Excuse Me Iran, Can We Have Our Drone Back Please?
When the reports came through that an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone had gone down in Iran, the shocking thing was not that the U.S. had an unmanned surveillance drone spying on Iranian nuclear facilities, but that Obama was brazen enough to ask for it back like a schoolboy asking for his ball. If you would like to be alerted to updates on the drone situation in real-time, signup for a free trial of Benzinga Pro's premium news service.
Imagine, for a second, that the shoe was on the other foot. Imagine if an Iranian surveillance device was discovered hovering over U.S. military facilities. Imagine that we get hold of the thing, and realize that it has been talking pictures. Now, imagine Iran asking for it back. What would you expect the American government to say?
Putting impartiality to one side, this is exactly the same thing. The only question is whether the drone malfunctioned and crashed (as the U.S. claim) or it was taken down (as the Iranians claim). What we do know is that the drone was collecting information, and Iran is not going to like that one bit.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted this morning as saying, “The American espionage drone is now Iran's property, and our country will decide what steps to take regarding it.”
What did the U.S. expect? “Sure. Take it back. We do not mind you guys watching our every move. In fact, send more drones. We'll pose for pictures with warheads.”
American officials are naturally worried. There are concerns about the Iranian reaction to the data extracted from the drone that the U.S. has been compiling. The bigger worry, though, is what Iran can learn from the technology that it now has in its hands.
According to the BBC, “A member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, Parviz Sorouri, said the information they extracted would be used to ‘file a lawsuit against the United States over the invasion'.”
For her part, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knows full well that we are not getting that drone back, and she says America will be pursuing a “diplomatic approach”.
Exactly what that means remains a mystery. We have already asked nicely for it back. Perhaps, if we are honest, Iran is correct and an apology is in order.
