AP: Iraq shoots down US drone(unmanned) recon plane...

MSNBC

[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.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

07:26 PST 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.

[Keith]

Let the cleansing begin....

[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?

[ken5050]

There was a story in today's NY Times hat we are currently exploring arming the Pretadors with Stingers so that they can defend themselves......curious timing, eh?.....perhaps a field test?

[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...

[Mudboy Slim]

"Here Was A Man!!"
(To be spoken--Johnny Cash-like--over a lonely keyboard version of "Joy to the World")

"Here was a man...a man who was born in a small village, the son of a peasant woman. He grew up in another small village. Until He reached the age of thirty, He worked as a carpenter; then, for three years, He was a travelling minister. But He never travelled more than two hundred miles from where He was born, and where He did go, He usually walked. He never held political office, He never wrote a book, He never bought a home, He never had a family, He never went to college, and He never set foot inside a big city, yet...here was a man.

Here was a man...though He never did one of those things that you usually associate with greatness, He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this World, except through the Divine Purpose that brought Him to this World.

While He was still a young man, the Tide of Popular Opinion turned against Him. Most of His FRiends ran away...one of them denied Him, one of them betrayed Him and turned Him over to his Enemies. Then, He went through the mockery of a Trial and was nailed to a Roman Cross between two thieves. And even while He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had in this World, and that was His robe, His Purple Robe. When He was dead, He was taken down from the cross and laid in a borrowed grave, provided by a compassionate FRiend.

More than Nineteen Centuries have come and gone, and today He's the Centerpiece of the Human Race, Our Leader, and the Column to Human Destiny. And I think I'm well within the mark when I say that All of the Armies that Ever Marched, All of the Navies that Ever Sailed, All of the Legislative Bodies that Ever Sat, and All of the Kings that Ever Reigned...All of Them Put Together have not affected the Life of Man on this Earth so Powerfully as that One Solitary Life...

Here was a man!!"

My six-year-old daughter and I were driving along yesterday, listening to our new Christmas CD we had just picked up from Staples Office Supply, when this "song" came on and we both stopped chatting and listened intently. I explained--halfway through--that Mr. Cash was talking about Jesus. Then, after the song was over, JessieLee looked up at me and said, "Daddy, why didn't Jesus have a family?" Temporarily shocked by her natural incisiveness, I mumbled a silly answer about not meeting the right mommy, but the question has been on my mind ever since. So, Jessica, here's the answer Daddy meant to say, "Jesus never had a family because All of Us are His Family, All of Us are His Brothers and Sisters, All of Us are His Children!!"

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan or not...Happy Holidays to Each and Every One of You Wonderful FReepers...You have become MY extended family!!

Cheerfully Humble FReegards...MUD

[blam]

"There was a story in today's NY Times hat we are currently exploring arming the Pretadors with Stingers."

I like that Idea. I expect shortly to see some JDAMS hitting the airbase where the Iraqi jet is housed.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

It's good to see we are probing Iraq's air defense system with Predators, and curious that this appears to be an air-to-air intercept by Iraq.

[MrPeanut]

This could be like the Cuban missle crises and the drone was reconning something hot.

[hchutch]

True.

Although, I'd rather look into a recon variant of the F-16C Block 50. Give it two Slammers, two HARMs, and a centerline camera pod.

That platform probably would have bagged the Iraqi fighters, completed the mission, and gone home.