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Iran Shoots Down Two 'Western Spy' Drones
TEHRAN - Iran's Revolutionary Guards have shot down two "Western spy" drones in the Gulf, the Fars news agency quoted a top commander of the elite military force as saying on Sunday.
"Westerners have a series of capabilities which cannot be ignored, especially satellites, or for example they have spy planes which can take pictures in some places," Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the air force wing of the Guards said.
He said that the drones were mainly being used in Iraq and Afghanistan but "some violations against our soil" have also occurred.
"And we have so far downed many of their advanced spy planes. In the Persian Gulf, we have downed two of their planes and this is the first time that we are saying it," Hajizadeh said without specifying when exactly the drones were shot down.
He also boasted that all "enemy" bases in the region were within range of Iranian missiles, referring to arch-foe the United States. He said that even the aircraft carriers deployed in the region were no longer a threat to Iran.
"There was a time when an aircraft carrier was something to rely on and when they told a country that this warship was moving towards your shore, the government of that country would be toppled," Hajizadeh said.
"But now this has become a threat for them. We have full control of our enemies. We notice whatever changes taking place on our shores. When they go on alert in the warships or when they put on life jackets to launch boats in the sea, we are aware of that."
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, target of a series of US sanctions, was set up as a force to defend the 1979 Islamic revolution from internal and external threats.
Its commanders have repeatedly boasted of its capabilities and delivered warnings to regional foe Israel, which like the United States, has not ruled out a military strike to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.
Many Western governments believe Iran's nuclear program may be a covert bid to make a bomb, a charge Tehran denies.
The US navy's Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, just across the Gulf from Iran. Iranian commanders have repeatedly threatened to block navigation through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, if it comes under attack.
Sixty percent of the world's oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military and Central Intelligency Agency regularly use drones to launch missile strikes in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt but do not generally confirm attacks.
The drone strikes are deeply unpopular among the Pakistani public but the United States says the strikes have killed a number of high-value targets.
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91 Comments so far
Show AllAll the strikes are "high value" because it is more dumped military hardware, with the replacement profits going into the bloated 1% coffers.
"regional foe Israel" nice turn of phrase.
A notable observation, Glenn Ford.
I wonder if Darrell Issa will use his subpoena powers to investigate this scam.
Heaven forbid if Iran acts as if it was a sovereign nation! Bullying, lawless nations don't like that. It is disruptive of "stability" in the Mideast.
I once heard a priest compare the USA to Heaven, I objected then, I'll object now. (grin) I do agree with you that the Bullying, lawless nations don't like that sort of thing at all. I mean, if it continues, the Iranians might demand the extradition of those who sold chemical weapons to Iraq in the 1980s. You know, the weapons that the Iraqis then used against the Iranians after Saddam found the Iranians could and would fight against a foreign invader (even a Muslim one)...
"...the Bullying, lawless nations..."
ya know... these rich old white guys (1850-1975)(and their offspring) must be REALLY PISSED... that ALL THAT OIL and GAS... ain't in texas anymore... cheyney... halliburton... bush... zapata...
so now... "The Duke"... has gotta go deal with these pesky A-RABS... to get OUR oil... sheesh... whatta putdown... can't just come guns a'blazin... and leave with the goods and a babe on your arms... i mean... i mean... growin' up rich and readin' ayan rand and all... the world's MY goddamn oyster... you... you.. damnd... MOOS-LUMS... or whatever you creeps call yourselves...
back to reality... i'm an american middle class used to be you know the story... who grew up on john wayne.. fast cars... and consumption as a national pasttime... so... not like i live on a totally enviro-friendly pasture somewhere...
but from that first oil well in pa circa 1850... and a hudred years goin'... YOO ESS A!!! YOO ESS A!!! YOO ESS A!!!
oh well.. fun while it lasted.
take a close look at the neighborhood... russia... china... india... all contigouous or nearly contigouous to caspian sea / mideast fossil fuels... we're 8000 miles away... through a choke point less than 10 miles wide...
somehow methinks all this won't be playing out 'round a negotiating table...
