Obama says U.S. asked Iran to return captured drone

[softgeorge]

Did he say 'Please'?

And I bet Iran said, "Kiss my Ar#e Obama.

[maidu]

US tech innovations move a lot quicker than anything Iran can muster, even with Russian or Chinese assistance. So any tech they get from the drone will probably be somewhat obsolete in a couple years.

Here's a story an old timer told me in California. He worked with a company making large scale refrigeration units. They got an odd order from Korea, many years ago. It was odd because they never got an order from there before or since that time. A few years after that, indications showed that identical refrigeration units were being sold all over Asia, yet without respecting the propriety of the original US company (surprise!), so my friend was sent over to investigate. What he found: identical refrigerators all over, except the label had been changed to the Korean Co which had bought the single unit years earlier. Here's the funny part. Every unit in Asia had a broken shaft which had been re-welded. It turned out that the solo unit which had originally been sold to Korea, had a shaft broken while being tested in the US, the US company shipped it after welding it.

Talk about reverse-engineering.

[elgato]

US tech innovations move a lot quicker than anything Iran can muster, even with Russian or Chinese assistance. So any tech they get from the drone will probably be somewhat obsolete in a couple years.

Here's a story an old timer told me in California. He worked with a company making large scale refrigeration units. They got an odd order from Korea, many years ago. It was odd because they never got an order from there before or since that time. A few years after that, indications showed that identical refrigeration units were being sold all over Asia, yet without respecting the propriety of the original US company (surprise!), so my friend was sent over to investigate. What he found: identical refrigerators all over, except the label had been changed to the Korean Co which had bought the single unit years earlier. Here's the funny part. Every unit in Asia had a broken shaft which had been re-welded. It turned out that the solo unit which had originally been sold to Korea, had a shaft broken while being tested in the US, the US company shipped it after welding it.

Talk about reverse-engineering.

Refrigerators - Spy drones. What's the connection? Am I missing something here or was the drone that was allegedly shot down manufactured by Frigidaire?

[Ulysses G.]

The broken shaft is the "connection".

[Riely]

I bet it's a classic Trojan. And everyone is looking right while our operatives are going left. Implanting all kinds of sick ass tracking codes and sleeper viruses into the Iranian's most sensitive systems.

Iranian's Ego is to inflated not to tear into it with all they have, and the US's own bigotry and apathy against the President or CIA is so complete that 99% of the people that hear the story will eat it up at face value.

Beautiful move.

[maidu]

US tech innovations move a lot quicker than anything Iran can muster, even with Russian or Chinese assistance. So any tech they get from the drone will probably be somewhat obsolete in a couple years.

Here's a story an old timer told me in California. He worked with a company making large scale refrigeration units. They got an odd order from Korea, many years ago. It was odd because they never got an order from there before or since that time. A few years after that, indications showed that identical refrigeration units were being sold all over Asia, yet without respecting the propriety of the original US company (surprise!), so my friend was sent over to investigate. What he found: identical refrigerators all over, except the label had been changed to the Korean Co which had bought the single unit years earlier. Here's the funny part. Every unit in Asia had a broken shaft which had been re-welded. It turned out that the solo unit which had originally been sold to Korea, had a shaft broken while being tested in the US, the US company shipped it after welding it.

Talk about reverse-engineering.

Refrigerators - Spy drones. What's the connection? Am I missing something here or was the drone that was allegedly shot down manufactured by Frigidaire?

Here's the connection: Asians and Middle Easterners have been been busy reverse engineering inventions from western countries - for decades or more. When someone engineers, he tends to also reverse engineer flaws, because the copiers' technology might not gauge the flaw inherent in the item they're copying.

[Pakboong]

Video of the US RQ-170 Sentinel Spy Plane Landing in Iran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFS0vzxhfR4&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Hard to tell how genuine this film actually is.

[koheesti]

I bet it's a classic Trojan. And everyone is looking right while our operatives are going left. Implanting all kinds of sick ass tracking codes and sleeper viruses into the Iranian's most sensitive systems.

Iranian's Ego is to inflated not to tear into it with all they have, and the US's own bigotry and apathy against the President or CIA is so complete that 99% of the people that hear the story will eat it up at face value.

