Posted on 09/07/2009 2:26:50 PM PDT by Shermy
Just as President Jacques Chirac was vehemently arguing against invading Iraq in late 2002, General Philippe Rondot wrote that he had been given the green light to "recover" top officials including Tariq Aziz, Saddam's foreign minister.
Previously unseen extracts of Gen Rondot's private diaries were reprinted in the newspaper Libération.
In a passage dated Dec 3, 2002, the general refers to an "agreement in principle to 'recover' if necessary Mr Aziz and Al-Rafai" – said to be a senior Ba'ath Party politician.
The two men were believed to have been considered useful to the French while Gen Rondot knew Aziz well. The two governments also had a history of shared business interests.
Three weeks later Gen Rondot met Mr Chirac's chief of staff and wrote: "Iraq situation report: exfiltration of personalities: ex Tareq [sic] Aziz, sources, engineers. My trip to the zone, mid-January."
Then on Jan 2, 2003, he met the then French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin, famed for his fierce opposition to the imminent US-led invasion at the United Nations Security Council.
After the meeting, he noted: "Informed of my projects on S. Hussein."
Understand that we should recover Iraqis seeking to "shelter" in the embassy, sensitive researchers, the case of Tareq Aziz," according to Libération.
The general then apparently drew up a list of the Iraqi officials and engineers that France should protect.
On Jan 12, Gen Rondot reported having received at least a partial green light for his "operational proposals".
On Jan 15, in an update to Mr Villepin, he suggested that Syria could serve as a launch base for various clandestine operations in the Iraq.
In fact, France did not take in Aziz before or after the invasion of March 20; he ended up surrendering himself to US forces on April 24...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Gee, I am reminded of the Democrap musings that I had to quash at a graduation party 3 years ago. The hostess’s father was this old Lib stick-in-the-mud. The codger had no freakin’ clue as to how much France was in cahoots with Saddam.
France should have had their weapons manufacturing eliminated when it was figured out they were still supplying Saddama
Ping.
ping
Phornicate the Phrench
When the CIA informed France that Carlos the Jackal was in the Sudan, it was Rondot who served as the French go-between. An Arabist, he is a man who knows where ALL the bodies are buried.
I’d go as far as wagering that Chirac and Saddam were literally lovers.
Exposes why Bush felt the need to attack when he did. The UN was steadily moving towards removing the sanctions on Iraq in return for bribes and favors to the various governments. Of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Iraq had China, Russia and France in their pocket with only the US and the UK pushing for enforcement of BINDING UN SANCTIONS (requiring positive action from member states) to restrain the Hussein regime. Imagine (in the words of John Lennon) a world where Sadaam Hussein was free of supervision and still had the means of reconstructing his weapons programs within months to years.
WOW, finally the French are admitting that they were very good friends of Saddam regime.
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