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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Obama makes a present of the RQ-170
2011-12-10
U.S. officials had been expecting the video to appear. The footage, which shows the aircraft intact, confirms the Iranians have custody of the drone but appears to refute Iranian claims that it shot down the RQ-170 drone.
As I note in the other post, the yellow bird doesn't look like an RQ-170.
With early knowledge that the aircraft had likely remained intact, the senior U.S. official also told Fox News that President Obama was presented with three separate options for retrieving or destroying the drone. The president ultimately decided not to proceed with any of the plans because it could have been seen as an act of war, the official told Fox News.
Goodness knows we wouldn't want to be seen to be at war with a country that hates our guts and wants us all dead, dead, dead...
And
China, Russia want to inspect downed U.S. drone
An informed source in the Iranian military has said that Russian and Chinese officials have asked for permission to inspect the U.S. spy drone that was recently downed by the Iranian Armed Forces, Nasimonline.ir reported on Wednesday.
Posted by:Slatle Bumble5851

#11  CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > IRAN ABLE TO DECODE [decrypt]DOWNED AMERICAN SPY PLANE, SELL THIS TEHCNOLOGY TO CHINA.

Iran says they own ultra-advanced decryption technology that can recover the data from the RQ-170 + by Allan they're going to use it, + also will "reverse engineer" the Drone.

Hence ...???

* IIRC WAFF > VIDEO:IRAN IRA170 DRONE.

That was fast - "shootdown" to indigenous production/mfg in roughly one week???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2011-12-10 23:22  

#10  The other option is that his minions arranged to give the drone to the Iranians. Just like Clinton gave the Chinese the Missile technology and the milling technology for quiet sub propellers.

Obumbler is a treasonous POS.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man   2011-12-10 18:26  

#9  I guarantee if we took away the inherent golf tee time privileges, he wouldn't run again
Posted by: Frank G   2011-12-10 17:00  

#8  I've always thought Bambi was not really engaged in functioning as the President--just kind of play acting his way through--enamored with the title and trappings. Ant then there is the unending campaigning he has engaged in since he was elected in 2008. Most of the rest of his stint he has mucked up. The drone program and getting Binny may be his only successes.
Posted by: JohnQC   2011-12-10 16:42  

#7  Moose: I also wonder about option C. I don't think Bambi spends his days hunkered down in a bunker with smokes and ESPN, but I do wonder if he finds the President part of being President really disagreeable and has decided not to do that part of the job.
Posted by: Steve White   2011-12-10 13:55  

#6  "they just look at you with glassy eyes, a neutral expression, and you can tell they are on nervous breakdown lane."

Seen it too... yup.
He is probably sitting in his leather chair reading people magazine and GQ right now.
Posted by: newc   2011-12-10 13:06  

#5  What's the altitude limit since satellites also traverse others national boundaries.

There is no defined legal altitude limit. There is a convention that places it in the same legal realm as territorial limits of the sea. There is the Kármán line, as set by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, that is set at an altitude of 100 km (62 miles); beyond that is 'space'. The US has a stipulation that anyone who flies above 50 miles is classed as an 'astronaut'.

But in any case common sense would say that satellites do not cross 'airspace'.
Posted by: Pappy   2011-12-10 12:56  

#4  It's probably payback for the 300m in campaign contributions he received 3.5 weeks before the last election. Either that or he wanted Iran to have a stealth method of delivering a warhead.
Posted by: David169   2011-12-10 12:17  

#3  ...is technically an act of war

Really? What's the altitude limit since satellites also traverse others national boundaries. Someone should alert Eisenhower and Kennedy to the point.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2011-12-10 12:00  

#2  Moose,

Respectfully, I think that A) is the most likely, especially as the drone being over Iranian territory in the first place is technically an act of war, and the President of the United States (and his advisors) don't seem to have been aware of that.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2011-12-10 11:00  

#1  Three possibilities. One is extreme cowardice, out of fear that it will be used as an act of war; but this is unlikely, as even leftist fools know that any excuse, or no excuse, will do to start a war.

The other is that this is a thinly disguised effort to pass bad technology to the enemy. But this is also unlikely, as both Russia and China are technically competent enough to reverse engineer, looking for such flaws.

The third, and most likely scenario, is that Obama has become so demoralized and inert that he is running on autopilot. He probably spends most of his time either playing Angry Birds on the Oval Office computer, golfing, haphazardly campaigning, or planning his next vacation. His subordinates are also free to do whatever they want, so are.

I have seen, and even screamed at, command level burn-outs before, and they just look at you with glassy eyes, a neutral expression, and you can tell they are on nervous breakdown lane.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-12-10 09:18  

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