Crashed drone was looking at Iran nuclear sites
By Tim Lister, with reporting by Kathleen Johnston and Pam Benson
The Sentinel drone that crashed in Iran last week was on a surveillance mission of suspected nuclear sites in the country, U.S. military officials tell CNN.
Previously, U.S. and NATO officials had said the drone was on a mission to patrol the Afghan-Iran border and had veered off course.
The officials say the Afghan government was unaware of the use of its territory to fly surveillance drones over Iran, and that the CIA had not informed the Defense Department of the drone's mission when reports first emerged that it had crashed. One official told CNN that the U.S. military "did not have a good understanding of what was going on because it was a CIA mission."
In Kabul Wednesday U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta refused to comment directly on the specifics of the drone's mission but did not deny that it had been spying on Iran and said the drone program carried out "important intelligence operations which we will continue to pursue."
The RQ-170 Sentinel is one of the United States' most sophisticated drones and flies at up to 50,000 feet. It is designed to evade sophisticated air defenses. One former intelligence official told CNN that it's "impossible to see" and discounted Iranian claims that it had been brought down by some form of electronic counter-measures.
"It simply fell into their laps," he said - after satellite communication was lost.
An Iranian engineer working on the captured drone claimed to the Christian Science Monitor that Iran was able to overtake the drone control system and land it. The engineer described to reporter Scott Peterson how Iran was able to exploit a vulnerability in the drone system.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said categorically that Iran had nothing to do with the fate of the aircraft.
"I will say without hesitation that this was not something that anyone had anything to do with, coming down with, other than a technical problem," he said. "I will tell you there was a technical problem that was our problem, nobody else's problem. I think there is a lot of PR going on."
But Panetta did not categorically rule out the possibility when asked whether the drone could have been taken down by a cyberattack or jamming.
"You can make all kinds of guesses at this point. Obviously there's nothing that you can rule out and nothing that you can rule in right now," Panetta told Fox News earlier this week.
The former official doubted the intelligence value of the drone to the Iranians. For example, the sensors on the underbelly of the drone would have been badly damaged, he said. And coolant could have damaged the main computer. The sensors are designed to detect airborne chemical traces that might come from a nuclear facility or intercept cell-phone conversations.
But Bill Sweetman, the editor in chief of Defense Technology International, believed everything inside the plane would be in one piece based on what he could see from the video released by the Iranians. Sweetman added this aircraft did not represent the crown jewels of U.S. technology. "This is not the most advanced stealth technology out there."
Iranian officials have said the drone came down over eastern Iran, hundreds of miles from the cluster of nuclear sites in central and north-western Iran. Some said it came down close to the city of Kashmar in Khorasan province; others that it was recovered in the Tabas desert to the south-west.
The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaei, told CNN, "It was brought down somewhere in about some 150 miles or 250 kilometers deep into the Iranian territory in the province of Khorasan in the northern city of Tabas."
The Tabas desert is a remote region used by the U.S. military in 1980 as a staging area during the abortive attempt to rescue the hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
According to experts who follow Iran's nuclear program, this part of the country is not known for nuclear facilities. More than a decade ago there were reports that Iran had developed an enrichment facility with North Korean help in the Tabas Desert. But its existence was never confirmed, and an official at the International Atomic Energy Agency said its delegations had not been to the area.
David Albright, the president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), expressed doubts that North Korea would have shared centrifuge technology with Iran at a time it was developing its own enrichment facilities.
The area is known for its uranium mines. which Iran is under no obligation to subject to international inspection. The main mine is at Saghand in Yazd province, to the south-west of the Tabas desert. According to ISIS, it supplies uranium ore concentrate to a facility at Ardakan. Other mines in Iran's eastern provinces are being developed, according to the IAEA.
Equally the drone may have been traveling across eastern Iran toward other known or suspected nuclear sites, experts say. In its most recent report, the IAEA identified many of these in and around Tehran as well as around Qom and Isfahan.
It is still unclear where the drone was based in Afghanistan. Previously reported sightings of the RQ-170 Sentinel were at the Kandahar base in southern Afghanistan. But Afghan officials say this mission began at the former Soviet air base at Shindand in western Herat province. A straight line from there to known nuclear facilities identified by the IAEA in north and central Iran would have taken the drone close to Kashmar.
The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has refused to confirm the Sentinel left Shindand.
CNN's Kathleen Johnston and Pam Benson contributed to this report.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
Hey folks, it's one of the oldest tricks of warfare that is documented: "Beware gifts". As I recall this was the warning from the Greek Oracle before the Trojan Wars. If you think this was lost by accident think long and hard about it. And then think again.
Time for SEAL team 6 to go blow it up..
AGREED...Or just a big F-ing bomb
Typical below-average-intellect American response to everything. You say s^$t like this and then expect the world to bow at your feet. Your response is not doing your country any favours.
Time for you to return to you PS2 Call of Duty.
LMAO!
Don´t you see? that's call a TROYAN HORSE!!!
american trying to use words from history, humorous
Why don't we apologize and say we won't do it again
Right...I like this guy, Why not? I mean we lie to our ouw citizens why shouldnt we lie to Iran. its not like they never lie to us. But at the same time why cant we just pull an assisination on this dude make it look like a suiside bomber or something and let the people rebuild there goverment. Not this terrorst who was one of the US\Iran hostage takers in the 80s. Read up on it. This dude is dirty
Obama forgot the magic word.... Please! I wouldn't give it back, either.
You mean like we did to China before?...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/apr/11/china.usa
It's not ours! Is't an IRANIAN UFO!
Google Mossadegh people. Please, don't let misinformation, fear and propaganda lead to another senseless war. There are reasons Iran is the way it is. The people of the country are suffering under a theocracy that was able to come to power because of the decades of meddling by the US and UK. This country's people are educated, cultured and have no problem with the US. It's time to break the cycle... the last thing we need is to attack them and give the fanatics of the country reason the rise up in support of the mullahs.
Kevin I thing the same as you. Instead of going into a war, we need to look for the informant we have inside US. I see no other way for anyone to know how to hack into the plane system!! I also believe that surgical attacks are far better than insane traditional battles. In the other hand we are at War with then, we just need no big battles and loose more soldiers.
You sure misread history.
And you probably believe that all the former Soviets were thirsty for American blood and destruction. Wake up!
Thank you for speaking some sense.
Could this be a Trojan horse?
My thinking exactly, John...our intelligence services could benefit in inumerable ways with this ploy...set Iran's counterintelligence on a self-destructive path while we forge ahead in another direction, or just plain confuse the hell out of them...(baffling them with BS?)
Yes. I posted similarly, just a few posts above yours. My guess is the Iranians are not so dumb as we want to think they are. They're playing against the ruse, and we're playing it too. For all it's worth. This is what propaganda is all about. IPropaganda is a sophisticated science, actually. Most folk are ignorant of the tricks (some are stupid and you can't fix stupid). But most are just ignorant of the tricks.
One question to ask yourself if you're debrillating at this point: "Have I ever seen a stealth aircraft of any sort that is white, stark white? I've seen a couple, and they're not white. Especially not white with no camo at all. Think about creatures in the sea. They're white on the bottoms, grey on the top. Or speckled like flounder.