Beautiful move.

That's what I'm hoping for. Imagine if the Iranians did send it off to Russia or China and after a few months a story comes out about how their military has been hit by a Stuxnet-type worm. Well, I need to finish the script and get it off to Hollywood before someone beats me to it.

[maidu]

As interesting as it sounds (for US operatives to intentionally lose a virus infected drone to the Iranians), I honestly don't think US operatives have such crafty planning on their side. I think the drone was plain lost (plane lost), either due to tech problems (maybe they were using Windows, and the operatives got the infamous blue screen ...... or the Iranians have a computer whiz kid who was able to over-ride the US signals, and bring the thing down unharmed.

Iranian officialdom just got an early Xmas present from Uncle Sam. How do you say 'thank you Big Brother' in Persian?

[luckizuchinni]

Hey I am sure if a Iranian spy plane was captured flying over the Pentagon the US would give it right back....no problem....honest mistake...

Actually, if you go by our history, we would. We have returned aircraft flown by defectors back to the USSR and to China. Of course, we may have examined them first, but we did return them all and in a fairly short period of time.

[flying]

Hey I am sure if a Iranian spy plane was captured flying over the Pentagon the US would give it right back....no problem....honest mistake...

Actually, if you go by our history, we would. We have returned aircraft flown by defectors back to the USSR and to China. Of course, we may have examined them first, but we did return them all and in a fairly short period of time.

I dunno but I think comparing spying equipment with stolen for defection reasons aircraft is a stretch of a comparison

[MrMuddle]

From "lovetotravel'

"The CIA is pretty darn sharp. Who's to say the "innards" of that drone aren't already toast? When the military does a program, they evaluate every potential risk. I'm sure this was thought of.'

Try googling CIA intelligence failures, there are more than 30 million pages.

This is a useful link http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/the_cias_biggest_bloopers_1.html

This lists CIA failures from the 1950s to the present day, they have been spectacularly wrong, on more occasions than not.

I think that the truth is, that the CIA is as sharp as one of those plastic spoons that come with a packet of yoghurts.

Perhaps you need to travel some more.

[chuckd]

Th only thing this entire episode has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is the Obama administration is operating at a level of naivety never seen before in the annals of diplomacy.

What possibly could have led this man to believe the Iranians were going to give the drone back?

Just because he asked for it nicely?

[Jingthing]

Th only thing this entire episode has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is the Obama administration is operating at a level of naivety never seen before in the annals of diplomacy.

What possibly could have led this man to believe the Iranians were going to give the drone back?

Just because he asked for it nicely?

Easy answer, silly. He didn't believe they would give it back. It's a dance now.

[lovetotravel]

From "lovetotravel'

"The CIA is pretty darn sharp. Who's to say the "innards" of that drone aren't already toast? When the military does a program, they evaluate every potential risk. I'm sure this was thought of.'

Try googling CIA intelligence failures, there are more than 30 million pages.

This is a useful link http://voices.washin...bloopers_1.html

This lists CIA failures from the 1950s to the present day, they have been spectacularly wrong, on more occasions than not.

I think that the truth is, that the CIA is as sharp as one of those plastic spoons that come with a packet of yoghurts.

Perhaps you need to travel some more.

I've traveled a bunch. Probably more than you.

Googled CIA failures: 5.5 million hits

Googled CIA successes: 63 million hits

So whose sharper than a plastic spoon????

[lovetotravel]

Th only thing this entire episode has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is the Obama administration is operating at a level of naivety never seen before in the annals of diplomacy.

What possibly could have led this man to believe the Iranians were going to give the drone back?

Just because he asked for it nicely?

Easy answer, silly. He didn't believe they would give it back. It's a dance now.

A dance none of us will ever have any idea of what is going on.

[maidu]

I tried shaving this morning with a plastic spoon. Didn't cut myself.

[MrMuddle]

I tried shaving this morning with a plastic spoon. Didn't cut myself.

Judging by your photo, you've missed quite a lot....ever thought of using a razor ?

[MrMuddle]

From "lovetotravel'

"The CIA is pretty darn sharp. Who's to say the "innards" of that drone aren't already toast? When the military does a program, they evaluate every potential risk. I'm sure this was thought of.'

