Regards, Ivan
Posted on 06/18/2004 4:40:43 PM PDT by MadIvan
France has been accused of agreeing to a crackdown on exiled opponents of Iran in return for lucrative commercial contracts.
Lawyers for France's human rights league, speaking on the anniversary of a huge police raid on the National Council of Resistance of Iran near Paris, pointed out "troubling coincidences" in the timing of the operation and a series of deals with Teheran.
In March last year, the regime signed a large contract with the French telecommunications group Alcatel for a telephone network.
In April last year Teheran offered the petrol giant TotalFina a £660 million gas fields contract. At the same time, a contract was signed with Renault to produce 500,000 cars over four years, the lawyers said.
Then, in June, police arrested 164 members of the Iranian opposition and placed 17 under investigation for having links with or funding terrorism. The authorities said they were looking for a link with a mortar attack on the office of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in Teheran in 2000.
"The public should ask itself why this type of operation [was made] at the same time as commercial contracts were signed with a tyrannical and terrorist regime," said Patrick Baudoin, a lawyer.
One year on, not a shred of evidence incriminating the 17 had been found, said Mr Baudoin, who will file for the case to be closed next Tuesday. The French state had "flouted the rule of law to gain from petro-dollars", he said.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Fascinating, as your posts usually are...I guess that Chirac's complicity with Hussein in Iraq is all finished, so now he wants some lucrative contracts with Iran...Hasn't he learned his lesson?
As I recall, President Bush called three nation names in the "Axis of Evil" speech: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. From the IAEA grumbling about Iran and nuclear weapons this past week, I'd imagine that Iran will be next on the problem-solving list. ;-D
And just why would this be any of frances business?
They sure were not this eager to hand over convicted murderer Ira Einhorn.
I guess if you are opposing a tyrannical government they will arrest you even if there is no evidence. Being convicted of killing your girlfriend and keeping her body in your closet is A-ok though.
Ping!
Ivan: "Pardon me, I'm going to be ill. This represents a new low, even for Chirac."
Thanks to FR, I remember Chirac's car deals are nothing new - he traded them for nuke tech. That caught my eye.
From last week:
How Israel Denied Saddam the Bomb
FP: What exactly was the relationship between French President Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein?Claire: Their relationship reached back 30 years, when Chirac was French Prime Minister. He first visited Baghdad in 1974, when he and the Iraqi leader worked out a far-reaching trade agreement which made France Iraq's number one trading partner, along with the Soviet Union, later Russia.
The initial deal called for France to sell Iraq a state-of-the-art nuclear reactor that produced enriched uranium as a by-product and which could easily be converted to weapons-grade plutonium. Iraq agreed to pay twice the "list price" for the Osiris reactor, or $300 million. In return, Iraq would sell France 70 million barrels of oil a year at fixed market price, buy 100,000 Peugots and Citroens, in lots of 50,000, hundreds of Mirage fighter planes, sophisticated French radar and anti-aircraft systems. A side agreement also contracted French developers to build a billion dollar resort on the lake at Habbaniya. The deal was sealed when Hussein visited France in 1975, feted as an esteemed internation leader by the French Republic.
The military sales to Iraq would continue up until the Coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Nope. See # 9. It's his M.O.
Jacques "Ass" Chirac and any who support him is the enemy of the free world. I guess he misses old buddy, Saddam, so he's snuggling up with Iran now. Twit.
That's the punchline - does anybody remember the rest of the joke?
Remember when he held joint naval exercises with the Chinese Navy... during the Taiwanese elections? This is not a new low for Chirac, it's his normal wormy state.
The timing is suspicious. And Chirac is in bed with the Iranian regime. But let's not forget that MEK is listed as a terrorist group here in the U.S.. That may change at some point, but they're still on the designated Terrorist list now.
That would be the kind of thing Mssr. Chirac might do himself. So, of course, it's A-ok.
He never fails to disappoint.
Boy this story smells just like...France!
Thank you Shermy. No wonder the Jews are leaving France...the world is lining up to take sides...the biggest conflict is ahead...we need to be busy making a list, checking it twice, have to find out who's naughty and nice...and we must never forget...
Incidently, Venezuela's Chavez, a protege of Castro, is/was also Saddam Hussein's good friend...we mustn't forget that...and Venezuela sells us a great deal of oil...if Chavez isn't voted out (is the referendum/election this fall?) then we must not forget about him...
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