There's something going on here that smells of a ruse, or an attempted ruse, or double-agent crap. I wouldn't lose sleep over this "incident".
Oh, yes! I have been saying this all along. I mean really, this thing "crashed" or was "captured" in near pristine condition? This is definitely a trojan or a plant. The media has been studiously - and deliberately - ignoring this possibility. Or, alternatively, maybe I watch too many spy type movies or read to many spy novels, lol.
To individuals from other countries posting on here, maybe America should stop saving your rear ends from war and attacks then. Also we should pull any American funding you receive. Only then will you have the right to speak ugly to me and have me give a rats A$$. This is America and we have fought our wars against bad governments (revolutionar y war, civil war). If you care about your people, you'll overthrow your governments too. I can't say I feel sorry for the "innocent" people that get killed if those same people continue to let a corrupt government control their lives. Stand up for yourselves like we once did, then you have the right to complain.
Who invited you to Iraq? Where are the weapons of mass destruction you went there to look for? Now you say Iran is evil and totalitarian...what is the difference between Iran today and Afghanistan where women go to jail for bearing a child out of wedlock following a rape? America does not go to war to help poor nations...they go to war to control and oppress poorer nations.Your visit to Afghanistan resulted in the completion of a pipeline project which you drew up long before 2001...Iraq has provided a much needed base of operations for your military as well as billions of dollars worth of crude oil. All the world has asked of you is to stay in your country and take care of your crack heads, homeless, and the millions of Americans who do not have running water at home.
Like previously stated, I don't care what you think. Period. End of sentence.
Thank you man for sharing my thoughts, and as you see he didnt have anything else to say.
Millions of Americans without running water? Can you back that up?
The US only provides funding for their own benefit...not for the benefit of any particular country. Not sure who is being fooled most by this, sounds like possibly anyone that believes what you have just said.
Please stop acting and talking like u r saving the world already, americans killed millions and millions of innocent people wake up and smell the reality, u r not helping anyone by killing them in case u didn't know that. It doesn't matter if someone dies by american hand or by some idiot blowing himself cowardly up, it's the same, yanks are terrorists, plain and simple, but instead of IEDs they use drones and tanks and machine guns and slap a "war for freedom" sticker on their f%$#& cars and in media and that makes it all good. What a joke
http://vimeo.com/33659717
I find it vaguely interesting how the U.S. says that Iran did not take control of it, that it just crash landed, when a drone like that would have to function at very high altitude and it obviously "crash" landed with nary a scratch on it. 50,000 feet to the ground in perfect condition? Hmmm,...my guess would be that the U.S. was landing the drone on Iranian soil to do a roll by of the Nuclear facilities and lost communication with the drone when the Windows Repair Wi-Fi connectivity didn't function and they had to re-boot it.
LMAO – "Damn you GATES!", was all that could be heard at command central...
The CIA attributed our interference in the muslim world with 911. When are we ever going to learn? Now, our congress and president are talking about cutting social security to get the money to keep fighting these stupid wars in the Middle East. We need to stop fighting and or rebuilding other countries and start taking care of our own people. We have no right to tell another country how to behave, if they aren't a direct threat to us.
Ron Paul 2012
Ok, so you have a plane with radar evading technology and you say your scouting Afghanistan for terrorists...with a plane that has radar evading technology. Its a super secret and advanced plane. Did it ever cross anyone's minds that a glitch might occur and it might not be a bad idea to include some sort of "self destruct" to conceal technology or erase evidence?
The Iranian claim that they electronically hijacked the drone holds water since there is very little physical damage to the plane. If it had crashed as the US would have you believe then the thing should be in pieces.
No, it doesn't hold any water nor do you have any clear understanding of technology. The drone is private technology, only those who've created, possess software needed to operate it. It's not like hacking a computer, where me and you both have keyboards and Microsoft or iOS. There is specific sole exisiting software created for that drone to operate it, which Iran would not have. The software in the drone is just like a computer, specific code and functions are designed to operate it, it's absolutely impossible to take control of the system and operate it without the software created for it. If I mail John Doe a video game that is coded soley to be played on xbox and Paul Doe steals the package, he can't just go play it inside of his PS3, he would have had to possess the hardware created in conjunction with the game, in that case the xbox. Iran would have had to hack the drone's entire electrical systems and create their own in depth software and controls while it was in flight, which even if they have the drone for the next five years, they're not capable of.
there are very few other opinions that the Iranians should be capable of. None should allow them to control the landing. BUT as greedy as our people have become, would it surprize you if they actually have the hardware to allow this. Many other secrets have been stolen & sold. sorry I don't have much faith in a majority of our citizens
Wow.. all those words, all for an idiot reply that makes it clear you have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, custom, closed software CAN be hacked in many cases, if you know what you're doing, find exploits, and get lucky. I'll believe the Iranians on this one, its seems very plausible.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1215/Exclusive-Iran-hijacked-US-drone-says-Iranian-engineer/(page)/3
Even more reason why we should have destroyed it. Obama gave Iran a gift. Check out Rick Perry s comments
YouTube SearchRick Perry ABC News debate 12-10-2011, new
So Obama gave it to the Iranians, I thought perhaps the US military was the guilty party?
Hard to destroy it if its exact location was unknown.
Sam, Obama is the Commander in Chief, dude.
Don't trust anything Perry says. He'll say anything
Would of been pointless to destroy it....For one its a spy drone, spying on Iran....Iran now has possetion of what..pictures of there own country,intercepted cell calls from there own country...There are no US secrets on board. We didnt put a hard copy of all our secretes on it hard drive....Drone is no more than a very expensive camera...
Wow we actually admitted to something? It all sounds too sketchy for me. More likely story is we loaded it with garbage codes and tracking software, and let them think they have some sort of advantage. Trojan horse – 21st century style.
You might be right. Who knows. Story has holes.
awww...come on now...allow Iran to gloat it over national tv .....Soon we will have enough information to make a reality tv show about them...What fools they are making of themselves to even think we would allow them a spec of our technology...and their biggest technology to date has been underpants bombs.
But of course! #Shrugs.
USA is making a mistake by not installing fail safe self destruction ordinance inside those drones so that they cannot be captured by the enemy. Really an oversite since no humans are at risk they just don't take any efforts to keep the technology out of enemy hands (or the intelligence gathered). Stupid.
Well gee, its a good thing that you are the only person on the planet that has thought of this. It must have just been overlooked in the design, practice phases, and theater operations of it. Glad you told the CIA how to do it right. ROFL.
The self destruct software development was out-sourced to India and was buggy!
We're lucky it wasn't carrying a couple of nukes too! Surely Iran was intensively using spectrum analyzers to pick up the sattelite control feed. The levels of "warfare-hacking" skills developing in Asia is overshadowing us.
They should at least be booby trapped so when captured the captors can go meet theri virgins.
Drone hears voices also.
A SR-71 has a pilot and unless he turns traitor....can't be hacked!
The fact the US has admitted to what the drone was doing tells me that wasn't what the drone was doing....
nor is it what the drone continues to do and they are too thick of head to get it
OMG, someone that can actually think has commented here?
