This is not good........

[Xavier_Onassis]

Or the bottom half is covered because it's damaged, meaning they didn't cyber attack it out of the sky and bring it down for a nice soft landing. I heard that if you get a good look at the picture from Iran you can see a crack in one of the wings.

Time may tell, or it might not, or the truth maybe the obvious. That being, they do have a very sensitive piece of US equipment, and it isn't good for us at the moment.

================================================
So why would the Iranians cover the bottom part of this? So it would make for a prettier photo? Or because they did not have a convincing enough photo of the real thing to fake the bottom part?

They may or may not actually have a drone. What they get from it remains to be seen. It may or may not be a US drone. It could be Israeli. In the world of espionage, no one tells the truth unless it benefits them.

[BSB]

"In the world of espionage, no one tells the truth unless it benefits them"

Or they need to get out ahead of a story, which is a benefit also though.

I just watch, listen, and read, without drawing any conclusions. If you start drawing conclusion too early you're going to miss the story. And if it turns out that there isn't anymore to the story, so be it.

I watched Morning Joe the morning after it was announced that bin Laden had been killed. Tom Brokow, Mike Barnicle, and Joe Scarborough were talking about it. They actually thought they knew what had happened. Barnicle said, and I paraphrase, "hey, there were probably only 6 SEALs and they fought for 45 minutes, wow".  No fault of his, but he didn't know anything. He just couldn't help wanting to feel like he was a part of it. That's a human need, to feel like you're part of something you see as important. It's like CU4 and the Dukakaphile, he thinks reading it makes him a part of it. He thinks, hey I'm informed, I'm reading something that's published by people closer to the action than I am. The problem is all this need to feel a part of something, and talk about it, leeds us to jump to conclusions. 


BSB

[Christians4LessGvt]

The nutty people are those who don't know the difference between what is said for diplomatic reasons, and what is true.
BSB

Oh ok BSB so President Clinton, President Obama, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
are all lying to the American People.

[Xavier_Onassis]

So Bill and Hillary Clinton and Obama are all saying that the drone the Iranians have on display really IS the one that was lost? When did they say that?

BSB was simply talking about the fact that reporters often do not have all the facts and therefore their reports are not reliable.

I don't think that there has been a single president that has insisted on telling the entire truth about any security issue to the people. That would be detrimental, of course, because our adversaries would also know secrets.

But in this case, there have been NO statements about the alleged drone.

There is a reason that the bottom part of this thing is covered, and it is NOT for cosmetic reasons. It might well be to disguise the fact that it is a mock-up, publicized just to deceive and upset US and/or Israeli intelligence. Or do you believe that the Iranians are incapable of such deception?

Debkafiles ate this up. Let us assume that the intent was precisely to do this.

[BSB]

XO, CU4 was talking about our difference of opinion when it comes to Israel's status.


CU4, being sensitive, aka sucking up, about certain national, and international, issues, isn't lying.

Israel is another flag on the map, or piece on the board. It's a "democracy". It's economy resembles ours in many ways. Its location is of some importance. We fought against those who tried to eliminate them in WWII. There's a long list of things that we have in common with Israel, but they are not "special" in the way you seem to think that they are. As I said before, we have one special relationship in the international community, England. If you don't believe me just look at who, among all the other nations in the world, has walked the walk with us during our fight against international terrorists. Only England. And we would do the same for them.

I don't know what it is with you and Israel? I don't know if it's some biblical thing? I don't know if you think it will be us and Israel fighting evil in some apocalyptic battle? I don't know.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

Israel is more important to the US than any other country of such a puny size because there are a lot of Jewish-Americans for whom Israel is a single issue, and they control the vote in several states, notably, NY, CA, IL and FL. It is true that the US is very close to the UK, but you will never hear that "there is no daylight" between the US and the UK on everything, as has been said about the US and Israel. We certainly have never agreed with the UK on Northern Ireland.


