Officials: Suspected US Drone Crashes in Pakistan

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP/NYT

Officials: Suspected US Drone Crashes in Pakistan


Filed at 1:10 p.m. ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A suspected U.S. drone crashed in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border Sunday, a rare mishap for a program Washington has increasingly relied on to kill Taliban and al-Qaida militants, said intelligence officials and a local resident.

Local tribesman in North Waziristan were congratulating each other for shooting down the drone, said resident Saudur Rehman. But the Pakistani army rejected similar claims after a drone crashed in neighboring South Waziristan in 2008, saying it was a technical problem.

''I saw that the aircraft was coming down and finally crashed in an open area a distance from me,'' said Rehman, who indicated he heard gunfire just before the crash. ''Tribesmen are celebrating and congratulating each other for shooting it down.''

<snip>

North Waziristan is dominated by militant groups that stage cross-border attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. One of those groups, the Haqqani network, an al-Qaida-linked Afghan Taliban faction, is believed to have helped orchestrate the Dec. 30 suicide bombing at a remote base in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/24/world/AP-AS-Pakistan.html

[OnyxCollie]

1. These are not the drones you have been looking for.

We have always been at war with Pakistan.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

[zonkers]

2. I spotted a black furry drone hovering in your post.

[zeemike]

4. What some dogs won't do to get attention

he is sitting in that swing laughing at us.
I have seen your posts many times and often wondered whether you taught him to do that or did he pick it up on his own...as a way to get attention.

[OnyxCollie]

6. Well, it's not like Belgian sheepdogs jump through hoops in nature.

He has much subtler ways of getting my attention.

[lunatica]

3. Headline says crash and article says shot down

I suspect it was shot down.

[hack89]

5. Hard to imagine it was shot down

they fly too high for any type of surface to air missile that the tribes would have.

[krkaufman]

7. Given that we created drones with video signals that could be hacked ...

... I expect we'll learn, at some point, that the drone controls can be easily disrupted using a microwave oven.

[winyanstaz]

8. talk about giving an enemy a nice weapon....

Now the government can make these too if they dont already have them.

[hack89]

9. Can they also make communications satellites?

Making a big model airplane is no big deal - even the Iranians can do that. The sensors and communications are a different matter.

[rgbecker]

10. Not to mention the missles the damn things shoot.

[winyanstaz]

11. You got me there...do they have tv? ..

I would think they would have a satellite or two by now...but I am not certain of that.