These are not the drones you are looking for....
Charity starts in our hearts. Join me in this noble cause. Save women and Children dying to have water http://goo.gl/9s6Gr
The drone was not radar invisible and clearly unprotected. The ones they fly over paradise should have self-destruct safeguards like magnesium surrounding the sensitive electronics, so if if falls into the wrong hands they get the equivelent of a charred rocket booster! The risk of operating thie gear over iran was questionably: gross-negligence...
DAMNIT I TOLD THEM NOT TO LET ASIANS DRIVE THOSE THINGS!
The drone did not crash – it was hijacked thru a backdoor in the code that everyone knew about. The "pilot" stated he had control and then it was gone.
No crashing, just hacked.
Serves us right – what would we do if China flew drones our Fort Lewis or any of our military installations?
And our lame ass pres, "i know we were looking at your state secrets, but could I please have my spy plane back?"
dumb ass.
u hit the nail on the head
God help of if all you conservatives are equally this well 'informed'. I suppose when the actual mission and post-mortem is released you will say you knew it all along and was just 'kidding'.
God help us if all you war loving idiots have grammar like you, i'm surprised u were able to type in your wireless password to get online
how the hell can u call it crash when the thing in perfect shape...! :))
Actually, that's a very valid point. What's more interesting is how can they claim it was shot down when it shows absolutely no damage whatsoever?
they never said the shot it down, they said they brought it down- cyber attack, jamming, virus... whatever
Hmmm..... that's even more disturbing.
@ Bo why are you carry the very drone on your head?i think is heavier than you can take.rest your case.
sooner or later something will be done about this 3rd world s-hole. they are owed a payback for something they did in 79.
The t!t-for-tat exchange between the US and the Middle East has been going on for decades. They do something, we interfere, make things worse (like selling weapons to their enemies who then use those weapons on civilians). they lash back, accusing us of being the aggressor and we lash back accusing them of being terrorists. Two sides of the same coin.
One could argue that the iranians are seeking "pay back" for the CIA's coup of their democratically electred president in the 50's, simply because he wanted to nationalize the country's oil and get their fair share of profits from the likes of BP. Don't be naive and stop spewing hate. Have to break the cycle somewhere...
If that's the case I think you will find that what we did to them in the 50s is far worse than keeping some spies hostage.
Anybody who has studied American U.S foreign policy realize that all foreign policies around the world are bipolar at best and a nuisance at worse. This was an realist prospectivative using a form of hard power that wasn't a weapon just survellance. It was probably trying to prevent war or to stop nuclear would be warfare in the Middle East. Please people act like Iran is innocent whn they are not just like America isn't innocent. No country nor media is completely unbiased or have a specific aim of self-knowledge. Perhaps its time to remove the lenses of biased prospectives here and realize that America supported the Shaw of Iran for 25+ years or that Iran has funneled money to radical clerics in our wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or how the Iranian government is tyranical ultra conservative with limited rights. Perhaps Iran and U.S. need to negotiate and act like adults not primates.
Shindand ,eh? I was deployed there last year when it was a bunch of nothing. We built that place up a bit.
Gary Powers deja vu all over again.
this has to be the utterly the dumbest thing this god awful administration has done. let's just flat out tell out enemies what our intentions are it's not enough they now have our technology. worst administration ever to grace this once amazing country
Get a grip. Should this have happened? Absolutely not. Should we allow Iran to gain access to nuclear weaponry? Absolutely not. However, this is a CIA muck up and a Congressional muck up, not Obama's. If you have fallen for the GOP's "everything is Obama's fault" ploy then God help us all...
H'yuk.
I guess you're stupid enough to believe that Iran might possibly believe it was just 150 mi off course of the Afghan border?
YET ANOTHER lying conservative who can't accept facts
Worst administration ever? Are you high? GWBush did more damage in 8 years than any other President in history. This administration should be given the time it took for Dubya to destroy our reputation and economy to fix it!
Well I'm shocked! Imagine the US government lying about something! What's this world coming to?!?!
Don't worry. I just heard that the Obama administration has an explanation. "It's all Bush's fault."
US GOVERNMENT AND CHUCK NORRIS DON'T LIE EVEN WHEN THEY LIE!!!
Chuck Norris can whip whoever calls him a liar. Matter of fact, I think we need to send Chuck to get the plane back.
yes or they could just tell everyone everything and we suddenly have the worst military and defenses around. You don't need to know everything! Why would you want the world to know what we're doing to keep the majority of people safe?
BS, we are only in it for the oil. Prove me wrong by listing all the other places we have inveded enmass that no other strategic importance. Shortly after we invaded Afghanistan, it was "suddenly discovered" that they had huge amounts of strategic minerals! Why do you think the Russians were there so long?
Somebody else might have commented with respect to: Why in the world do these drones with top secret technology NOT have a remote selfdestruct button?? Somebody explain this one please.
The drone never knew it needed to go boom. Iran jammed the communication between the drone and it's base. (Loss of communications probably happens all the time.) The drone did what it is designed to do and went back to base. Unfortunately, the Iranians were sending fake GPS information to the drone, so when it thought it was driving home, it went to the Iranian drone dissection headquarters.
The drone never knew it had a problem and the destruct signal was blocked by the jammers.
Hey Doggie, Iran is good at making underpants bombs....Technology? What's that?
Sumanadevii, their kids do better at math than we do (Who does not?). They are many things, stupid is not on the list.
Jumping the gun a bit there, arent you? There's no evidence that Iran actually hacked the control system for the drone or the GPS system that guides it.
yeah, they put one of there own GPS sattelites up and jammed ours with theres. Because Iran has a space program. The drone was at 50,000 ft! They wouldnt even know it was there if it hadnt malfunctioned!
@ Numb, it does not take a satellite to override a GPS signal. GPS is not a strong signal. You could do it from the ground or from an aircraft. It would not be easy, however, the people in Iran are not stupid. I could do it. I am sure Iran has people as smart as I am.
A device the size of a small Nokia phone is used to brake down GPS signals when stealing cars, to disable Lojack, i'm sure braking up a GPS signal for the military is not a hard thing to do. My guess is the drone relias on it's stealth technology, noting more, once it's discovered... too bad
Pssst...we want them to have it or they wouldn't. They are making fools of themselves parading it on national tv.
it did
The Iranians claim they first jammed communications with the drone, causing it to go into autopilot mode and attempt to "go home". If communications are jammed, you can't send a remote signal to self-destruct, even if such a capability existed. The drone finds home by receiving timing signals from satellites and computing its location and comparing that with where it thinks home is. Those timing signals can be spoofed.
It was hacked by Chinese hackers. Iran doesn't have this skill.
It was hacked by some kid in China playing Battlefield 3.
I find it very very hard to belive that we didnt have any type of self destruct safefty measure on this thing. So I agree this might be what we needed to start our next war now that we are done with Iraq...right? lol For real though I like the trojan horse idea, I can see that working out too. But I beat Arm-adumbassideiot or how ever you want to spell his name is scared to even see this thing in person because he is waiting for it to explode. Goodtimes hope all this blows up in Irans face...Literally
So nice to know you so confidently that a country with millions of people doesn't have professionals and people skilled enough to do this kind thing. Stop being brainwashed by propaganda. I know some Iranians, and they are among the smartest people Ive ever met. I doubt the country is lacking intelligence or skill, its not far-fetched to believe they pulled this off.
