Iran Claims To Have Downed Another US Drone 219
AmiMoJo writes "The Iranian military says it has captured an unmanned U.S. drone aircraft in its airspace over Gulf waters. The Revolutionary Guards said they had brought down a ScanEagle — one of the smaller, less sophisticated drones employed by the Americans. The U.S. said it was looking into the reports." (The U.S. response so far, also reported by Reuters and others, seems to be "We're not missing any drones.")
But But But "Argo" Taught Me ... (Score:2, Insightful)
The Revolutionary Guards said they had brought down a ScanEagle
But the movie "Argo [wikipedia.org]" taught me that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are just bumbling idiots who can't tell their heads from their asses in several completely fabricated scenes! Larry, Moe and Curly have more wherewithal than the Revolutionary Guard! No way they could outsmart American engineering!
Drones? (Score:5, Insightful)
How could any one entity tell? At this point there's the CIA, the FBI, the ATF, the NSA, the SS, the regular Army, the Army Rangers, the Navy, the Marines, the Seals, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the State Department, the DoD, Mercenaries (ie "Civilian Contractors"), and Sheriff Joe Arpaio all with drones. Could any one entity speak for all of those at this point?
Re:Al-taqqiya (Score:2, Insightful)
People lie; their religion is irrelevant.
Newsflash: This is not an achievement (Score:4, Insightful)
Why does anyone care?
Sorry, I shouldn't be like that. So...let me get the facts straight here. A country that is well known for saber rattling without anything to back it up may or may not have shot down an incredibly slow flying, cheap, pilotless, unstealthed drone that is specifically purpose-built to get shot down so we don't have to risk more expensive planes and pilots. That's it, right?
Just out of curiosity, how are the Kardashians doing today? I mean as long as we're acting like unimpressive bullshit is news, might as well go all the way.
Let me know when they shoot down an F-22 Raptor or a B-2 Spirit. Until then, non-news. I mean hell, this is exactly why we use drones in the first place - so we don't have to risk either pilots or much more expensive planes to do this stuff. Let them shoot down 1,000 more for all I care. Just more american workers in american aircraft factories with more work to do. Nobody dies, and it benefits our domestic economy. By all means Iran, PLEASE, shoot down some more easy targets so we can mass-produce some more replacements for them.
Re:But But But "Argo" Taught Me ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, "Argo" gave the Guards more credit than they deserved. The movie threw in a lot of fictional Hollywood bullshit to make it look like the diplomats escaped with seconds to spare, with the Guards hot on their tails. In real life, the Guards were completely oblivious - they had no idea it happened until they saw it on TV.
Re:Drones? (Score:2, Insightful)
If you believe the CIA (and you would have to be a pretty epic moron to), they're not even flying drones over Iran. Do you really think they would admit that one of the drones that they're *not* flying over Iran just got shot down?
Re:But But But "Argo" Taught Me ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Glen Beck isn't media, he is entertainment. Same as Limbaugh.
Good luck convincing their audiences of that.
Audiences which include some highly influential people...
Re:Newsflash: This is not an achievement (Score:5, Insightful)
Let them shoot down 1,000 more for all I care. Just more american workers in american aircraft factories with more work to do. Nobody dies, and it benefits our domestic economy.
Please stop saying that building something with non-renewable resources and blowing it up improves the economy.
http://economics.about.com/od/warandtheeconomy/a/warsandeconomy.htm [about.com]
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window [wikipedia.org]