Try googling CIA intelligence failures, there are more than 30 million pages.

This is a useful link http://voices.washin...bloopers_1.html

This lists CIA failures from the 1950s to the present day, they have been spectacularly wrong, on more occasions than not.

I think that the truth is, that the CIA is as sharp as one of those plastic spoons that come with a packet of yoghurts.

Perhaps you need to travel some more.

I've traveled a bunch. Probably more than you.

Googled CIA failures: 5.5 million hits

Googled CIA successes: 63 million hits

So whose sharper than a plastic spoon????

So you've got a mobile trailer - how nice.

Don't some of you right wing folks just love to post selected quotes that back up your "knowledgeable" comments.

I googled "CIA intelligence failures"again, (my original suggestion ), and this time got 54 million hits.....whatever have they been up to overnight ??

Edited December 15, 2011 by MrMuddle

[Ulysses G.]

Am still not sure what Google number hits have to do with anything. They do not correlate to the number of intelligence failures.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[lovetotravel]

Am still not sure what Google number hits have to do with anything. They do not correlate to the number of failures.

For sure. Nor do they correlate to successes. I Googled CIA intelligence successes and got 63M hits. Either way, successes or failures, we will never know the vast majority of what they do. For better or worse.

And no, I'm not right wing at all. Just like to have the truth reported.

[Scott]

I think you can head back to the topic anytime now. Google hits really isn't the point.

[chuckd]

Th only thing this entire episode has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt is the Obama administration is operating at a level of naivety never seen before in the annals of diplomacy.

What possibly could have led this man to believe the Iranians were going to give the drone back?

Just because he asked for it nicely?

Easy answer, silly. He didn't believe they would give it back. It's a dance now.

Just as an aside...how do you know he didn't believe they would give it back?

All diplomacy is a dance, snookums. Usually there is a small degree of reality involved. That doesn't seem to be the case with this president.

[Credo]

Rather than asking, I suppose he could have started bombing them, but then there would be those jumping up and down because he didn't ask. Just like those that wonder if he said 'please'.

Asking for the drone back is an acknowledgement that it is owned by the US. It lays claim, publicly, to the drone. If the Iranians want to 'share' it with another country, they are sharing property that is owned/claimed by another country. Not that it matters a lot, but other countries might be a little put off by potential problems with the US.

[chuckd]

Rather than asking, I suppose he could have started bombing them, but then there would be those jumping up and down because he didn't ask. Just like those that wonder if he said 'please'.

Asking for the drone back is an acknowledgement that it is owned by the US. It lays claim, publicly, to the drone. If the Iranians want to 'share' it with another country, they are sharing property that is owned/claimed by another country. Not that it matters a lot, but other countries might be a little put off by potential problems with the US.

Have you noticed anybody claiming the drone is NOT owned by the US and do you really believe Iran, Russia and China care one whit about potential problems with the US?

[Credo]

I don't know whether they care or not. I would presume they don't. But now there is an acknowledgement where the drone came from. At least they won't be confused if they components inside and they are labeled "Made in Taiwan".

[maidu]

II admire Obama for being open and frank.

Perhaps there's a measure of naivite in there, for asking a darkly veiled country's leaders (like Iran's) a favor.

All countries, particularly the Middle East, are shrouded with centuries of intrigue. Arabs and Persians know a billion ways of deceptive speech and actions. Along comes a man who makes a simple request. It's like a breath of fresh air in a dust storm that's been swirling around for hundreds of years. Sure he knows it will most likely be turned down, but it's the act of asking it publicly - that's worth noting.

btw, Obama's going to win the upcoming election handsomely. That's alright with me, though I'd rather see Hillary at the top, and Obama as VP.

[Credo]

Maidu, I agree with you 100%, even down to the Hillary comment.

[Jingthing]

Maidu, I agree with you 100%, even down to the Hillary comment.

Nope. He's going to win but it's going to be a very ugly campaign on both sides. Nothing handsome about it.

[Ulysses G.]

You should probably wait until a Republican nominee is chosen before making predictions. I think that there is a very good chance that Romney can beat him.