Althouse: "He said he wanted it back, and we will send him one."

January 17, 2012

"He said he wanted it back, and we will send him one."

He = Obama. It = drone. We = Iran. One = toy version of it.

45 comments:

edutcher said...: Well, Zero really has the ragheads scared, doesn't he?

And that foreign policy reset certainly worked well, too.

They may want to rethink that Zero/Hildabeast "dream" ticket.; 1/17/12, 4:19 PM
Anonymous said...: And a pink one too. Yup, Barry has them scared alright.; 1/17/12, 4:25 PM
sakredkow said...: "They wouldn't DARE do this to us if we had a Republican President!"

What are you guys, children?; 1/17/12, 4:38 PM
edutcher said...: They like doing it to Democrats, though; that's for sure.

WV "pology" (no kidding) What GodZero will be issuing forthwith for taking up the mullahs' time.; 1/17/12, 4:45 PM
Wince said...: "Give me that. GIVE ME THAT!!!"

"You got it, brother."; 1/17/12, 4:54 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "They wouldn't DARE do this to us if we had a Republican President!"

Well, to be a bit more precise, probably not GWB nor McCain.

The basic problem here is that Obama has made threats that he isn't going to, can't effectively, carry out. The Iranian government is making him look like a fool on the international stage.

And, I don't think that he really understands why the U.S. is feared and respected more under Republican leadership than under his. He tried to make all the right friends. He bowed to the Saudis, and was mean to the Israelis. And, he can't quite grasp why it didn't work.; 1/17/12, 5:11 PM
crosspatch said...: This President is an international laughing stock and sadly, is making America one, too.; 1/17/12, 5:19 PM
MayBee said...: Andrew Sullivan wants to know why the Iranians are so dumb. Haven't they seen That Face? Don't they know Obama's middle name is Hussein? What's the deal?; 1/17/12, 5:22 PM
Crimso said...: "What are you guys, children?"

Well, there's no doubt the inauguration of Reagan brought the hostage-holding to a swift end. It's been speculated that they waited until Reagan's inauguration to release them as a big FU to Carter. Maybe, maybe not. But I don't doubt they didn't want to be holding a large number of Americans hostage in a known location with Reagan giving the orders.

So is Obama like Carter? In this respect, yes. But I fear there isn't a Reagan among us (and the mullahs know it). FWIW, I think we should regularly (perhaps once a week) lob cruise missiles onto our sovereign territory in Tehran. It is, after all, ours. They've been committing a continuous act of war against us since 1979.; 1/17/12, 5:23 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: That deserves a bombing, for no other reason than to say "Don't f*ck with us".; 1/17/12, 5:39 PM
Amartel said...: Smart Diplomacy.; 1/17/12, 5:48 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: I should amend my earlier comment. This is a statement from the toy manufacturer, and as such, I don't care.
If the government should give Obama one of these toys, my earlier statement stands.; 1/17/12, 5:51 PM
Amartel said...: C'mon, guys. Give it back. I mean it. C'mon.
Please???
I'm telling the UN.
Please?
Okay, I didn't really tell the UN.
Seriously, though, I mean it.
Give it back.
I'm texting you! Text me back!
I "friended" you on Facebook!
"I"'ll pay you for it.; 1/17/12, 5:54 PM
Jose_K said...: lob cruise missiles onto our sovereign territory in Tehran? No sir, it is not ours( I was born in the USA)Embassy territory is part of the country of the embassy. It is protected by inviolability while an embassy. The extraterritorial idea is of Latinamerican origin and is wrong; 1/17/12, 5:57 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "But I fear there isn't a Reagan among us"

Maybe BHO should follow the Reagan response after 241 Americans where murdered by Muslim terrorists.; 1/17/12, 6:00 PM
edutcher said...: Crimso said...

So is Obama like Carter? In this respect, yes. But I fear there isn't a Reagan among us (and the mullahs know it).

Last I looked, his 2 successors were pretty firm in the face of this sort of thing.

I can see Perry, Newt, and, yes, Milton (let's not forget Mountain Meadows (for some reason, people seem to think Mormons react to violence like Quakers)) getting quite nasty very easily.

pbAndjFellowRepublican said...

Maybe BHO should follow the Reagan response after 241 Americans where murdered by Muslim terrorists.

Somebody tell PB&J ya gotta find 'em before ya can kill 'em, but I recall Dubya finally put "PAID" to that account.; 1/17/12, 6:17 PM
Crimso said...: "Maybe BHO should follow the Reagan response after 241 Americans where murdered by Muslim terrorists."

On the one hand, he was dealing with a government; on the other...