Mark, i'm sorry but whenever i hear an american talk about some other country being stupid it puts a big smile on my face, i mean how arrogent and brainwashed can the americans be? US education system is simply embarrassing yet people in the US take shots at other countries in the smart department? LOL that gets me every time, i wonder why the world hates US... And the fact that 20 out of 100 americans can't find US on a world map is just mind boggling,
We American sheep will never believe that our government would LIE to us!
uhg you moron, if they told us everything we'd have the weakest military and defense around. Just because one mishap happens and our economy stinks doesn't mean America suddenly stinks. Get real
Ewe should speak for yourself. Any country's intelligence services that does not lie is unintelligent. Any country's intelligence service that tells the truth to its own citizens in telling the truth to the enemy simultaneously. That is why there are "Black" appropriations and something called "Top Secret." Get real; it is a very dangerous world out there and I would rather the US survives and Iran does not, if it comes to that.
Obama, Bush, they are just different sides of the same coin. They feed us different lies but who can tell the difference. Assassinations, war for oil, dirty underhanded spying of other nations and complicity with Isreal- describes both presidents doesn't it? Vote for a third party or we will never have any change!
Sadly because of the money involved even a 3rd party would be subject to the same kind of bribes and lobbying. We wont fundamentally change our government without an amendment or a civil war.
Control was taken from us one brick at a time. We can take it back the same way - IF we have the wit and the will. So far I don't see much of either.
I'll vote for Jesse Ventura.
Just make sure Jesse left his 'roids at home.
Obama and Bush both get alot of credit and alot of blame. Truth is the President is a figure head. They only have veto power. These issues are from the House and Senate who create laws and the CIA/FBI folks that do whatever they want.
first sensible comment Ive read about presidential power in a long time, glad to see it
Believe it or not, the president still has a certain amount of control and a hell of a lot of say-so. Not only is he the president, he is the CINC (Commander in Chief). Anyway, I love all these theories. Very funny.
Not completely true. Bush and Obomination set troop into battle without a vote from congress. W had an undeclared war over there for 10 years now. Its time to bring all the troops home to guard our own country and quit meddling in the internal affairs of other countries. It should return to the Department of DEFENSE instead of OFFENSE.
The president has NO LEGITIMATE POWER! They can ASK or PROPOSE for things to happen but cannot act unilaterally to create laws. The Commander in Chief title is a complimentary title as the President DOES NOT create, introduce, assign, etc. ANY part of a military strategy. They have ADVISORS who are from the various branches of the military for that. As for Bush going to war without congress, I regret to inform you that is not true. October 2002 the House and Senate PASSED the resolution for military action in Iraq.
War for oil. I love that loaded term. People seem to be implying by it that we are somehow either taking somebody's oil, or fighting for it and giving it to oil companies, or something else underhanded. We have fought to, in part, protect free markets in which to purchase oil, but there's nothing wrong with that. We need it. So does everybody else. If someone were going to cut of your access to food, water, or fuel, at some point you would also use violence to secure that access.
In WW II, Japan fought for oil. Quite literally. Japanese expansion was driven in large part by wanting to secure access to oil and coal reserves, especially oil. By "secure access" I mean "take." Japan conquered nearby countries that had oil and took it. To equate fighting to prevent someone else from doing that (which is what we have done) with the act of invading and taking oil (which is what Saddam Hussein did) is ridiculous. Go crawl back into the communist slimepit from which you emerged.
It's a ruse. Our CIA decided to "let go of the wheel" and see if Iran could take it over. Now we change our remote systems, assign a backup "uh-oh" system and send them overhead. They won't be able to take these down the same, and we can attack at our leisure.
Oh, wait, that's what I'd do. The CIA will probably try and hack back into it to see if it can record information that's useful, then let them have that technology.
U2 spy plane in China and Bay of Pigs come to mind.
Wow, these people are really gullable if they think any of this is true. I'll believe that we or our soviet counterparts sold them the access codes and we didn't do anythying because we want them to think that they have something good, which isn't the creme dela creme at all. We just coulden't simply sell it to them? Ask Rockerfellow and he'll tell you how the U2 got shot down, and why the bay of pigs wasn't successful? You had better realize that the big bankers have funded both sides of every war for over 200 years and they will soon get the largest defense spending contract in history!!!!
What nobody seems to consider is that this is in fact a trojan horse. What better way to spy on Iran than to let them think they have the most sophisticated drone we have and let them parade it around while we monitor everything that goes on around it. Then when the time is right, blow it up!
Lets focus on the issues here in USA....build more schools.......not drones......
What? And be "overeducated?"
Education over wars? Pen over a sword? Food over weapons?! YOU MUST BE MAD!
Where is the outrage in our country for spying on another country? Our corrupt government is intruding on other governments and what the heck would we feel like if it was the opposite way? Don't just throw out nuclear weapons as a sound reason as it did not pan out well in Irag based on WMD's. Where does the CIA and Federal Govt stop looking? First overseas and then amongst us all. Given that our three branches of govt are all corrupt and bought for who is here to protect even our own people from this never ending meddling govt?
Really? Where is the outrage? Did you just wake from a dream where this is not the norm? Come on. This happens to us and we do it to everyone. Heck even our "allies" spy on us (and we on them).
No I did not just wake up on this topic. Been going on way too long and with all the access to info today it is even more apparent what we are doing and that in most cases what we should not be doing. Looking to alter to current course as it is not working in my humble opinion but I am sure you can chime in with some insight as to why we need to meddle like this.
All countries spy on each other. What color is the sky on your planet? Countries that do not spy are relegated to the scrap heap of history. That is why the services are called Intelligent services.
Clearfog you know they are now looking deep into our own country men and woman? Where does it stop in terms of being a so called threat to the state? Enough is enough and if Irag had a drone over our skies we would be at war instantly as you know.
The Russian spied on us for years, and visa versa. The act of spying made war LESS likely. EG When Kennedy was assassinated, the first thought was a preemptive decapitation strike. The US went on full alert and fired up its missiles. Cooler heads prevailed when, as a result of very good spy work, the US realized that Russia was not mobilizing and cover message intercepts showed that the Russians were as alarmed as the US. Russia took the very rational step of standing down and making it clear that it had no such intentions. Spy work understood this. Spying is far more humane than war.
We have been spying and then going to war as of late!!!
Well Joe, if the united States were calling for the destruction of a country as is the President of Iran, I would expect spy activity to increase against the US. What I don't understand is why our military has no way of locating this drone and saying to Ahmadinejad "Return it or WE will destroy whatever facility you have it housed in, and if you attempt to move it, we will destroy it immediately." While I admit this is blatant saber rattling, we need to stop trying to play nice with coutries that are actively trying to destroy us and our allies for daring to insist that we have the right to exist.
