French missile shock in Iraq

Herald and Weekly Times ^ | 05oct03 | PAWEL KOZLOWSKI

[Dr.Syn]

French missile shock in Iraq
By PAWEL KOZLOWSKI
05oct03

FRENCH-made anti-aircraft missiles built earlier this year have been found in Iraq.

Government officials in Paris were last night struggling to explain how, despite a UN arms embargo being in place for more than 20 years, hi-tech French weaponry made its way to Baghdad.

The sale of French missiles to Iraq at a time when Saddam Hussein was trying to bolster his defences against the looming US invasion threatens to derail efforts to repair the diplomatic damage suffered as a result of Paris's refusal to support military action.

[Dr.Syn]

By Novenmber 2004 all of the doubters will be eating crow!

[Support Free Republic]

"Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our
wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions,
they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
- John Adams -

Make your statement.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Didn't this get debunked recently? Or was the debunkment just propaganda?

[bmwcyle]

Peace in our time, Bomb Paris First!

[.cnI redruM]

I don't know if they'll eat any crow, but the lies they need to tell will have to change dramatically. It's amusing to watch them spin...

[Mo1]

I have no idea .. lately the stories being reported are all over the place

[ClearCase_guy]

The French don't mind eating crow -- they can cook it up real nice.

[Consort]

Is this the same story that was shot down?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Poland: French Missile Report Was Wrong
			Posted by Sub-Driver On 10/04/2003 12:53 PM CDT with 81 comments NYT.com ^ Poland: French Missile Report Was Wrong By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 12:43 p.m. ET WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- After a protest from French President Jacques Chirac, Poland said Saturday it had been mistaken in reporting that its troops found new French-made anti-aircraft misiles in central Iraq. Chirac swiftly denied selling Iraq weapons in violation of the U.N. weapons embargo against Saddam Hussein's regime. The claims, he said, ``are as false today as they were yesterday.'' An aide to the Polish prime minister said an initial report that the Roland missiles found by Polish troops days ago were produced in...

[Paradox]

Debunked, I would have this removed from Breaking News.

[Hootch]

Does the phrase "Anglo-American invasion" have racist undertones? Here is the dicitonary.com definition of Anglo...

An English-speaking person, especially a white North American who is not of Hispanic or French descent.

Are the Phrench Racists?

[Diogenesis]

You don't think the froggies sold ANY of these to Iraq?

[Dr.Syn]

I'm not so sure about being debunked. It is being spun! Most of the denials have to do with the dating of manufacture and not the fact of the missiles being there. Also in the same article it was reported that a vial of botulinum bacteria was also found and has that been addressed yet?

[AmishDude]

I am shocked, shocked to hear there is duplicity going on in France.

Round up the usual suspects.

[xJones]

They were old Rolands of a 1984 vintage or so, when Bell was also selling helicopters to Saddam, cheering on the Iraq-Iran War. The Poles found them, but the tags were a little misleading to them.

[ccmay]

I think it's funny that the name of the Roland missile commemorates a great French warrior who helped save Europe from the fiendish Mohammedan hordes, and yet France peddles them to any unelected Arab dictator who can come up with cold hard cash.

-ccm

[Hootch]

There is a polish joke in that somewhere, but I'm not going to touch it.

[tiamat]

Ironic, but true.

Tia