Drone Wars: Iran scores publicity coup

2012-01-11 259

http://www.nma.tv An RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone sent by the American military into Iraq on a reconaissance mission has been captured by the Iranians. This has been an intelligence disaster for the US, as the drone contains sensitive technology, and a publicity coup for Iran's Mahmud Ahmadinejad. While Americans are still scrambling to figure out how they lost the drone over Iran, another drone crashed in the Seychelles on Tuesday. Drones have also been in the news when a sheriff in North Dakota called for support from a predator drone in the arrest of a farmer who failed to return cattle that strayed onto his property. US president Barack Obama has come under criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney for not calling air strikes to destroy the drone before it could be captured by the Iranians. Instead, Obama asked the Iranians to return the drones, even as the administration acknowledged that the Iranians were unlikely to do so.