Posted on 09/04/2002 1:56:47 PM PDT by kattracks
And (I am given to understand) much less punctilious than most developed world countries about ensuring that their corporations do not violate sanctions, pay bribes to receive contracts, etc. I bet you're right. There is probably some merde-stained linen the frogs don't want aired.
You asked:
"What did France know and when did they know it? And why are they afraid of the rest of the world being given this evidence?"
Because the French helped Iraq develop its nukes, biological weapons and chemical weapons.
With friends like these...
No doubt there is something there they don't want decent people (i.e. anybody but politicians) to see, such as French complicity in Iraq nuclear weapons programs. After all, the French were building the reactor the Israelis destroyed in 1981. Who says they aren't neck deep in Saddam's current programs?
Contact the French Tourist Board
I sent them this email:
Due to the anti-American positions of the French govenment, I will never again travel to France or spend a penny on a French product. In addition, I am going to be part of a campaign to boycott your cowardly little country.
GOOD!!!
Aerospatiale and Matra Espace - for use with missiles, Contracted to supply the high-resolution optic system capable of infra-red photography for a Brazilian-made reconnaissance satellite.
CERBAG - nuclear technology, CERBAG is a consortium of Technicatome, SGN, Bouygues, Comsip Entreprise, and Construction Navales et Industrielles de la Mediterrannee (CNIM). Built the Osirak reactor (under international safeguards) in 1981 which Israel destroyed in 1981, and a critical assembly; provided about 12.5 kilograms of highly-enriched uranium reactor fuel; contract valued at $37.5 million.
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique - nuclear technology, in 1981, Supplied three tons of heavy water along with the Osirak reactor.
Protec SA - chemical weapons, from 1986 to 1990, Exported a DM2.2 million chemical weapon factory to Iraq jointly with German firms Karl Kolb and WET; bought chemical equipment from other French firms for resale to Iraq; attempted to export 12 tons of tabun precursors, seized by French authorities.
Sagem - missile technology, Listed in Consen documents as the potential supplier of inertial navigation and guidance system for the Condor II intermediate-range missile during the 1980's.
Sciaky - nuclear technology, Manufactured two electron beam welders found by U.N. inspectors at nuclear weapon sites; capable of being used to develop nuclear weapons.
SGN (Societe Generale pour les Techniques Nouvelles) - nuclear technology, in the 1970's - Supplied auxiliary facilities for Tuwaitha nuclear center, including an effluent treatment station and a laboratory hot cell useful in extracting plutonium from spent reactor fuel.
Thomson CSF - Military - 1990: Supplied radar technology used to convert an Ilyushin-76 into an AWACS aircraft; sold $157 million worth of defense electronics equipment.
Thomson CSF - Military, nuclear - Built Saad 13, a military radar factory, on a turnkey basis on contract with State Organization for Technical Industries (SOTI), for $600 million; Saad 13 also called Salah al Din, which manufactured high-frequency military communication equipment and radar, under license for the Iraqi army, and was found by U.N. inspectors to have manufactured components for equipment used in making nuclear fuel for the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (which had primary responsibility for the centrifuge program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons); Thomson representatives were present from mid-1980 until the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Thomson CSF - Nuclear - Manufactured high voltage DC switches such as thyrister oblique switches, found during IAEA inspections.
What the pattern suggests is that France has been heavily involved with supplying much of Iraq's nuclear technology from the 1980's on through. This is just what is in the public domain. What else is there I wonder?
Regards, Ivan
Nope. Start killing dictators and give the world community (their share of) the check. This is what the manuevering and the hand holding is all about. Regime change in Iraq, including the several years the new government will need outside security and other sheparding, will cost something like 20 billion dollars. It is unacceptable for America to do the dying and then pick up the full tab as well.
Excellent - that should make it easier to identify his remains if we have a nice, high-quality satellite photo of his thumbprint....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.