Obama is really blowing it with this lost drone issue.

Would we give another nation's spy drone back if it were doing missions over our country? Hell no, so not sure why he's even asking for it back.

Agreed - basically. If it was a nation we wished to remain on good terms with, we would likely return it (say Mexico or Canada) after making a big stink and thoroughly examining it. China, probably not, but maybe depending on the circumstances.

Even if credible evidence existed that it was truly an accidental incursion, the US would strip down and delay return of the property.

I am just surprised there is no "Auto-destruct" or "auto disable" (don't want it accidentally exploding near civilians) which would, essentially, fry the internal workings.

Right, it makes him look stupid.
I wonder if his request was warranted so we can say that we exhausted all diplomatic solutions before we did something more drastic.

Well, I would hope we don't do anything "drastic" over a damn drone. It's not worth any American or Iranian lives.

Not sure what any one expected of him. He's stuck with the "oops, it malfunctioned, we weren't really sppying on you." I can't see him saying "Damn right we were spying on you. F' international law - We got 5 more drones over Tehran right now. Hell, I know when and where you took your last dump dumbass". At the same time, he is the same guy who sent the Delta team in to fight a firefight on a so-called ally's territory w/out their consent.

Just a big egg on your face moment with no good resolution.

Captured Drone May Have Limited Benefit For Iran : NPR (http://www.npr.org/2011/12/13/143595594/captured-drone-may-have-limited-benefit-for-iran?ft=1&f=1004)

How smart could the Damn Drone be? Obviously, we were unable to teach the damn thing to blow itself up....

Really, a simple bit of housebreaking and we wouldn't have this problem:

"Sit Drone, Sit! Now ... Play Dead!" <BOOM>

How smart could the Damn Drone be? Obviously, we were unable to teach the damn thing to blow itself up....
They forgot to print the self destruction manual in Spanish , as the drone was made at a GM plant in Mexico :(

Perhaps we shouldn't be putting sensitive pieces of equipment in harm's way if we don't want to take the risk they'll be confiscated.

they should have followed it with a missile/bomb strike on the wreckage... that's SoP.

they should have followed it with a missile/bomb strike on the wreckage... that's SoP.

Right, however that would mean we'd be "bombing" Iran.
That opens up a whole new can of worms.

I dont think Obama has many options.

its been reported they thought about sending a recon team in or "bombing" it. Im sure Iran anticipated a recon team and that option would have been another failure.

Bombing would just rachet up the tension and perhaps give Iran the reason they are looking for to continue denying UN access to their facilities.

Iran isnt Iraq, its not some desert country with guys riding camels and ak-47s.

Iran recently took down our entire CIA spy network in Iran. The whole thing.

Bolton said the scary thing is the thought that Iran has purchased jamming technology from Russia in which they could jam missles, drones etc. A much bigger problem than Iran having materials they couldnt begin to know how to replicate.

There is a huge spy operative war going on in Iran and in the US (Iran operatives trying to assasinate ambassadors on US soil). Tit for tat.