Fred in my relatively short life we have been against Cuba, USSR, Vietnam, Irag, Iran and of course the other big threat of the week is China. We just keep on replacing one with another to drive the machine. Yes, some are led by some really bad folks but it is funny how often these bad folks are the bad folks that we put in place such as the Shah. Think I am may want to try isolationism for a while even if it fails as we are going broke with our current aggressive approach.
Others do spy on us. A cell of russian spies were just outed not long ago. One of them was HOT! Hell, our allies spy on us. Israel is all up in our top secret info. Knowledge is power and the world is in a power struggle. We just got caught this time.
I believe this was a calculated move by the CIA to introduce a ground based spy device into the borders of Iran. Looking at the photos tells me it is very far from state of the art technology. My guess is that it's full of GPS tracking, microphones, cameras and most importantly a homing beacon for a Tomahawk to come calling. The Iranians couldn't control a kite without a Soviet/Chinese tech holding their hand. This is a modern day retelling of the Trojan Horse story and it seems everyone that matters is buying into it. Expect it to have a "catastrophic explosive malfunction" if Ahmadinejad shows up to lend his expert opinion.
I dont know man that looks like a model or mock up of something they already have and they even had to take the wings off of it to get it to fit through the doors of the gym. If there were any such devices the Iranians would have found it by now in their dissections of the thing. Such a device would have to be microscopic or perhaps the material itself that its made out of can be used for tracking and targeting.
There's a time honored way of accomplishing what you believe the CIA is doing and it does not require a 6 million dollar drone. This method is known as spying...and the CIA has plenty in Iran...Why are you in denial? The Iranians have manufactured spy drones of their own and anyone with knowledge of technological warfare will agree the Iranians exhibit capabilities far beyond what you give them credit for. They have performed hacks which are no secret to the intelligence community but no one knows how they accomplished them. The Iranian drones will in 6 months be more advanced the the RQ170 they captured from your government.
If you think that fiberglass piece of crap in the video is a 6 million dollar stealth drone then you, my friend, are the one in denial.
@Noel S. Benoit ...You want me to believe your flip-flopping politicians or the guy above who claims the U.S.A delivered the drone to Iran as a Christmas gift? How stupid are you to think it is a fiber glass version? Is that what Obama told you?
So what this article says is that we are the BIGGEST SUPER Liers, we say one thing and next few days we change it to a different story. Let's face it, we messed up and Iran shot our little bird. Let us lower our arrogance by asking and begging Iran to return our little toy. What a shame?? A superpowe is caught lying??
Only idiots tell the truth to the enemy. Iran is not just the enemy of the US, but the entire civilized world. Sharia indeed. Jihad. Fundamentalist terrorists. You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. Iran is a throwback to the 11th Century and allowing it to have nukes would be stupid. If this angers you . . . good. What are you going to do about it?
Why is the Obama Administration explaining to our enemies in that region what we were doing?
Believe it or not, this is a smart diplomatic move. It sends the message that we're not happy with Iran's nuclear program and we're actively against it. Moreover, it sends the message to our allies that we're not interested in hiding our intentions but rather, to spread awareness of the al-Qaeda sponsor nation and to encourage everyone to put pressure on a nation that would have every right to nuclear power would it not fund terrorist organizations.
Because the Obama administration is full of yes men morons that have no clue about national security. Remember, that this issue is all Bush's fault.
Sorry Iran is well aware we are against their nuclear program and so is the rest of the world. Quite frankly it makes the Obama administration seem weak and prone to tipping our cards to the enemy.
Maybe we dropped it there on purpose, with "some" operational equipment and we now know who took it, where they took it, who was/is working on it and maybe even recorded and transmitted what they have been doing to it and where their central intelligence (or lack of) are.
Think of it as an "infiltrator" or a "spy"!
I know our government is dumb, but no self destruct mechanism? I find it hard to believe!!!!
Effen USA gov't! Lie, invade, yank tigers' tails ... I don't wanna die in WW III
USA honor is dead. America needs to back off, fix stuff at home, and regain it's once great glory.
Hmm. I can half-believe this was intentional after looking for the term "Siberian pipeline sabotage" on wiki. The craft appears to be in really good shape for having fallen from the sky, shot down, or piloted by a relatively untrained hacker.
Believe...it was most definately intentional and these nuts think they have won the grand prize.
From what I understand, it was a GPS hack. This is how I would do it. First, Jam communications between the drone and it's base. This will cause it to autopilot to base and land on it's own. Next, send a fake GPS signal to the drone telling it that it is someplace else, guiding it to your base. The best way to avoid this happening again would be to add some basic inertial guidance, just enough to tell it when GPS lies.
This is nothing new. The US spies on many countries, and many countries spy on the US. This includes drone flights, satellites and people on the ground - from all countries, towards all countries. Yes, it may not include Iran because they don't have the technology but you're fooling yourself if you think China isn't spying their ass off on our stuff, and Russia, and if we're not doing the same to all of the above.
Intelligence gathering is a fact of life, it always has been and always will be. It is not an act of war, it is not preparing for the "next war" and it is not abnormal. It's reality.
a sick reality that risks WW III ... the last of the wars human civilization survives
So it is the last war we will survive? That means we can go ahead because it will be the one after the next one that does us in? Cool, we got one more in us. Thanks
Can't we just use Google Maps or Google Earth
Operation Mincemeat?
Wow I see a lot of people panicking for no good reason. Why are you people scared of war? we haven't had a war on American soil in forever. Sure we've been attacked, but that is not a full blown war with a country. Think about what would have to happen for a war to take place here. Iran would have to design missiles that could reach this far, which they have no proof of doing yet, bypass our Navy (which is bigger than the rest of the world combined) to make it here, then defeat our National Guard. Taken everything into consideration, we aren't going to have a war here folks.
oh ya and war in other countries that US started and that killed MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of people don't mater, why would they, they're not american innocent women and children that are dying... YOU IDIOT
Without any natural predators humans need a way of population control. Sorry but your at the bottom of the "should survive" list. Weren't you told? You have one week to say goodbye to your loved ones...
I'm an idiot? thanks for the personal attack but after reading my post I don't believe I stated anything about wars in other countries. I don't think those are right either, but people on this board make it sound like the Iranians are going to come to America and start a fight. That was my only point. You read way too much into this. Emotional thinkers aren't the best thinkers.
How about we're just plain FRAKKIN tired of "war"? We have to cut back on the PO, federal salaries and everything else, but can continue to pay for our stupid stinking WARS!
Oh ya dumb me, being emotional about people dying, what am i thinking? What an un-american thing to do! Shame on me
You've obviously never seen Red Dawn
Why can't we just turn that region of the world into glass already. At least after we develop an alternative energy source.
We can still drill through glass. But seriously, too bad we can't nuke the governments but leave the population intact. The Iranian people are being victimized by their government more than anyone else.
destroying sovereign lands isn't nice
Why don't you turn into glass instead
Because the u.s. isn't the only country with nukes, and they'll turn your cowardly maggot head into "glass" faster than you can crawl to your hole.