Perhaps his response to the barracks bombing should have been to just bomb all relevant governmental targets in Lebanon? A "country" that had no functioning government at the time.; 1/17/12, 6:21 PM
Crimso said...: "let's not forget Mountain Meadows"

Going old-school! Though I suspect most Mormons would indeed rather forget it.; 1/17/12, 6:24 PM
Crimso said...: "Embassy territory is part of the country of the embassy. It is protected by inviolability while an embassy. The extraterritorial idea is of Latinamerican origin and is wrong"

Anyone versed in "international law" shed some light on this? You mean I can't haz crooz missals?; 1/17/12, 6:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: The word from a friend in USAF SIGINT (signals intelligence) is that the programs on these drones had not been updated fast enough, The money all went into the new hardware.

In other words, we got overconfident and a hacker team was able to crack the softwear's firewall. This was probably a Chinese operation which then passed the idea on how to do it along to Tehran.

The Chinese got a big leg up after they kept the forced down P3 Orion for three weeks early in the Bush Admin.

The pilots of the P3 got into big trouble for not bailing out and setting the destruct charges on their flying SIGINT laboratory.; 1/17/12, 6:40 PM
1775OGG said...: Ah, but a President Romney would be gracious and say "Thank you" to those very nice Iranians! Yes, that's how he'd do things from the WH if he were to become president!; 1/17/12, 6:59 PM
Crimso said...: Jose is correct. It is not our sovereign territory, but neither are the Iranians allowed to be there. Presumably, we would be within our rights to prevent persons from unlawfully being there. Like killing them.; 1/17/12, 7:04 PM
Toad Trend said...: Iranian humor is sorely lacking. Have you ever seen an Iranian standup comic?

Right. They are all dead.; 1/17/12, 7:12 PM
Sprezzatura said...: So, when Reagan quickly breaks his promise to not retreat after 241 Americans are murdered, it's okay. But, it's terrible when BHO doesn't openly attack Iran to get back our drone.

I see.

BTW, who's running this sloppy CIA outfit? One of those Obama lackeys, no doubt.

P.S.

Ed,

I'm inclined to give credit to W, for that one. In fact, I've explicitly done so on these threads. But, I wouldn't be totally shocked to find out that Israel was responsible.; 1/17/12, 7:31 PM
edutcher said...: pbAndjFellowRepublican said...

So, when Reagan quickly breaks his promise to not retreat after 241 Americans are murdered, it's okay. But, it's terrible when BHO doesn't openly attack Iran to get back our drone.

I can't recall we left Beirut after the attack on the Marines.

BTW, who's running this sloppy CIA outfit? One of those Obama lackeys, no doubt.

Actually, a lot of old hacks from first the Roosevelt and then Kennedy Administrations.; 1/17/12, 7:40 PM
Phil 314 said...: So did the Iranians also tell him where he could put it?; 1/17/12, 8:07 PM
Crimso said...: "I see."

I don't think you do. There are plenty of reasons to attack Iran, none of which involve drones (pick any of the reasons stretching from 1979 to the present; the ones where Iran is committing acts of war against the U.S. are the ones I'm thinking of).; 1/17/12, 8:24 PM
RTC said...: This could have been avoided if Obama had just taken decisive action and ordered an airstrike on the drown as soon as it went down. Welcome Back Carter.; 1/17/12, 8:43 PM
Chip S. said...: Ah, Obama's long game is working yet again.; 1/17/12, 9:04 PM
sakredkow said...: This could have been avoided if Obama had just taken decisive action and ordered an airstrike on the drown as soon as it went down.

Yeah that wouldn't be hard to do. What could go wrong there?; 1/17/12, 9:15 PM
Neal said...: So, was the toy made in China?; 1/17/12, 9:34 PM
Paul said...: I guess Obama will now apologize to the Iranians (didn't he do that already?)

So maybe he needs to get on his hands and knees. He seems good at groveling.

As for the Iranians, hey, I don't blame them, enemy as they are.

Maybe they will send Obama a miniature version as a suppository and some gels for him to use with the 'drone'.; 1/17/12, 9:57 PM
Paul said...: "But I fear there isn't a Reagan among us"

Ah, don't we miss Bush. 'W' would have simply bombed the airport where the drone was and fixed that pronto.; 1/17/12, 10:00 PM
Ryan Costa said...: Maybe I am missing something, but what would be so hard about ordering a precision air strike when the drone went down in order prevent the Iranians (Chinese, Russians, etc.) from obtaining the technology? Assuming it didn't land in a population center, I wouldn't think there is a high casualty risk. So what is the risk? Iran gets upset that we entered there borders? A little late for that. They start covertly killing our troops? Ditto. Threaten to block the Strait of Hormuz?; 1/17/12, 10:07 PM
Job said...: "Maybe BHO should follow the Reagan response after 241 Americans where murdered by Muslim terrorists."

Using the deaths of 241 brave Americans to score cheap political points against a man who has been dead for almost a decade.

