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Keith Thomson

Keith Thomson

Posted: January 5, 2011 02:23 PM

True story: Early this week, a griffon vulture flew across the Israeli border and into Saudi Arabia, where it was captured on suspicion of espionage. Local authorities found a GPS transmitter on the bird as well as a leg bracelet emblazoned with TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY. Despite claims by Tel Aviv University scientists that the creature had been tagged as part of a long-term study of area migration patterns using satellite tracking, Saudi Arabian newspaper al-Weeam reported the likelihood of "a Zionist plot." [read Huffington Post news account]

This concern comes on the heels of recent reports of sharks and jellyfish weaponized by the Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence service, then dispatched to wreak havoc on Egyptian tourism. Moreover, as Middle Eastern rumor has it, Israel possesses unmanned aerial vehicles -- a.k.a. drones -- disguised as barn swallows, so the captured vulture could at least be a decoy. As one al-Qaeda member recently lamented: Step out of your house, you risk being blown up; Stay inside, your house gets blown up too. Whether the vulture innocently flew off course or was in fact part of an elaborate Mossad covert operation, the psychological effect is the same.

And lethal robotic vultures are a possibility.

The U.S. Army is developing robotic bats that fly autonomously, powered by their own self-recharging lithium batteries. With lifelike outer layers of bat fur and features and the realistic manner they flap their wings, land and perch, these "Com-Bats" can fool real bats, let alone men, all the while transmitting what they see and hear in real-time, from miles away.

2011-01-05-combat.jpg
The Com-Bat

In addition, Israel has made no secret of its fleet of unmanned aerial systems, ranging from the Frisbee-size Mosquito to the Heron, a veritable flying arsenal with a wingspan nearly that of a 737.
2011-01-05-Israelsmosquitouav.jpg
The Mosquito

As intelligence community wisdom goes: Take an existing unclassified device, imagine it with two decades worth of technological enhancement, and it's not unreasonable to assume that the clandestine service "Toy Makers" have it already.

2011-01-05-Heron.jpg
The Heron
 
 
 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
martintillier
human
05:24 PM on 01/09/2011
It is all a bit mad when an Al Qai'da member is quoted as bemoaning the chances of being blown-up. Suddenly realising that its not much fun being targeted huh ? Not that any of this ridiculous speculation has anything to do with the reality of the paranoia of Saudi "intelligence" operatives who suspect a Griffon Vulture of espionage and "arrest" it. Makes me think that maybe the Saudi's are the ones who should be wearing tin-foil hats, so that " The Mossad" cant read their minds with their flying psychic-robot-crows. This article was brought to you by our middle east correspondent Phil Space.
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03:52 PM on 01/09/2011
Mr. Thomson, while the Heron does have an impressive wingspan, to say it's "nearly as large as a 737" is a bit like saying a kite is as big as a refrigerator. From your own article you link to up there: "The Heron is 43 feet long with a wingspan of 85 feet, or about that of a Boeing 737." The 737 Classic is over 100 feet long, with a wingspan of 94 feet, 9 inches and a height of 36 feet 4 inches. Empty, it weighs about 35 tons. The Heron is nowhere near so large.
Thelonius
Lived in Middle East for
03:20 PM on 01/09/2011
Nor should we forget that during its 1982 unprovoked blitzkrieg attack/invasion of Lebanon that caused the death of 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, the IDF employed doberman pinchers with explosives attached that were set off by remote control as the dogs ran into tunnels with resistance fighters therein.
03:42 PM on 01/09/2011
beyond your laughable conspiracy theory, calling the israeli invasion of lebanon unprovoked is like calling world war 2 unprovoked.
04:37 PM on 01/08/2011
If this is symptomatic for Saudi thinking, you don’t have to wonder why no Nobel Prize has ever been awarded to a Saudi (while 9 Nobel Prizes have gone to Israel). But it rather adds to my worries about what will happen with Saudi Arabia once the oil reserves will have been depleted: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/it-was-the-mossad-2/
02:11 PM on 01/08/2011
Did you hear the one about Mossad trained hunter-killer clouds that capture rain before it falls on water parched arab lands? This ultra secret project was a joint operation of Israel and the U.S. developed at Area 51.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
NTT
Fighting rants with facts
01:16 PM on 01/07/2011
Why use only robotic vultures? Perhaps the Mossad also uses spy robots disguised to pass for Saudi men? Women would be even easier, how does one see if it's robot or woman under the abaya and niqab?

Want proof?? None whatsoever available, of course. But one can always write a blog about... absolutely nothing. Just use, like Mr. Keith Thomas here, the "intelligence community wisdom".
10:26 AM on 01/07/2011
The Mossad does NOT use pigs though
09:24 PM on 01/06/2011
I just saw an egret in the Everglades. It had a Star of David tattoed on its wing. Wonder if the Mossad did it?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
YankeeCanuck
dog
08:03 PM on 01/06/2011
Wot th' ?!? No. I'm pretty sure if Israel wanted to spy, they have better technology than a buzzard.
No.
05:16 PM on 01/06/2011
The very title betrays the entire inane premise.
09:38 PM on 01/06/2011
Fanned! Good job,as usual!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
joeinvt
the human being and fish can coexist
04:23 PM on 01/06/2011
Israel gives Saudi Arabia the bird. So what else is new?
09:39 PM on 01/06/2011
Good job,Israel! They deserve a big "BIRD"..as financiers of terrorism!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Regenleif Ali
We promote peace.
07:07 AM on 01/09/2011
what is terrorism??? define it please wont you, in relation to the current evvents??
03:47 PM on 01/06/2011
The vulture should be given the right of return to Israel.
09:25 PM on 01/06/2011
He's NOT a homing pigeon!
02:57 PM on 01/06/2011
Am I the only one who saw the irony in this sentence?

"As one al-Qaeda member recently lamented: Step out of your house, you risk being blown up; Stay inside, your house gets blown up too."

AQ members are "lamenting" being blown up? YEAH...it's really terrible when you or your house gets blown up, isn't it, AQ?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
patches12
02:56 PM on 01/06/2011
LOLs.. yea and the Moosad has a talking camel that has infiltrated Iran..
11:00 AM on 01/07/2011
It returned the recent comment of...MOOOOOOON RIVER!
01:35 PM on 01/06/2011
Oh no, Mossad Jelly fish, say it ain’t so. Where’s Ziva David when you need her.