Another typical M$M article:
"The US navy's Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, just across the Gulf from Iran. Iranian commanders have repeatedly threatened to block navigation through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, if it comes under attack."
Response: And why not mention the threats to Iran made by US politicians and Israel?
"Many Western governments believe Iran's nuclear program may be a covert bid to make a bomb, a charge Tehran denies."
Response: Why not also mention the NIE has said there is no evidence Iran has an active nuclear weapons program and ask what justifiable basis these so-called "Western Governments" make their assessment?
"The drone strikes are deeply unpopular among the Pakistani public but the United States says the strikes have killed a number of high-value targets."
Response: No mention of all the innocent people that have been hit by these drones.
Query: what's an "M$M" article?
Thanks
Main Stream Media, or MSM, or more accurately M$M.
Ah, thanks...
CORPORATE MEDIA is even MORE accurate.
Corpstream Media is more like it, because they are corporate and generate profits from both bloody and sexualized bodies.
re: "No mention..." It is not necessary to mention because most people reading the article understand that this is the reason the drones are deeply unpopular.
Not necessarily.
This isn't an article in some specialist foreign affairs / IR journal. This is standard article from big mainstream newsagency: AFP. Assuming that most of your readers would be up to date about the bombing of women and children to bits of bloody meat is lazy journalism at best. At worst, it is a deliberate attempt not to mention the bombing of women and children to bits of bloody meat.
People reading this article, especially in France, know that innocent people are being slaughtered in Afghanistan by the drones, as well as by all the other toys being deployed there. If this is not commonly known in the US, well, then I don't really know what to say. This war has been going for 10 years now; surely most Americans know about the slaughter.
AFP is not only read by people in France, just as AP is not only read by people in America, or Reuters is only read by people in the UK. AFP is a global newsagency. AN article like this would appear in newspapers all over the world. While it might be surprising to someone posting on CD, not everyone occasionally reading a newspaper is up to speed with international news that doesn't affect them directly.
And, while people, including yes, in France, might be vaguely aware that that some women and children might have died, no, it doesn't necessarily immediately come to mind when they read stories about drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and local residents being extremely unhappy. They deliberately do NOT want to think that their countries, or countries they are allied with, are responsible for blowing civilians, for blowing children up into bits of bloody meat. They want to believe that their governments, their soldiers, their boys, or the soldiers, the boys of their allies, are good, not blowing civilians into bits of bloody meat. This is especially true for many people living in western countries, who want to believe that ultimately, their governments, and the allies of their governments have good intentions when they go around bombing other people. So they pratice self and selective amnesia.
Which is PRECISELY why newsagencies like AFP try to avoid mentioning directly the blowing up of civilians into bits of bloody meat.
Why do you think for example, the German government tried to cover up its responsibility for the blowing up of civilians into bits of bloody meat in Afghanistan?
I'm glad the article mentioned that drone strikes were deeply unpopular. I would never have guessed.
They know about it...but do they CARE...? I would think that if Americans were incapable of empathy for the innocents being slaughtered in the middle east (and their families) that at least they would connect the dots linking the war to our disasterous economic situation. But hey...it's Amerika.
Thanks for the analysis. I dont mind if you do it for every article. I read the same article and never noticed this propaganda content. It somehow went under my radar, which is precisely the intention.
I now call it the "corporate media", rather than the "main stream media".
Total right on to Iran ! The propaganda mouthpieces, msm, will continue to spin the deadly lies from the fascist amerikan ruling elite !
From the U.S.: "The drone strikes are deeply unpopular among the Pakistani public but the United States says the strikes have killed a number of high-value targets."
Should the US therefore use drone strikes on neighborhoods in New York or Washington DC or LA or Chicago or Detroit where suspected murderers, Mafia bosses, terrorism plotters, drug lords, serial rapists, or other high value targets are located?
From Iran: "We have full control of our enemies." Yeah. If you had full control they wouldn't be enemies, would they?
A lot of macho posing all around.
"Should the US therefore use drone strikes on neighborhoods in New York or Washington DC or LA or Chicago or Detroit where suspected murderers, Mafia bosses, terrorism plotters, drug lords, serial rapists, or other high value targets are located?"