JJC, we did nuke the government!! In the 1950's the US and UK overthrew a democratically elected government and then after that propped up the Shah against the will of the people. Iran didn't end up as screwed up as it is by accident!! And 30 years ago women in Afghanistan were free, worked as teachers and business owners and drove cars, until we decided to arm the Mujaheddin and Taliban.
awwww,,,let the little guys have the thing. They can spend the next five years trying to figure our technology while we are now launching our newest ...lol...They are so foolish to think they have just won the "grand" prize.
this is embarassing for us
This kind of incident has happened before, in China and then in USSR. Have you heard what the U2 is? Is not the Irish band!
when the drone crashed, the iranians read the label and it said "made in china". the chinese are more red faced about this than we are. but they have the sense to just smile and nod.
what if iran is telling the truth and do have the technology to take over the U.S. systems.
If it were the truth, they wouldn't be bragging about it. Better to keep that kind of information private to use again and again.
Yes a multi billion dollar piece of technology was brought down via programming by a bunch of ragheads.
If they're "rag heads" what are you? A pile of liquified dung. That's it.
Iranians do not know how to tell the truth; lying is in their DNA. Of course, they don't believe in DNA since it is against their religion.
What do you know about Iran, other than what Hannity and Limbaugh have told you?
@Veritas. I'm a first generation Iranian. My parents fled iran after the revolution in 1979. I was born and raised here. Am I a liar? Are my parents, who have worked here for the last 30+ years liars? Are my relatives who still live in Iran
Iiars?
And believe in DNA? Iranians are far more intelligent than you give them credit for. Open up a book and learn about your "enemy" before spewing your hate.
Well, that would suck.
Obviously they are telling the truth...they have maintained their position from the first day of this event whereas the U.S position has been changing by the minute. Remember when they said the drone malfunctioned and crashed into a "pile of rubble" which the observed via satellite images? Or when they said the drone was monitoring the Afghanistan border, malfunctioned and crashed into Iran? Now they say it was on a spy mission in Iran...bla bla lies!
Why the flip-flopping by U.S. officials...it is simply clear that they are stunned and working on damage control. Iran outsmarted them...offered a treat to the RQ 170 and it came down for it like a street dog.
so wait – how can anyone believe what they are saying now – if they were telling the truth then, and they are telling the truth now, at some point – they have to acknowledge they are liars and cannot be trusted
U r talking about U.S.A.They tell the truth even when the lie, much like Chuck Norris. But the worst thing is the american people eat everything the government and media (same thing) feed them, no matter how much it doesn't make sense. I mean at first they were saying they lost control of it and the plane itself decided to fly 250 km inside a sovereign country 🙂 only an american can believe that
If a country's intelligence service always told the truth, that would not be . . . well . . . intelligent. We are talking about vital national interests. Nukes in the hands of nuts is not a good thing. There is a slight chance, raising to the level of mathematical certainty, that Iran is lying about its nuclear program. If we have to tell lies to stop it, that is better than seeing Tel Aviv go up in a puff of smoke followed by the Earth's climate being trashed by the retaliation.
And you are just figuring this out???
it`s Amazing how all you people are Criticizing the act of war not for the simple fact that it`s an unnessary act of the aggression but rather how efficient the operation was. I guess you all approve the next war on terror. Checking out sites that may produce nuclear weapons in 5-10 years lol give me a break. Why are u all so evil, take that hatred out of your hearts. Wars have no solved anything in this world.
tell that to your President who is hellbent on dropping nuclear bombs on Israel.
i`m not from Iran. Yeah hes an idiot too but he`s years away from even attempting that.
War solved Hitler.
Yes that's why the WW2 is called THE LAST GREAT WAR or THE WAR FOR FREEDOM, which Yanks are now shamelessly using for their middle east -wars propaganda. That should be banned
The Iranians (Persians) come from a magnificent and ancient civilization. It is sad that so few Americans realize the recent history behind why their government hates the USA so much. Let's put it this way: if a country like Iran enlisted the help of Saudi Arabia in covertly overthrowing a democratically elected American president, how would you feel? Would you not be angry, and call for their blood? And how would you feel if they followed that up by sending in a drone to violate American airspace? Would these not be considered acts of war?
America: the land of double-standards. Google "Operation Ajax."
It doesn't matter, Iran is the turd stain of the world...
No, it would seem that your reply doesn't matter, since you are making a non-argument.
Actually Sean the turd of the world is USA which puts world's peace in danger, kills millions of innocent people and destroys lives and countries for their own benefit every few years. And on top of that, american people are so uneducated it's sad, there is no other word to describe it, just plain sad, when we are in the 21st century and the world is like a school yard, the "toughest" runs the yard, not the smartest. But toughness that US has comes from money and that is quickly disappearing. So Yanks should start making some friends real soon, 'coz while US is spending trillions on wars every year, China and Russia are watching and waiting. Athens, Sparta, Troy, Roman empire, Tatars, Mongols, French kingdom... have all come and gone, US is no different. But history is something we can't expect from bunch of people who's vocabulary contains only words Bomb, Nuke, War and Kill. Also did you know 20 out of 100 americans can't find THEIR OWN COUNTRY on the world's map? How can we expect them to honor other countries when they don't even know where their own is? Americans, just one thing-WAR IS NOT A VIDEO GAME, PEOPLE REALLY DIE
Hitler was part of a democracy.
So was George W. Bush. What's your point?
We need the Sr-71 Blackbird
No. It was a great bird of its time, but its time is over now. Not stealthy and an easy target to modern SAM despite its speed. Loosing one of them with the pilot killed or captured would be even more embarrassing.
Crashed drone was looking into Iranian nuclear suites... Is this an excuse or explanation?
No need to search by drone. Just type Iran nuclear site on Google Map, it will show you five locations in Iran, including map and satellite imaging.
The Iranians were able to bring down the drone so don't underestimate them.
Iran has flying carpets. To catch US drone is not a problem for flying carpet and revolutionary guards atop of capets
No they weren't
I hope Iran is able to contro lthis drone and fly it right into the Pentagon. F the U.S. bunch of war mongering bastards.
Don't come in here disrespecting the U.S!!
Troll!
Stop being so jealous. You wish you lived in the greatest country in the world. We can do whatever we want because we make the rules for the rest of the world to follow!
yeah right, say that to China and see what happens
The world except China and illegals. They can do whatever they want to the US.
Greatest country in the world? It always baffles me when americans say that. Not because it simply can not be measured, but because while i appreciate patriotism, pure ignorance is something that applies here much more. I mean about 80% americans have never had a passport and about 90% have never been in any other country in the world so saying USA is the best country in the world is like a color-blind man saying green is the best color. Maybe americans should come up with something more original and well, true, like america is the only country in the world that has statue of liberty, or the only country in the world where about 63% of adults are obese, now those are facts i can get behind
I would love if you would actually come to America and say that to someones face, too bad you won't because your a coward. AMERICA FUCK YEAH
Only if these drones were installed with some fake chips, as usually claimed by Pentagon.
Does anyone think that this drone might have been deliberately landed in Iran so that they can gather info and eveasdrop and them while they are examining it and it has a gps that its location can be tracked by the CIA?
Why are we admitting that it was ours? Someone is giving the President some BAD advice...WTF?
Have those lobotomy scars healed yet?