You stay classy.; 1/17/12, 10:10 PM
Synova said...: I never quite understood asking for it back. Seriously? If we got hold of something like that... enemy technology and an awesome PR opportunity, would *we* give it back? I sure hope not.

Making toys of it is d*mn funny.

Yes, of course it's embarrassing and bad and very much not good that Iran has it. How does asking for it back improve that?

Maybe a behind the scenes arm twist or horse trade but we've got to have leverage for that to work (or a horse to trade) and what would be worth more to US than the PR crowing and possible technical examination is to Iran?

Expecting people to be *stupid* just because it would be good for *us* is... stupid.

But that's an unfortunately common notion about foreign policy... if they like us, if we're *popular*, then those other countries will act in ways contrary to their own interests.; 1/17/12, 10:11 PM
Synova said...: "This could have been avoided if Obama had just taken decisive action and ordered an airstrike on the drown as soon as it went down. Welcome Back Carter."

Carter actually did order a military rescue mission early on but the helicopters crashed.; 1/17/12, 10:14 PM
Cedarford said...: Trad guy ....P3 Orion for three weeks early in the Bush Admin.

The pilots of the P3 got into big trouble for not bailing out and setting the destruct charges on their flying SIGINT laboratory.

They didn't get in big trouble. There were 24 intel people and Navy on that plane. Not an easy "the two pilots just bail out" situation.
They destroyed what they could and the pilots managed to land the seriously damaged plane in enemy controlled territory (yes, China is an enemy).

===============
Job said...
"Maybe BHO should follow the Reagan response after 241 Americans where murdered by Muslim terrorists."

Using the deaths of 241 brave Americans to score cheap political points against a man who has been dead for almost a decade.

You stay classy
======================
The easy way the "heroes" were butchered - Americans and French - led both countries to conclude the Israelis had drawn them in and was trying to make them co-bag holders with Israel after the 1982 invasion...that they faced a competent enemy and the situation was not the straightforward peacekeeping mission as the Israelis had stated it was.
Luckily, both Reagan and Mitterand were surrounded by people smart enough to say it was best to cut their losses with just a few Marine and French para casualties then spend the next 10-15 years and 100s of billions policing Sharon's mess.
One of the smarter people succeeded Reagan as President and the remaining wise people gave us the Gulf War we won, paid for completely with "donations" from foreign nations....and STOPPED THE WAR...before we were sucked into an Iraq quagmire, civil war, 100s of billions in losses.

In hindsight, Reagan, Bush I, and the rest of that crew recognized limits to US power that Dubya and the Neocons were clueless about. And the wisdom of cutting lossed.

(Nixon, Truman, and Eisenhower also knew this truth and practiced it..); 1/18/12, 12:08 AM
traditionalguy said...: C-4 is right that bailing out was not the option that the Navy P3 pilot had to chose against. His choice was whether to land on the water and evacuate a sinking airplane. But he chose crew safety over taking that risk. That choice was against his standing order, although the crew appreciated him for it.; 1/18/12, 3:21 AM
Robert Cook said...: "What are you guys, children?"

Yes.; 1/18/12, 6:47 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Well, there's no doubt the inauguration of Reagan brought the hostage-holding to a swift end. It's been speculated that they waited until Reagan's inauguration to release them as a big FU to Carter."

It's also been speculated that the Reagan team negotiated with the Iranians in secret before the election, making certain promises to them if they held the hostages until after the election.

Given that the hostages were released moments after Reagan took his oath of office, and that days later we began shipping arms to Iran, I'd say that's a much more likely explanation than any other, particulary more believable than the always ludicrous belief that "Iran was so a-scared of big, bad Ronnie they shit themselves in fear and let the hostages go free to save their asses!"

In short, Ronnie the Great White Man's Hope, was probably a traitor to America, (or his people were, if they did this without his knowledge or assent, equally believable).; 1/18/12, 6:56 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... It's also been speculated that the Reagan team negotiated with the Iranians in secret before the election, making certain promises to them if they held the hostages until after the election..."

It's been speculated. That's right up there with I heard from a friends cousin's sister who dated a guy that said you are an idiot.

Reagan, one of the greatest Presidents, restored this country's pride and integrity and was a principle force in bringing down the Soviet Union. It's not surprising Robert Cook would despise him and call him a traitor.; 1/18/12, 7:42 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Reagan, one of the greatest Presidents, restored this country's pride and integrity and was a principle force in bringing down the Soviet Union."

Let's see...nope, nope, and...nope!; 1/18/12, 8:53 AM
damikesc said...: Should Obama withdraw as Reagan did?

Well, if Congress pulls funding as they did to Reagan, he would have to.; 1/18/12, 10:17 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... Let's see...nope, nope, and...nope!.."

Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.; 1/18/12, 10:48 AM