LAT: Video of Iranian Missile Test Is Fake, Pentagon Says

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON — U.S. military intelligence has determined that a video released by the Iranian government purporting to show a test of a new submarine missile is bogus, three Pentagon officials confirmed.

The Iranians released the video Aug. 27, one of a series of steps the Tehran government has taken in recent months to display its military potency in the midst of a confrontation with the United States and other Western nations over its nuclear ambitions.

The test apparently was designed to intimidate Iran's neighbors in the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which are U.S. allies and important oil-producing countries, regional experts said. The video showed what appeared to be a successful test of a submarine-fired missile that flies above the water's surface to attack ships.

But U.S. intelligence officers analyzed the plume of smoke from the missile and determined it matched a video of an earlier Chinese test.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-missile10sep10,1,2478073.story?coll=la-news-a_section

[pretzel4gore]

1. maybe the Iranians should ratchet up their military spending(!)

(these statistics are fairly old, pre 2003, but they still say it all)
-----------------
Defense Spending
Experts once argued whether Americans would finally grasp the enormity of the
military budget when spending reached $100 billion. Now $416 billion, and
candidates still arguing over who will spend the most, it would appear people still
haven't grasped a budget beyond comprehension.
Here's how political leaders are
spending the discretionary budget.
World's Largest
Military Budgets:
($U.S. Billions)
United States 416.0
Russia* 65.0
China* 47.0
Japan 42.6
U.K. 38.4
France 29.5
Germany 24.9
Saudi Arabia 21.3
Italy 19.4
India 15.6
South Korea 14.1
Brazil* 10.7
Taiwan* 10.7
Israel 10.6
Spain 8.4
Australia 7.6
Canada 7.6
Netherlands 6.6
Turkey 5.8
Mexico 5.9
Kuwait* 3.9
Ukraine 5.0
Iran 4.8
Singapore 4.8
Sweden 4.5
Egypt* 4.4
Norway 3.8
Greece 3.5
Poland 3.5
Argentina* 3.3
U.A.E.* 3.1
Colombia* 2.9
Belgium 2.7
Pakistan* 2.6
Denmark 2.4
Vietnam 2.4
North Korea 2.1
Czech Republic 1.6
Iraq 1.4
Philippines 1.4
Portugal 1.3
Libya 1.2
Hungary 1.1
Syria 1.0
Cuba 0.8
Sudan 0.6
Yugoslavia 0.7
Luxembourg 0.2
Source: www.cdi.org.

[zonkers]

2. Dang it, Iran! Get your plumes of smoke right! Hire some geeks from ILM

or something.

[HuffleClaw]

3. and we should believe the pentagon why?

they lie constantly.

[maddezmom]

4. not saying we should, but I find this bit interesting

"The officials asked that their names not be used because the Defense Department had decided not to publicize the discovery. Taking on the role of superpower tattletale could exacerbate already tense relations, or provoke more, real tests."

perhaps the reason why DOD didn't want it released, is because they wouldn't be able to use the missle threat in calling for sanctions against Iran. :shrug:

[Sherman A1]

5. Precisely

If the Pentagon was going to lie about this one, it would be to ratchet up the threat, not to minimize it. They don't get more dollars by pointing out that the video was fake. Not in their interest at all and just like every other agency the Pentagon is busy worrying about the next budget.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Unnamed officials off the record

provide whatever form of bullshit they choose to provide for whatever reason they choose to provide it, as there is little accountibility for what they say. They could just as easily be taunting Iran to conduct more tests as holding back to avoid hurting the case for war. Clearly the more Iran reveals its actual capabilities the easier it is for our forces to counter them.

[robcon]

6. Iranians lie - even more constanty.

n/t

[oblivious]

10. Can we expand that a bit? Government's lie. It's what they do.

[GeorgeGist]

7. The link in article to the 'fake' video as posted on YouTube...

comes up blank. A search of YouTube for Iran Missile Fake also comes up blank. ? curious

[SpiralHawk]

8. BushCo republicons are experts ate fakery

so they recognize it right away in others.

By the way, where are those WMD's that 3,000 of our sons and daughters have died looking for?

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Rather like our anti-missile tests

[daleo]

12. They are faking missile tests?

It sounds just like the SDI tests. The Pentagon ought to know, then.

[greccogirl]

13. They must've

hired the Rueters guy.