Chirac fumes over claims that France sold missiles to Iraq

Telegraph.uk ^ | 10-05-03

[Brian S]

Chirac fumes over claims that France sold missiles to Iraq By Philip Sherwell and Kim Willsher (Filed: 05/10/2003)

An angry President Jacques Chirac of France yesterday forced the Polish government to withdraw claims that its troops had found four French anti-aircraft missiles, manufactured earlier this year, at a weapons dump in Iraq.

Poland's defence ministry expressed "regret" last night over the reports, first made on Friday evening, that it had uncovered missiles which could only have been supplied to Iraq in breach of the United Nations weapons embargo.

Polish soldiers work to uncover the Roland-type missiles which were discovered last week near Hilla

However, the statement released in Warsaw did not assuage President Chirac's fury at suggestions that France may have supplied Saddam Hussein's regime with weapons in the months before the US-led invasion.

"I believe that the Polish soldiers have created confusion that could have been avoided with thorough verification," he said.

The controversy arose from the markings on the Roland-type missiles discovered last week near Hilla, south of Baghdad. In photographs released in Warsaw, the markings included the coding: 07-01 KND 2003.

Polish forces apparently took this to indicate the date of manufacture, but France insisted that it has produced no Roland missiles since 1993. Defence officials said the significance of the code was not immediately clear, and a Pentagon official said the style of markings did not correspond to those usually used by France.

Further investigation has been hampered as the Polish troops destroyed the missiles last week. It is standard procedure for former Iraqi ordnance to be blown up by Coalition forces.

Mr Chirac is particularly prickly about accusations that French weaponry had reached Iraq as recently as this year, even if via a third country, as France has a poor reputation for selling arms to dubious regimes.

At the European Union summit in Rome, Mr Chirac rejected the reports out of hand and said he had made his point "in a friendly but frank and firm way" during two meetings with Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller.

The French Foreign Ministry has emphasised that France has not authorised the sale of weapons, or even spare parts, to Iraq since 1990.

[Oreo Kookey]

The fumes are gagging me.

[Izzy Dunne]

France has a poor reputation for selling arms to dubious regimes.

On the contrary, their reputation for selling arms to dubious regimes is most excellent.

[Support Free Republic]

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[dighton]

... President Chirac's fury ...

Not meant to be funny, but funny nonetheless.

[Izzy Dunne]

France has not authorised the sale of weapons

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know-what-I-mean, know-what-I-mean?

[ChefKeith]

Further investigation has been hampered as the Polish troops destroyed the missiles last week.

I guess the frogs got lucky, since they forgot to remove the ser#'s before they shipped the goods

[upchuck]

Mr Chirac is particularly prickly about accusations that French weaponry had reached Iraq as recently as this year, even if via a third country, as France has a poor an excellent reputation for selling arms to dubious regimes.

See, I told ^ you he wuz gonna be pi$$ed :)

[GeronL]

French Fury?? hehehe

[Texas Eagle]

Give it up, Jacqueseaux. Everyone knows you cheese-eating surrender minkeys sold Saddam bimbs.

And everyone knows he got the money to buy the bimbs from the idiotic "food for oil" program your fellow brainiacs at the UN concocted.

Furthermore, your mother was a hamster and your father stank of elderberries.

[MHGinTN]

What ever happened to those investigations of Jacque getting caught in the backseat of his gov limo with that young teen boy, unclothed?

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

"France insisted that it has produced no Roland missiles since 1993."

"The French army first deployed the Roland 3 advanced missile in 1995. "
In the 10th paragraph.

Golly, do I believe the French? Or not?

[Texas Eagle]

I hadn't heard about that, but from what you tell me, apparently he got off.

[vger]

And just exactly who supplied the SAMs to saddamn that he has been shooting at U.S. Pilots for the last 3 years before we liberated Iraq?.

[Dan Evans]

Looks like U.S. soldiers found a batch of these back in April:
http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/actu/article.gb.asp?ART=34034
Q - Do you have any comments on the article in Newsweek reporting that US troops in Iraq have discovered Franco-German missiles?

Like several other western states, including the US by the way, France exported weapons to Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s: Roland 1 missiles and firing systems in 1980-81, Roland 2 missiles and firing systems in 1983-86. All deliveries, including spare parts, were broken off in the summer of 1990. France has strictly observed the embargo on weapons since then.

We confirm in particular that there was no export of Roland missiles or parts to Iraq after 1990. The marking cited by Newsweek (05/11 KND 2002) does not correspond to markings used by the French MBDA company on these missiles.
Roland 1 and 2 went out of production in 1988 and 1993 respectively. So it's impossible for a Roland 2 to have been manufactured in 2002.
With that stated, the Iraqis did have significant quantities of parts and could have cannibalized firing units and put new markings on them. So it's possible the Roland missiles are still operational.

Need I add that we gave the US authorities full information about our exports prior to 1991 in preparation for the Gulf War in which France took part.
As for the allegation about the discovery of a burnt-out Roland firing unit, two things should be borne in mind:

- one, no Roland 3 missile or firing unit was ever exported to Iraq. There have been very few exports of this type of missile and those that were exported were coupled with a strict clause barring re-export.
- also, to my knowledge, the Roland 2 and Roland 3 firing units are practically identical, differing only in software. Being able to distinguish a burnt-out unit is quite a feat, and we would like to check it.
In general if the US authorities have elements leading them to questions about possible embargo violations by French persons or companies, we would like to be informed so as to make the necessary checks and where necessary punish such violations.
But at this stage the insinuations in the article you referred definitely don't seem to be based on reliable indicators.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

CENTCOM Operation Iraqi Freedom Briefing ~ 09 April 2003

(search for Roland)

[RockyMtnMan]

I don't think the Frenchies are dumb enough to have sold new missiles to Iraq. But to deny that they have been found in Iraq is plain stupid. They should be trying to figure out who those serial numbers were actually sold to, like maybe Saudi Arabia?

[auntdot]

Why don't we just make it lying cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys-who-would-sell-their-sisters?

Sounds about right to me.

[Mr. Mojo]

The truth hurts, eh Frog?

[SAJ]

Doubtless, he could control the fumes by bathing on a regular basis, say daily.

Quelle domage?