Polish defence spokesman resigns over missile row [French Missile Sales to Iraq]

MSNBC (Reuters) ^ | 10/7/03 | Staff

[TastyManatees]

Polish defence spokesman resigns over missile row

WARSAW, Oct. 7 — Poland's defence ministry spokesman resigned on Tuesday after triggering a diplomatic row by saying French-made missiles found in Iraq were manufactured in 2003. ''Colonel Eugeniusz Mleczak asked Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to relieve him of his post as press spokesman. That request was accepted,'' said the ministry in a short statement.

On Friday Mleczak said the missiles were manufactured in 2003, but this was denied by French President Jacques Chirac, who said the missiles had been out of production for 15 years.

[TastyManatees]

Last week, the Polish government announced that its commandos had found French-built Roland anti-aircraft missiles in Iraq with "2003" stamped on them. This was a big deal to the French, because their beloved U.N. passed a resolution in 1991 barring such sales. The French immediately went into spin mode, first with a denunciation by their spokeswoman claiming France had not "licensed" any sales to Iraq after 1991 (implying they had sold missiles to Saddam using Syria as a cutout in between them). Then, Chirac came out and claimed these missiles hadn't been produced since 1993 (yet didn't claim no sales of missiles produced before 1993 had gone out this year). I put up two blurbs at TastyManatees.com on the issue. Note, I have not edited or retracted them. Let me put it bluntly, I considered running a retraction of some sort after Chirac made his statement, but decided against it. I don't trust the French spin, and I personally think the French sold anti-aircraft missiles to Saddam.

Here's why. The Polish commandos weren't idiots. When they had the missiles in front of them, they knew exactly what they were looking at when they saw missiles stamped with "2003" on them. Either that was the manufacturing date or the shipping date. Neither would make the French sales to Saddam any more palatable.

Neither is Chirac an idiot, he knows how easily he can push Poland around, and he knows how much credibility France would lose in claiming the supremacy of the U.N. if she was demonstrated to be in violation of a security council resolution. Poland is currently a "candidate country" trying to gain acceptance into the European Union. Chirac has shown his willingness to play hardball in the past, and I believe he called the Polish president and told him to do what he was told or else. Although there is no evidence of it, I'm guessing the Polish defense minister's head was the price Poland had to pay to keep France from opposing their entry into the EU or doing something equally as unpleasant. Note that no one from Poland's armed forces has come forward and explained how a "mistake" was made. One would think the technical details of how they mistook "2003" for, say "1988", would be important to the believability of the apology. Thus, I don't think the Polish president's actions or the resignation of the defense minister has anything to do with an error on their part.

Tasty Manatees

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[Diogenesis]

Another ally of the USA --- attacked by a lying frog.

Too bad that we can't free for the Poles.

[Quilla]

One would think the technical details of how they mistook "2003" for, say "1988", would be important to the believability of the apology.

You mean one of these missles that have been conveniently (for Chirac) destroyed:

[A. Pole]

Although there is no evidence of it, I'm guessing the Polish defense minister's head was the price Poland had to pay to keep France from opposing their entry into the EU or doing something equally as unpleasant.

There is something else - France/Germany/Italy control big part of Polish economy including banks ("privatized" in fire sale shock "therapy" a few years ago). The another large economical partner is Russia with whom Poland runs large deficts.

Trade with USA is only 3%.

[TastyManatees]

Woah! Where did that picture come from?

Tasty Manatees

[TastyManatees]

Maybe, the article I linked from my site actually says the Poles believed the missiles were built in 2003. I'd love to see where the picture above came from.

Tasty Manatees

[Quilla]

Stole it fair and square from a Free Republic thread and post by snippy about it:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/995109/posts?page=38#38

Check it out, there are several more pictures in the post linked.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Quilla. Matthew Paul, my freeper friend from Poland sent those to me in an email to post them here. Right off the tv in Poland!

[Diogenesis]

[cookcounty]

" missiles stamped with "2003" on them. Either that was the manufacturing date or the shipping date."

Why would it have to be one of these two? It could be a lot-number, and expiration date, a reference number of some sort, a re-shipping date. It said "KDN 2003" What does "KDN" refer to? It doesn't look French as use the letter "k" is a fairly rare occurance in french ( more like the frequency of a "z" or "Q" in english). It seems hasty to limit it to "shpping or mfg date.

[TastyManatees]

Could be.

[ctonious]

Or, it could be a "Use before 2003" caution, before it begins to taste bad.

[DoctorMichael]

I've been following this story too............

You provide an extremely plausible explanation.

[TastyManatees]

For an interesting discussion of the allegations of French sales to Saddam in the past couple of years, see the French embassy's list (with denials conventiently included).

Tasty Manatees

[alancarp]

I saw video on Fox News that showed these missiles, that particular '2003' stamp as shown on the picture posted above, and (presumably) the destruction of those missiles -- I believe it aired early last week. The '2003' was particularly noted.

[ppaul]

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[archy]

" missiles stamped with "2003" on them. Either that was the manufacturing date or the shipping date."

Why would it have to be one of these two? It could be a lot-number, and expiration date, a reference number of some sort, a re-shipping date. It said "KDN 2003" What does "KDN" refer to? It doesn't look French as use the letter "k" is a fairly rare occurance in french ( more like the frequency of a "z" or "Q" in english). It seems hasty to limit it to "shpping or mfg date.

Battery and seeker-coolant expiration *use-by* date.

-archy-/-

[archy]

[per pic in post #11, above]

That's an American Roland launcher mounted on the chassis of the M270 MLRS barrage rocket launcher vehicle, rather than the chassis utilized by the Iraqis, apparently the Soviet-design MTLB tracked vehicle. The Germans use a tank chassis for a Roland launcher [as with their FlakGepard 30mm AA gun vehicle] with six roadwheels, the French a personnel carrier-derived vehicle with 5 roadwheels per side.

Iraqi Roland missile launch video filmed from Predator ASV *here*.

-archy-/-