Unstealthy Drone is latest incident of US Incompetency and Embarrassment

Why all the hooha from the Mainstream Media about the US downed drone? Why all about America’s loss of military tech and know how to Iran and its allies like Russia and China, rather than about America’s hostile action of sending a drone deep into Iranian territory?

Wouldn’t there be a big loud cry among US and its hypocritical allies, if Iran were to send a spy drone into say Europe or Israel? That’s food for thought.

The fact that US had remained silent about this incident for so long, which is so much in contrast to its usual roaring chest-thumping style, shows that its downed drone in Iran is seriously affecting and compromising US military strategy and technology.

Iran shows film of captured US drone

Iranian TV has shown the first video footage of an advanced US drone aircraft that Tehran says it downed 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border.

Images show Iranian military officials inspecting the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft which appears to be undamaged.

US officials have acknowledged the loss of the unmanned plane, saying it had malfunctioned.

However, Iranian officials say its forces electronically hijacked the drone and steered it to the ground.

Another report below.

Iran shows film of captured US drone

Iran’s Press TV said that the Iranian army’s “electronic warfare unit” brought down the drone on 4 December as it was flying over the city of Kashmar, about 140 miles (225km) from the Afghan border.

Nato said at the weekend that an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week when its operators lost control of it.

Pentagon officials have said they are concerned about Iran possibly acquiring information about the technology.

Iran, the most challenging target -

I have been writing quite a few articles on why Iran is the most difficult target to be attacked. One of the biggest factor is that so little is known about Iran. Ever since the Shah (America’s lackey) was deposed, the US and its allies have very little military intelligence info on Iran. This includes Iran’s defence tech, hardware and the physical locations of their military installations. Bomb Iran? Let’s lay out the cards (Part 2 – Geopolitical Perspective)

US Lacks Intelligence -
(I mean militarily and not literally – but if you want to take the latter, that’s fine too, ha ha)

It is an irony that this break in diplomatic relationship between US and Iran is one of the reasons why it is now difficult to invade Iran, as compared to Iraq or even Afghanistan.

US had a close relationship with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war. US could collect intelligence easily. As for Afghanistan, US helped it against the war against Russia. Again, intelligence gathering could be done easily. However, because of the break in relationship with Iran since 1979, only limited intelligence could be gathered from inside the country, if any at all. This now poses a problem. US can only gather intelligence from the outside, eg using satellite images and feeders who “defect” from Iran – not forgetting the fact they have proven to be unreliable at times.

Iran is a huge country and many of the targets US would like to hit are underground. How deep? How well fortified? How well defended? All not known – unlike Iraq.

US tries to downplay the claim that Iran downed the drone electronically. If that claim by Iran is true, it serves as a warning to US and all its warmongering allies that there is so much about Iran’s military defence tech they do not know.

The fact that the drone is in one piece, without any damage supports the claim that it was brought down deliberately by electronic means, rather than blasted off the sky, or it crashed down due to malfunction.

America has had an embarrassing record of incompetency waging war against Iran -

The downed drone is a reminder to the United States of Terrormerica that after more than three decades since US was kicked out from Iran in 1979, it still is not ready to invade its prized target, Iran. Here are past very embarrassing events of US incompetency, which would have been good for laughs, if not for the deaths of hundreds, innocents included.

I wrote an article on the above here – US Armed Forces – the most incompetent military in the world

In the article above, I discussed America’s horrendous incompetence which could have been passed off as a comedy of errors, if not for the large number of lives lost. Here is the list.

1. During the Iran-Iraq War in which US at that time supported Iraq, one of its frigate was hit by two Exocets released by (friendly) Iraqi fire. The captain of the frigate took no defensive action to take down the missiles. 37 US Navy crewmen died. USS Stark (FFG-31)

2. In the same war, probably due to panic because of the frigate incident, the US captain of a warship mistook a big fat slow-moving jumbo Iranian civilian airbus for a small fast fighter jet and brought it down with an anti-aircraft missile. 290 innocent civilians died. Again, this shows incompetence on the part of the US military. Iran Air Flight 655

Note that when defensive action was needed in Case #1, no action was taken. 37 US crewmen died because of the inaction due to US incompetence. In Case #2, where defensive action was not needed, action was taken. This time, 290 innocent civilians died and again it was because of US incompetence.

