# I don't believe the drone lost over Iran is legit. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079 "2011-12-13T21:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/1 "2011-12-13T21:07:21Z")
I think something is amiss here. It just doesn’t feel right to me. I think we lost something on purpose as a decoy and/or something else is afoot. I sense some sort of deception going on. Just wanted to get that out. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/2 "2011-12-13T21:11:00Z")
Hopefully you are right, because nothing beats a good conspiracy theory. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/3 "2011-12-13T21:13:20Z")
The drone was actually filled with a bunch of gay porn and pictures of women showing their faces in public. The Iranians found _some_ of these photos highly offensive, and are pissed with the US now. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/4 "2011-12-13T21:44:24Z")
It’s filled with _teeny tiny_ commandos, just waiting for the right moment… ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/5 "2011-12-13T23:05:22Z")
As of now, Iran is on double-secret probation. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/6 "2011-12-14T00:43:06Z")
Sure, Iran, go ahead and download all the info on the drone’s hard drives. G’head. We promise there’s no Stuxnet variant or anything like that on 'em. Honest. Be sure to load the info onto your most secure computers. They’ll be fine. Really. No shit. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/7 "2011-12-14T01:08:42Z")
> [@Rysdad](#): > > Sure, Iran, go ahead and download all the info on the drone’s hard drives. > > G’head. > > We promise there’s no Stuxnet variant or anything like that on 'em. Honest. > > Be sure to load the info onto your most secure computers. > > They’ll be fine. > > Really. > > No shit. You’re very optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/8 "2011-12-14T16:46:54Z")
What about onboard GPS? Does the US know exactly where the drone is right now? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/9 "2011-12-14T16:52:44Z")
Deception is hardly a conspiracy theory. Was just wondering what kind of good stuff could come out of ‘losing a drone’. ---
**Author:** ![TheUthaBrutha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@TheUthaBrutha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheUthaBrutha)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/10 "2011-12-14T16:57:34Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The drone was actually filled with a bunch of gay porn and pictures of women showing their faces in public. > > The Iranians found _some_ of these photos highly offensive, and are pissed with the US now. Oh lordy, it was NOT filled with gay porn. It’s quite obvious it had President Obama’s REAL birth certificate showing he was born in Kenya. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/11 "2011-12-14T17:14:54Z")
The drone is capable of self destructing. They are just waiting for the right time. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/12 "2011-12-14T18:55:31Z")
We have been sending drones over Iran for two decades. I recall seeing a photo snapped by an Iranian amateur astronomer; it was published in Smithsonian magazine. So they finally bagged one-big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/13 "2011-12-14T19:10:20Z")
Eh, sometimes manned aircraft go down. And I would suspect that the gov’t spends less money full-proofing unmanned vhiecles then manned ones (after all the point is that they’re cheaper and we don’t have to worry about killed/captured pilots), I would assume they will crash as often or more so. And we fly them over Iran and adjacent countries. So the fact that one crashed in Iran hardly seems to call out for some alternative explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/14 "2011-12-14T19:35:52Z")
The drone that the Iranian government displayed didn’t look damaged at all. It didn’t appear to have any crash damage. That was weird. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/15 "2011-12-15T00:41:21Z")
And the US just lost another one over [the Seychelles](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/13/another-u-s-drone-mysteriously-crashes-this-time-in-seychelles/). While I can understand overflying Iran (although it’s needlessly provocative in my opinion), why on earth is the US operating drones over the Seychelles of all places? Looking for pirates in the Indian Ocean? ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/16 "2011-12-15T00:52:19Z")
The Sechelles are used as a base to launch drones that patrol Somalia from what I heard on theyoungturks. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/17 "2011-12-15T01:08:18Z")
What I find incredibly bizarre is that Obama has [publicly asked for it back](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/obama-asks-iran-rq-170-sentinel-drone-back/story?id=15140133). That really doesn’t sound like normal antagonistic diplomacy to me. Because of that I agree that there’s some interesting double- or triple-bluff jiggery-pokery going on. For the US president to take such a ‘humiliating’ stance in public there must be something else going on. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/18 "2011-12-15T01:16:20Z")
Maybe they take it out of Obama’s paycheck? ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/19 "2011-12-15T05:26:01Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > I think something is amiss here. It just doesn’t feel right to me. > > I think we lost something on purpose as a decoy and/or something else is afoot. I sense some sort of deception going on. > > Just wanted to get that out. I posted that some place…I eluded it as a tracking device with no classified materials in it…for reasons yet to be known. Pull out of Iraq to have available troops and equipment for …Hmm. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079/20 "2011-12-15T06:04:18Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > So the fact that one crashed in Iran hardly seems to call out for some alternative explanation. It doesn’t, but the diplomatic response is something for which there are always mutliple layers. By way of parallel look at the [different statements](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident#American_cover-up_and_exposure) that were made by the US when Gary Powers ejected from his U-2, before Kruschev publically pulled the rug on them. I usually go to [Stratfor](http://www.stratfor.com/) when I want to learn differing perspectives on what’s going on, but at the time of writing this they don’t seem to have anything up. Which itself is unusual (then again I’m not a subscriber). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-believe-the-drone-lost-over-iran-is-legit/606079.md?page=2)