There is very little doubt in my mind that this will happen. Im sure everything is in place to do it right now, and .gov is just waiting for just the right situation to pull the trigger. It will of course be said that it was done to keep us safe, and M$M will display folks that are fine with this on the boob-tube, implying that if your are not OK with it there must be something wrong with you.
During the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver, BC, Canada we had *armed* Predator drones orbiting the city and venues for the duration, supposedly to provide 'security' to visiting US athletes and Government dignitaries.
Since 9/11/2001, US violation of Canada's border and airspace by Immigration and DHS aircraft is so commonplace it no longer warrants mention by the news media in Canada (I myself have witnessed these direct and blatant violations of Canadian sovereignty on no less than three separate occasions).
Would the US Government use these death machines on it's own population? Especially the poor and/or minorities?
Does a Corporate lackey squat in the White House?
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
The more relevant question you should be asking is: do corporate lackeys, licking the boots of the US government, squat in Ottawa?
Why does Canada allows these direct and blatant violations of its sovereignty? Why are Canadians not out on the streets protesting? Why do Canadians not elect a government that will stand up for Canadian sovereignty?
[Why does Canada allows these direct and blatant violations of its sovereignty? ]
Because the USA has a bad history of overthrowing democracies (even ones that are little more than elected dictatorships like Canada) when those democracies do or say something that the USA really really dislikes.
[Why are Canadians not out on the streets protesting?]
Like most of your countrymen, we'd lose our damn jobs if we did that. The companies most of us work for are owned by the same corporations that make your working lives crap.
[Why do Canadians not elect a government that will stand up for Canadian sovereignty?]
Ask the supporters of the government of Salvador Allende, if you can find one that didn't end up in a grave that is...
"Unfortunately, Canada gave up it's sovereignty a long time ago by letting the US handle it's defense."
That would be back about the time Deifenbaker was bullied by the US Military into scrapping the Avro Arrow... and Brian Mulroney finished the job. The present Prime Ministerial moron, Stephen Harper is the single worst PM/Yankee sycophant/neo-con prostitute we have *EVER* had.
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
A tax cut. I find myself underwhelmed.
Oh well. Let's say you spend 10k /yr on stuff. On those 10k you will pay $200 less in sales tax (GST). Not sure about you, but for most people out in the real world that's one month of feeding oneself reasonably healthy good food.
"Should the US therefore use drone strikes on neighborhoods in New York or Washington DC or LA or Chicago or Detroit where suspected murderers, Mafia bosses, terrorism plotters, drug lords, serial rapists, or other high value targets are located?"
please, let's not give them any ideas.
They already have the idea, as several police departments across the U.S. are looking at deploying drones for " high value targets". Coming soon to a neighborhood near you, and what the hell does it matter if they kill a few innocents with collateral damage as long as they got a few bad guys!
Several years back the police in Philadelphia burned down a whole neighborhood by dropping a firebomb on a building housing a group of blacks calling themselves "the move". Precedent has been set.
True, but do not forget about Waco, Texas where they probably would have used drones, if they had them, to murder all those innocent men,women and children!
No doubt.
Yes, Paul, several years ago when Predator use in Afghanistan was just rumored, I said that Congress needed to pass a law which would insure that armed drone use domestically would be totally against the law (like the old Posse Comitatus Act, which was supposed to insure that military was not used within the domestic boarders).
But most Americans and all in Congress feel that this is not necessary --- and that Predators firing Hellfire missiles at Americans in America could never happen.
I'm sure that Germans never thought that they would need a law insuring that tow-trucks with wire rope nooses would never be used in their country either.
As Kurt Vonnegut famously said, "And so it goes"
Best luck surviving in River City,
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
PS It's 11:00, do you know the Lat/Lon of your house? The Predators do!
BTW, the Predator is aptly, if ironically well named by this corporate/financial/militarist Empire, which hides behind the facade of its Two-Party (Rel 2.0) 'Vichy' sham of democratic government.
After all, what is an Empire, but a Predator.
>>
Should the US therefore use drone strikes on neighborhoods in New York or Washington DC or LA or Chicago or Detroit where suspected murderers, Mafia bosses, terrorism plotters, drug lords, serial rapists, or other high value targets are located?