3. But perhaps the most embarrassing and of all goofs is Operation Eagle Claw. This was a rescue op to get American hostages who were held in Iran after the Iranian Revolution. Operation Eagle Claw

The plan called for a minimum of six helicopters; eight were sent in.[3] Two helicopters could not navigate through a very fine sand cloud (a haboob) which forced one helicopter to crash land and the other to return to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). Six helicopters reached the initial rendezvous point, Desert One, but one of them had damaged its hydraulic systems. The spares were on one of the two helicopters that had aborted. From the early planning stages, it had been determined that if fewer than six operational helicopters were available, then the mission would be automatically aborted, even though only four were absolutely necessary for the operation.[3] In a move still debated,[4] the commanders on the scene requested to abort the mission; Carter gave his approval.

As the U.S. force prepared to leave Iran, one of the helicopters crashed into a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft containing fuel and a group of servicemen. The resulting fire destroyed the two aircraft involved [3] and resulted in the remaining helicopters being left behind and the deaths of eight American servicemen. Operation Eagle Claw was one of the first missions conducted by Delta Force.[5]

The entry was a disaster and the exit was catastrophic. Such is the incompetence of the US military in Iranian territory. This occurred 31 years ago in 1980 . The earlier two incidents occurred in the later part of 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War.

Fast forward to Dec 2011, US is still jinxed whenever it comes to hostile military moves against Iran.

My Personal Observation -

I have noted (since 1979) somehow, whenever US tries to invade or attack Iran militarily, it is humiliated in front of the whole world how incompetent it is.

The latest case is of course the hostile stealth drone that tried to spy on Iran, which turned out to be so unstealthy, it was brought down in one piece for the Iranians and its allies to get “free transfer” of military tech from Terrormerica.

>US Armed Forces – the most incompetent military in the world

>Introduction -

The US prides itself in having the most powerful military in the world. That actually depends on how you define “most powerful”. If you define it as a military that currently is used (or should I say abused) to control lands of others, I won’t dispute you.

However, if you say that it is the most efficient and feared, well…… let’s see if that is really so, or is it just a hollow boast……

First glaring case of incompetence in the Libyan Invasion -

U.S. rescue chopper shoots six Libyan villagers as they welcome pilots of downed Air Force jet

Six Libyan villagers are recovering in hospital after being shot by American soldiers coming in to rescue the U.S. pilots whose plane crash-landed in a field.

The helicopter strafed the ground as it landed in a field outside Benghazi beside the downed U.S. Air Force F-15E Eagle which ran into trouble during bombing raid last night.

And a handful of locals who had come to greet the pilots were hit – among them a young boy who may have to have a leg amputated because of injuries caused by a bullet wound.

It’s Vietnam all over again, ain’t it? Let’s face the stark truth. The American military is totally incompetent. Not only their fighting machines keep having technical faults (as in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention Vietnam), their crewmen are shockingly incompetent.

In Vietnam, American soldiers will shoot anything that moves behind the bushes, killing villagers looking for food. In Iraq, Americans will fire missiles from their Apaches at anyone with a sling over the shoulder even it’s a camera sling. In Afghanistan, Americans will rain bombs at crowds never mind it’s a children’s birthday party.

Now in Libya, they strafe at villagers – who were out to rescue their own fellow American crewmen!

Boy oh boy oh boy. Don’t Americans make the most incompetent military war combatants in the world?

The damage done is not just the casualties. The long term effect is that now the civilian population of Libya (the very people US purports to liberate) will see the US as a hostile force. Yeah, talking about winning the hearts and minds of the people.

The Armed Forces of the US may have the best weapons in the world, but the boys behind those macho weapons are just not up to it.

Here are more examples of the bumbling US boys behind those macho equipment.

US Frigate hit by Exocet, no defensive action taken -

In 1987, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, US placed its big ships and big guns in the Gulf. The US did that because Iran was winning the war.

Iran was making progress and was advancing towards the Fao Peninsula, threatening to cut off Iraq’s oil supply route. The ever nosey US decided that it should help Iraq out.

Ironically, after placing its ships over there, one of its frigate, the USS Stark was hit by two Exocets – and that was from a friendly fire, an Iraqi jet. Yes, Iraq was America’s friend then. And yes, Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein was supplied with chemicals by the US, which was used against the Iranians. Ironical that US then accused Saddam of WMD to justify invasion of Iraq in 2003, only to discover Saddam had disposed them.

