[hellinahandcart]

Make my Christmas, Saddam...

[RCW2001]

The Associated Press
Monday, December 23, 2002; 10:19 AM

WASHINGTON –– Iraqi aircraft shoot down U.S. unmanned surveillance drone over southern Iraq, American military says.

© 2002 The Associated Press

[Teacher317]

SANTA!!!!

[1Old Pro]

Another "material breach" but once again the U.N. clowns and the peaceniks will say we still need to negotiate and find peace with Saddam.

Next story will be about Saddam gassing thousands of his people and......the U.N. clowns and the peaceniks will say we still need to negotiate and find peace with Saddam

[finnman69]

So what does that look like on the Iraqi-US scoreboard.

Iraqi anti-aircraft gunners 1
US No Fly Zone Bombing Missions 10,000

[ClearCase_guy]

It's a quagmire!!! We must pull out!!!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I saw this on a Fox snooze alert, who are running this story like Saddam just shot down a squadron of B-52s. We probably let the Iraqis hit it so that we could see their capabilities.

[hchutch]

This is HOW many drones shot down?

---

Memorandum

To: SECDEF Rumsfeld
From: hchutch
Subject: UAV losses

1. Note another drone has been shot down.

2. Shall we talk with Lockheed and Northrop about recon variants of the F-117, F-22, and B-2?

3. Recommend we re-think this whole UCAV notion. I'm NOT sold on this plan. The loss rates of recon UCAVs would cripple manned squadrons.

r/s
hchutch

[Jeff Chandler]

Was the pilot injured? I mean, did he spill his coffee on himself or anything?

[FreePaul]

My guess is that the base from which the Iraqi planes came will be a total loss soon. Actions have consequences.

[RobFromGa]

Here's a classified picture of the Iraqi Air Force Defense Minister initiating the offensive fighter mission against the drone...

[12B]

If we allowed them to penetrate and shoot down anything of ours without dropping their aircraft, someone is going to get hung out to dry.

You can't miss opportunities like that.

[Nexus]

Is this the first air to air "assault" by Iraq since the the invasion of Kuwait? No Fly Zone breach=Material breach, I say.

[AzJohn]

From AP, 10:40 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iraqi aircraft shot down a U.S. unmanned surveillance drone over southern Iraq Monday, American military officials said.

The Predator drone was conducting a reconnaissance mission, a senior official with U.S. Central Command said. The plane is presumed a total loss.

Iraqi fighter aircraft penetrated the southern no-fly zone over the country and fired on the Predator, and its controllers then lost contact with the plane, the official said.

"This action is the latest chapter in a lengthy list of hostile acts by the Iraqi regime," said Jim Wilkinson, a Central Command spokesman.

Iraqi air defenses have fired on U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq almost 500 times in 2002, officials said. American and British aircraft have come under attack on 32 days since Nov. 8, when the United Nations' Security Council agreed on a new weapons' inspection regime for Iraq.

The no-fly zones were set up after the 1991 Gulf War to prevent Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from using his aircraft over northern and southern Iraq. His fighters sometimes cross into those zones and are pursued by American or British warplanes.

Most of his attacks on U.S. and British aircraft, however, come from surface-to-air missile sites on the ground, rather than from his air force. Iraq's fleet of about 300 fighter aircraft is short on spare parts and its pilots receive little training, defense officials said.

Predator reconnaissance drones are flying over the country looking for signs of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Iraq: Air Force and Army Air Corps
v.3.0 March 3, 2002

[TomGuy]

Could it be...no, they wouldn't...surely not....allow the Iraqi plane to shoot it down so they would have another "breach"? ....and know exactly were the Iraqi plane originated from.

[glock rocks]

meanwhile, the iraqis are reverse engineering the drone into a camel dung cookstove. pictures at 11.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Totally invalidates the popular anti-war "thousands of body bags" argument, doesn't it?

[isthisnickcool]

"It was not a lucky shot!" Exclaimed the anti-aircraft gunner responsible for the shooting. "I've been practicing killing Americans for decades!"

Iraqi generals later announced a new training program called the "Baghdad Jane" (BJ) program. "Under the new BJ program each of our anti-aircraft gunners have had several face lifts and chest implants and their scores have gone up dramatically!" Said one Iraqi general. "The only problem with the program is that the "BJ Gunners" are now even more popular at their local Mosques. Because of this we have had to add more seat padding to the anti-aircraft gun seats and keep them supplied with lots of Chapstick."

[mhking]

Tick....tick....tick....tick....tick....