The Trojan Horse possibility would surely fit with CIA counter-intelligence. Especially if it is loaded with software full of crash-and-burn viruses!
That would be awesome, and I hope you're right, but I doubt it.
The Ol' Trojan Horse trick works yet again. Right now the sensors on board are wirlessly downloading intel from all computers within miles of the drone while simultaneously recording all phone and voice conversations. A tactically brillant plan that is working to perfection..
now that we've announced this we're screwed
right? why would ANYONE admit this?? Come on...deny deny deny
If the electronics were spoofed, as the Iranians are claiming, then that would defeat any self-destruct mechanism. If this was the case, and the weakness that allowed the spoofing is well-known, as is claimed, then this was an opportunity just waiting to be exploited.
You would think the military would have enough brains to pack those drones with explosives and make them blow up if captured.
clearly you didnt even read the post. it was a cia mission and the us military had no knowledge of it.
OK folks...This was a total failure of operational security and allowing a secret drone to fall into enemy hands. The Chinese will go ahead and aid with the reverse engineering and we have now lost a valuable asset and strategic platform forever. Next step is to have Iran weaponize the system and equip it with a small nuke and then they will attack the U.S. Israel or Europe. If they get angry at the sanctions that then world has placed on them then we have some real trouble. They may even allow Venesuela buy one or two and destabilize our hemisphere as well. Good timing to sell the anti missile system because since we know what the thing is made of we can scan the skies for it. It looks in such good conditioned I wonder if it had a packing list too!
I say let's bomb them to destroy that drone before they can study it.
F Iran... Lets keep getting spying and doing whatever we can since a war with them is probably comming anyway, let's be prepared to kick the **** out of them as usual.
So why then, if we admit playing the game, and we're going to fly these missions, do these aircraft not have some sort of abort-mission technology onboard ( device to blow the freakin' thing up ) when these occasions arise? Duh....
P.S. Sounds like the person operating the thing in Vegas was asleep on the stick...or on a coffee break. Dumb a**
Maybe just a way of delivering on a back-door deal by Obama and his henchmen ?
Put your tinfoil hat back on sir.
Uh, didn't anyone think to put in a self destruct mechanism? In the event the drone was lost or out of control it could and should go off. If you want to be nasty about it, let it get captured, with all the big thinkers around it, and when they try to disassemble it, they trip a mechanism of some sort and blammo goes the scientists.
OR maybe you could bring in Captain Kirk to reprise his role in the original Star Trek, and bluff his way thru the self destruct sequence. Hey man they did not even try, you never know. At least it would have stalled them out and they would be a nervous as could be when taking that thing apart.
OR, maybe it is just a prop made by the Iranians and the real one crashed to bits, what is with the drapery and cropped photo.
OR, they could say it has an active GPS device and they know exactly where it is being kept, and if they don't turn it over ......
These wimpy gov't and defense guys, can't they do any better? Is a roll over on this one is the best they can muster?
Please.
Someone needs to get Spielburg and Lucas in on this one. Shatner can do the negotiating.
The comments on this forum make me want to buy a bottle of self-destruct on the way home tonight...
The drone could not self-destruct because it landed thinking its home. The drones gps coordinate was spoofed. Since the gps signals are not encrypted its pretty easy trick the system to land safely "home" hence no need to self destruct.
This is sloppy journalism. "Military Officials?" Really? Doubtful. There is no supporting evidence of their claims and the rest of the article completely ignores the point after it was so boldly stated in the first paragraph. This article is highly suspect at best and a complete fabrication at worst.
These is a normal journalistic procedure: "sources agree to talk to us on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release classified information".
UAV... offline
Why isn't their some kind of self destruct feature that would destroy the drone and anyone in a 1/4 mile radius? Then when they show the plane off on Al Jezzera we can hit the red button and be done with it.
Yes there is a self destruct button...but the Iranian cyber takeover of your RQ170 meant that the drone had no idea there was a reason to self destruct. Had it been a malfunction, your drone would have gone BOOM! Which is exactly why your government officials said from the onset that the drone crashed and all that was left was a "pile of rubble" but surprise, surprise, the Iranians presented an RQ170 in mint condition.
Now someone at CNN tries to do damage control with this piece of something for an article....OK. U.S officials are liars and have been telling lies from the onset of this drone takeover. The Iranian version of the story has remained the same all along...I wonder who I should believe here. First drone malfunctioned and veered into Iran...now it was looking for nukes...next what?
Keeping in mind that the "Medium is the message", and that a bunch of satellite passes would do the same work as a drone when it comes to looking for nukes, they now know the they are being watched by someone who is willing to put up a low flying vehicle and is also willing to leave something behind. It sort of makes one think the next time something flies over it may leave something more exciting for them to play with.
What happened to good ole clandestine intelligence services. You know, when one country recovers another countries technology, they hide it away while they reverse engineer it, all along denying involvement.
Iran knows they won't be able to understand it, so they might as well use it for propaganda.
WOW another American act of War
why does this u.s all cause problems for the world. you guys pollute the most, you guys kill the most, you guys launch wars the most.
try peace
Oh...and you're a saint?
How about this: Imagine your country was considered to be the "Great Satan" by Muslim nations in the Middle East such as Iran, Pakistan, etc. Then see what happens when you "try peace".
MAXIM u r talking to brainwashed americans that believe their soldiers save people, don't kill them... i mean there is no point to try to explain something to these people, they believe whatever their media feeds them and their media is controlled by government, do u think they'll ever realize the truth?
Everyone claims that people who do not agree with them are brain-washed. We know exactly what we do and why. Jealous much? What country are you from where the media and government is so much more transparent?
well said bo i agree with you 100%
What a douche you are.
The U.S. also allows you to come here to make a better life for yourself and family and probably provides your country with tons of humanitarian aide. Your welcome
Why does everyone want to be like the US, we have issues but there is a reason everyone wants to be like us.
Yeah, we should have turned the other cheek to that Hitler fella. We should have had a more peaceful response to the two towers going down.
Think of the United States as a rattlesnake. We will warn you (rattle) but then if you continue to try to walk over us, we WILL bite you in the arse.
MOM: "I'm taking your toy 'coz u hit your sister with it!"
KID: "What?:
MOM: "Come on, i saw you"
KID: "I don't know what u r talking about mom"
MOM: "R u gonna stand there and lie to my face?"
KID: "Oh well i had the toy, but i didn't hit my sister with it'
MOM: "I saw you and i have a video of it"
KID: "Nope, it's not even the real toy, just some made up replica"
MOM: "Everyone has seen the video and u r still acting like u were just playing in your space?"
KID: "OK i hit my sister with it"
MOM: "What about an apology?"
KID: "No, but can i get the toy back so i can go hit my sister with it again?"
Hilarious you are comparing the Iranians to mother and the USA to a child. Try reversing that.
Why do we have to "admit" to anything? Why do we have to say why it was there? Why does everyone have to know that?
go have a cookie
first off do not belive everything those iranians say, second that drone could be a replica of the real thing, that was a very complexed drone i do think the united states would send something like that there to spy without, it having the means to erase or render useless what was inside it.
Keep dreaming boy...