The strike on the USS Stark killed 37 crewman. The frigate took NO DEFENSIVE action against the two Exocets. It was not that the USS Stark did not detect the Iraqi jet. In fact, it even radioed to the jet a warning. But somehow, the crew did not activate their defence systems.

The US Armed Forces relieved two of its top officers from the USS Stark their duties. It was concluded that the cause of the strike was due to lapses in training requirements and lapse procedures (on the part of the US Force).

What incompetence. But that isn’t the end of their embarrassment. A worse one was to come.

US takes defensive action when none required, downs CIVILIAN airbus -

When it was required of the boys behind US Armed Force’s toys to take action, they didn’t. That killed 37 of their men. When it was not required for them to take action, they did. That killed 290 civilians!
Iran Air Flight 655

Isn’t that incompetent boys behind the most sophisticated toys?

That disastrous and fatal blunder occurred in 1988, barely a year after the embarrassing USS Stark incident. The US, as usual blew hot air and gave a long list or explanation why it happened – except apologising for killing 290 innocents.

The Airbus was an Iranian Airbus and of course US tried to blame Iran, even having the gall to say that the Iranians irresponsibly flew that airbus close to their military ships. Hey, isn’t it US that’s in Iranian’s territory rather than the other way round? However the following points will show how incompetent the US boys are, in spite of all their sophisticated equipment.

1. An airbus is much bigger than a fighter. Not being able to tell the difference between the two on the radar screen is like mistaking basketball for an egg.

2. The airbus was still ASCENDING.

3. The airbus left from a civilian airport.

4. An airbus is much slower than a jet.

Iran and Iraq were at war for eight years before this incident. They have scored “own goals” before, like hitting their own ships. But they have NEVER shot down a big fat jumbo elephant out from the sky because they know how fat elephants look like.

The US on the other hand, being in the war zone for just a short period of time, made two embarrassing and fatal mistakes. They are:

- When they were supposed to take defensive action, they did not. That killed 37 of their crewman.

- When they were NOT supposed to take action, they did. That killed 290 innocent lives.

If not for the tragic deaths of innocents, this incompetence exhibited by the US is laughable. However, we don’t laugh at tragedies.

Even before the Iran-Iraq War, the US military had spectacular major blunders. Below is another example -

The American Bald Eagle de-clawed, by Act of God -

In 1979, just after the Iranian Revolution, President Jimmy Carter ordered a rescue operation. The operation was called Operation Eagle Claw. The mission was to rescue 52 American hostages held by Tehran, as a result of that revolution. It was a spectacular disaster. From the link above:

The plan called for a minimum of six helicopters; eight were sent in.[3] Two helicopters could not navigate through a very fine sand cloud (a haboob) which forced one helicopter to crash land and the other to return to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). Six helicopters reached the initial rendezvous point, Desert One, but one of them had damaged its hydraulic systems. The spares were on one of the two helicopters that had aborted. From the early planning stages, it had been determined that if fewer than six operational helicopters were available, then the mission would be automatically aborted, even though only four were absolutely necessary for the operation.[3] In a move still debated,[4] the commanders on the scene requested to abort the mission; Carter gave his approval.

As the U.S. force prepared to leave Iran, one of the helicopters crashed into a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft containing fuel and a group of servicemen. The resulting fire destroyed the two aircraft involved [3] and resulted in the remaining helicopters being left behind and the deaths of eight American servicemen. Operation Eagle Claw was one of the first missions conducted by Delta Force.[5]

This incident cost Jimmy Carter his presidential re-election. Not only the invasion into Iran was a disaster, their exit was even worse.

The Shia leaders of Iran were quick to capitalize this incident as an “Act of God”. They quoted a chapter from the Quran alluding this incident to it. In that chapter, it was recorded that the Ka’aba at one stage was about to be under attack from an army of elephants. What saved the situation was that a flock of birds pelted stones from the sky.

This incident was not just a political disaster for US, but a victory for America’s arch-foe, Iran.

Non Military Goof by US -

To win wars, you need to win the hearts of the people. In my opinion, not only it is not winning the war on the ground, it is not even winning the war among the people. Public opinion is now at an all time low.

In my opinion, the biggest PR goof is Madeline Albright, then State Sec, justifying that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children was worth the price for sanctions against Saddam.

Madeleine Albright – The deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was worth it for Iraq’s non existent WMD’s

My Conclusion -

The US Armed Forces has more bark than bite.

They have the equipment.

They have the technology.

But they do not have the men. Boys don’t count.