There are also a lot of Christian fundies who believe entirely that (a) we are in the End Times and (b) that all the Jews must return to Israel so that the Apocalypse can come and Jesus can return to rule as King of Kings for at least a thousand years or so,

The people and government of Israel do not by this nonsense, but they certainly encourage it, because, after all, they figure that they cannot control the coming of an apocalypse even if one is on the horizon.

Debkafiles is simply Israeli propaganda, very loosely based on events and declarations.

I say that Israel is "special" to our government, because every government we have had since the creation of Israel says so. The reality is that to most Americans, Israel is only slightly more important than Armenia, and certainly far less than Mexico or Canada. Netanyahu is a duplicitous bastard who claims that he wants a two-state solution, but whose policies have been to nibble away at Palestinian land and water rights ever since he entered politics. And he gets a standing ovation by our Congress. If I had been there, I would neither have stood nor ovated. Perhaps I would have booed, because the guy is clearly a jerk.

[kimba1]

lets just hope one of the sectret tech is not a one of a kind cloaking devise.

[Xavier_Onassis]

A drone that flies at 50,000 feet probably would not need a cloaking devise.

I really doubt that such a thing exists.

As I said, there is a good chance that this is just a fake.

[BSB]

We are related to England by blood. It is our mother country. On the other hand our relationship with Israel is manufactured, and has been groomed for decades. But Israel is not a blood relative, and our relationship could turn sour overnight. And I have a sneaking suspicion that sometime in the next decade, or two, it's going to do exactly that.

BSB

[Plane]

We are related to England by blood. It is our mother country. On the other hand our relationship with Israel is manufactured, and has been groomed for decades. But Israel is not a blood relative, and our relationship could turn sour overnight. And I have a sneaking suspicion that sometime in the next decade, or two, it's going to do exactly that.

BSB

  I am mostly related to England by blood feud.   I have Scots and German ancestors a few Natives .

    My debt I feel to England is the tradition of government that evolved there.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The US is bound to England by language, tradition and history, and more so for those who actually have British blood and recognize it. But the economic ties are extremely important. The average American would have been better off had the US stayed out of WWI. It cost us a lot of lives, some freedoms and lots of money. German was banned from the schools, the Germans love of beer was countered with Prohibition, which was unrivaled for stupidity in the 20th Century. Americans mostly did not benefit from WWI and the armistice that eventually would have resulted would have been among mutually weakened forces.

The main reason we had to get involved was that JP Morgan had lent most of his fortune to the Brits and he wanted them to win so he could get his money back.

Israel, like Poland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands and other countries has a blood relationship with this country for those that have Jewish, Polish, Italian, Norwegian, Dutch, etc blood.

All in all, our best friend is Canada, followed by Mexico. Then the UK. In economic terms, the UK is first, though.

[Amianthus]

We are related to England by blood. It is our mother country.

I would argue that we have more cultural ties to Germany than to England. Our food and many of our traditions are more similar to German versions than British versions. Only our legal system and language are truly British.

[Religious Dick]

We are related to England by blood. It is our mother country.

I would argue that we have more cultural ties to Germany than to England. Our food and many of our traditions are more similar to German versions than British versions. Only our legal system and language are truly British.

Also ethnically. More Americans are of German ancestry than any other ethnicity.

Oddly enough, England is also largely ethnically German, according to recent DNA testing. Unfortunately I can't track down the article right now.

[Amianthus]

Oddly enough, England is also largely ethnically German, according to recent DNA testing.

The four main invading groups (Angles, Saxons, Vikings, and Normans) are all of German descent, so it only makes sense that there is a large German DNA influx. Only the Normans spoke French (which was the language all the nobles spoke for many centuries in England).

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes were Germanic tribes that invaded England prior to the Norman invasion. There were also  invasions of Vikings and Danes in the north of England and Scotland. A Part of northern England was called the Danelaw.

There were apparently some people in the British Isles before the Celts (Britons, Picts, Scots and Welsh) arrived. After the Celts came the Romans, not all of whom were Italians.