, we need money to pay for all this so we can go get that crashed plane , and fight any other wars that might result from sending troops in another country. Ill send 10$ a month in the feds to support it, will you?
(Trust me, if you really want to avoid becoming a FULL BLOWN idiot, then PLEASE avoid this tangent.) - RC
Lived and worked there '77-'79 around Irans' military. If they say they shot it down then you can BET they didn't!! To be fair, the Iranian people are in general a good and warm hearted people like many but the deception, manipulation and lying genes runs deep in Persian culture. Couple that with a radical Muslim government/military and let the BS begin. Outside of the upper middle class that were basicaly well educated and more European than Middle Eastern (and most of whom lost terribly with the religious revolution), they are the most childish people I have ever seen. True, they don't have military capabilities even remotely approaching ours but don't make the mistake of considering them inept. With enough oil money to "donate" $100 million yearly to fund terrorism, you can bet they can hire the best to reverse engineer what more than likley is a crumpled debris field than a working unit. Otherwise they would be more than glad to show their "find".