Ditto..my car has GPS on it why wasn't this thing just blown up..the designers of this drone are dumb & dumber for not having the ability to self destruct, you know Mission Imposable style.
If it was a hoax, why did the US contact Switzerland to petition Iran for its return? Are you even paying attention?
Maybe it was meant to go down exactly where it did. As we speak there is a camera/recorder seeing everything inside wherever they took it. I am sure very important people come to see this warcraft, that normally do not make it out in view much. I find it hard for something like this not to have some sort of detinatioin device on it, once communication is lost.
I think Iran should deport that thing. Never to come back.
Well...clearly then US was breaking the international law. Why don't we have some international economic sanctions against the rogue nation of the US? I am constantly embarrassed by my government!
Hazaaa, thank-you. Obama is war crime, no better than that mass murderer Bush, oh and H.W Bush too
Ya, and what about Iran breaking international law by trying to build nuclear weapons. I can't stand self hating Americans who think their government is so evil.
I cant stand idiot sheep who believe the government is their friend LOL
You kum to Iran Vince baby. We pray together to Allah.
We are allowed to do anything we want. We ARE entitled because we are the leaders of the world! FACT!
you should leave the US then, im embarassed your still here.
hey feds, learn to 256 bit encrypt. and install self destruct. feds, why u so dumb?
Because the city is running out cash. Fort Knox doesn't even have enough gold. Half of them is empty.
Did you just watch the decoded series on Fort Knox too?
DAN yeah... I even watch MAYAN 2012... Great Earthquake is coming next year.
who is stupid enough to divulge this info, even it its exactly what they were doing? Fortunately a drone's brain is in the mothership and not on board!
We were not spying, just playing gulf over there. Hole in one for Iran.
C-O-B-R-A !!!
YO J-O-E!
thank God the other drones currently flying over Iran haven't crashed.
I wont bet the farm on that one Don,
LOL so we're spying on Iran and getting mad at them for not giving us back our drone? So if they spied on us, and we took their drone and refused to give back to them, it would fair for them to portray us in a negative light amongst their citizens as well right? We shouldn't get angry then right? So if we kept the drone it's not wrong, but if they keep the drone it's wrong? interesting
LOL I mean if we kept the drone it's the right decision but if they kept the drone it's the wrong decision?
Iran is a dangerous state as it is, and if they get nukes they will be enormously more dangerous. I'm all about us spying on them. We should keep on spying on them. We should tell them we're spying on them. We should openly spy on them. They've more than earned it.
You're absolutley delusional. Your biggest flaw is accepting everything your government and western media tells you without question. Iran is not a nuclear threat even with nuclear weapons and you're naive for thinking so. Worry about the lone wolf or disgruntled fringe group not a national government. BTW, the USA, Russia, China, India, Israel, and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. What right does the USA have from prohibiting any other country from possessing them? They're an equalizer, remember the cold war? But you don't want equality, you want to continuing oppressing the world with your manifest destined ideology. Wake up!
No one is mad at Iran for keeping the drone. Which article did you read?
Another stealth? Come on..... do you take us as a fool???? A stealth fell off at Bin laden's compund. This one just fell off in iran territory. This all sounds like there are more things behind it. Either CIA are fools or a conspiracy theory.
No need to counter with your sarcasasm, I am not planning to look further and see your comments.....
Are we supposed to feel bad that we may have been spying on Iran?...I don't feel bad...Think on the bright side...It creates job security for our government contracted high-tech engineers and extends "Made in USA" defense contracts as they build the next generation of more reliable surveillance drones that make the one that dropped from the sky antiquated technology...By the way...You have to laugh...The Republicans are using this as campaign spin...As if they suddenly are in disapproval of such despicable missions and that the loss of this drone has placed the security of America at great risk...What a pathetic party!
In 1953 the CIA overthrew the democratically elected Iranian government and reinstalled a brutal deposed autocrat to protect U.S. /British oil interests, in 1988 the U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian commercial airliner in Iranian airspace, killing all 290 innocent civilians on board, and just recently the U.S. admits to violating Iranian airspace with an aircraft launched from an airbase in Afghanistan, another sovereign nation, that did not give us permission to do so. Clearly Iran's conventional military capabilities are not sufficient to deter the U.S. from repeated acts of military aggression – hats off to Iran for caring enough about its sovereignty and the safety of its citizens to develop a nuclear weapons program – I wish them only the best of luck!
Why in the world is the US discussing this?
This is likely a deliberate staging on the part of the United States... "those Iranians are so advanced they are downing our drones". You can bet that this entire episode is scripted – send men to the moon in the sixties – but we can't detect credible WMD threats to the United States in 2002? Or build a drone that has self destruct capabilities in 2011? Or keep the cameras rolling at the Pentagon?
You don't like the religious fanatics in Iran that are in power? Me either! That is why the US should not have overthrown the democratically elected Iranian government to install the Shah who murdered and tortured his own people. Do you think – that the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979 had no preface?
You're crying about milk that was spilled 30 years ago? Geez, get a life.
Pretty naive response Schmedley. How long would it take you to get over a country overthrowing a government you voted, installing a puppet regime, stealing your oil for cents on the dollar, and creating an atmosphere that was ripe for a religiou revolution that lead to the mess of a theocracy the iranians are suffering now. Just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it's not important.
*spit-take*
Whaaaaaaaaaaa'??!?!?!
Not too stealthy...at least we know it does not work
I was going to say...that doesn't particularly look like a stealth platform. Smooth edges though...We already know that China and Russia have paid BIG money to have advisors (see copycats) come in and look at the drone. I wouldn't be suprised if it was China and/or Russia that brought the drone down.
Our bad. Now, what do we do about it? How do we move forward?
How do we move forward? add inertial guidance to the next generation drone.
Maybe it was intentionally dropped into Iranian hands so they'd have a good look at it and waste resources trying to counter that level of technology; which almost certainly is not the newest and most effective technology the U.S. has. If it was the best stuff the U.S. has to offer, I doubt it'd be flying over Iran. Machines fail predictably, so discovery of its technology was deemed tolerable by some very astute people. There's probably loads of North Koreans and Venezualans kicking its tires already, and if the intell types didn't feel that the Chinese and Russians already knew all about it, it would still be in its crate – like the one the Iranians really should be worried about.
very plausible, great point. the u.s. clearly wanted them to capture the drone, perhaps as a trojan horse. then came the disinformation campaign (initial ambiguous info and vague confirmations, a stated purpose of flying over afgan., then an admission of espionage) orchestrated to make us appear truly guilty, so as to bolster the believe-ability of the ruse. i wish i knew what the payoff is though for the cost of this apparent offence...merely intel?
Stop bragging and accept defeat. Where did you get your assumptions from?. Keep on dreaming
Military technology is useless if it is never deployed. Drones and spy planes are safe when they sit back at home; That is not what drones or planes are for.
what other reason would there be? to take pictures of the naked Iranian women?
Maybe......Persian women are very beautiful. If you would have said Pakistani or Afghani women, then yes I agree with your tongue-in-cheek humor
Exactly. The subtitle should be "Well After All, We Should Certainly Hope So."