<<
//* begin sarcasm
Of course, but only if located in black or hispanic neighborhoods.
//* end sarcasm
hamster:
"We have full control over our enemies."
It's a bad translation of "We have full tabs [watch] over our enemies." Bad translations by biased M$M of everything Iranian (remember "Wipe xxx off the face of the Earth" for years)are standard fare in the propaganda war for the "hearts" and "minds" of the the American humanoid species for war against Iran.
It's so easy to get agit-prop under the radar of Amerikkkans that it's hopeless to change a people (or pieces of meat with two legs and no brains really) so hell bent on self and world destruction in the 21st Century. Keep your radar operational at all times. 2011 is going to be really nasty, getting all-prepped up for the big blowout in 2012. Can't let a good prophecy go to waste now can we?
Peace
I
The "lawless" region is also a borderless region because the border so often referred to was drawn in London in 1903. It is called the "Durmand line" and was one of a number of acts based upon a divide and conquer strategy employed by the British Empire. The "border" went down the middle of the homeland of the Pashtun tribe. It was never even surveyed, let alone secured. It has never been accepted or respected by the local people, the Pashtuns.
The geography of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan is probably the most forbidding on planet Earth. It defies the concept of invasion or domination by an outside force.
I know a little about the history of this region. Probably more than most ordinary US citizens. I know this is just another legacy left by the imperial British Empire, like so much of the Middle East. The Brits really screwed-up and many of their citizens died there. These people were done-unto by the West. They will never stop resisting until the Western nations (or the Russians) leave them alone.
Thanks for this succinct bit of info. If more people had knowledge of this region, it would be harder for US leaders to mislead people about it.
Durrand not "Durmand".
Generalisimo Durrand from Britania's conquistadores.
Durand, not Durrand. (grinning, ducking, running...)
Never forget that the USA started all of this, when they overthrew Irans democratically elected President, and replaced him with a brutal murderous dictator who was more disposed to handing over the countries natural resources to the USA
Also never forget that Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Anti-proliferation Treaty, and therefore has the undisputed right to develop nuclear capabilities.
Also, the USA has violated the Nuclear Anti-proliferation Treaty by giving nukes to Israel to use to threaten Iran.
there is clearly one bad guy in this story....
>>mujeriego wrote: "...the USA started all of this, when they overthrew Irans democratically elected President, ..."
If you're referring to Mossadegh, he was the democratically elected Prime Minister - overthrown in the coup of 1953.
Your point about Iran having the right to develop nuclear capabilities is the more important fact missing from this whole story.
What I really like about this article is that no people died, just two planes.
yeah, that's nice isn't it?....................
Don't they call them "weather planes" any more?
Francis Gary Powers must be tailspinning in his grave!*
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gary_Powers
Ah, yes the good old U2 days. Americans now, after 50 years of M$M TV, would likely confuse such archaic acronyms with UFO's, thus decreasing the gravitas of the robot drone as a serious instrument for peace in the 21st Century.
1. This claim is totally believable because it should be easy to down these slow-flying, essentially unarmed contraptions with fighter planes or ground-to-air missiles.
2. The downing by Iran demonstrates that the drones can only be used when the 'objects' of attack are defenseless which is the case in Afghanistan or when the government of the country where the attacks occur can shoot the drones down but refuses to do so which is the case in Pakistan.
3. It is now clear why General Musharraf had to go because he would have ordered the US drones to be shot down.
4. Expect Musharraf to return to power soon.
Please explain "essentially unarmed."
Also Musharraf is quite happy in his London hotel thank you. He would prefer not to return to a country that is likely to be transported back to the Stone Age on a mushroom cloud flying carpet sometime soon.
Defenseless against fighter planes or ground-to-air missiles.
If not Musharraf then some other general.
Please explain "essentially unarmed."
Having only offensive weapons and no defensive capability. Therefore defending the US Homeland in the traditional manner.
Ha! Caught you. You're a government stooge who's trying to discredit the left wing by being even nuttier than the rightwingnuts in America.
Collect your last cheque from Quantico, Mr Spai.