I don't doubt it.
Posted on 09/11/2004 11:18:14 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING
French connection armed Saddam
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein.
First of three excerpts
New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq.
The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the late winter of 2002 helped explain why France refused to deal harshly with Iraq and blocked U.S. moves at the United Nations.
"No wonder the French are opposing us," one U.S. intelligence official remarked after illegal sales to Iraq of military and dual-use parts, originating in France, were discovered early last year before the war began.
That official was careful to stipulate that intelligence reports did not indicate whether the French government had sanctioned or knew about the parts transfers. The French company at the beginning of the pipeline remained unidentified in the reports.
France's government tightly controls its aerospace and defense firms, however, so it would be difficult to believe that the illegal transfers of equipment parts took place without the knowledge of at least some government officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
France is NOT our friend bump.
Their turn will come.
Kerry would have us wait until France came on board before
invading Iraq in order to ensure a "real coalition".
I think that the French people are our friends, but the leadership and the elite are hopelessly corrupt.
(snip)
A close call
One of the most frightening examples of how the militants put French weapons to use against the Americans came Oct. 26, 2003. That morning, at about 6 o'clock, they bombarded the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad with French missiles.
The French rockets nearly killed Wolfowitz, whom Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has called "the brains" of the Pentagon.
The deputy defense secretary had just gotten dressed in his room that Sunday morning when a car stopped several hundred yards from the hotel. It dropped off what appeared to be one of the blue electrical generators that were common in the power-starved Iraqi capital. The driver stayed just long enough to open a panel on the end of the metal box that was pointing upward toward the hotel.
The car sped off. Minutes later, a pod of 40 artillery rockets set off by remote control began firing at the hotel, their trails leaving sparks as they flew. The rockets hit one floor below where Wolfowitz and about a dozen aides and reporters were staying.
One rocket slammed into the room of Army Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, a public-affairs officer. The explosion hit Buehring, 40, in the head. A reporter discovered him and tried to help, but the Fayetteville, N.C., resident died a short time later.
In all, between eight and 10 missiles hit the hotel. The casualties might have been higher, and included Wolfowitz, if the improvised rocket launcher had fired all the missiles.
Because of a malfunction, 11 failed to go off.
Playing defense
Half the missiles fired at Wolfowitz's hotel were French-made Matra SNEB 68-millimeter rockets, with a range of two to three miles. The others were Russian in origin.
The French missiles were "pristine," Navy SEAL commandos reported.
"They were either new or kept in very good condition," said one SEAL who inspected the rocket tubes.
The rockets were thought to have been taken from Iraq's French-made Alouette or Gazelle attack helicopters.
The fact that new French missiles were showing up in the hands of Saddam loyalists months after the fall of Baghdad made Wolfowitz and his close aides livid.
(snip)
Perhaps the WWII generations was. But I fail to see any evidence which indicates modern France is our friend. Kindly provide a link if you found such evidence dear FReeper.
Cheers,
OLA
I say we let the Germans keep them next time.
So far people are not aware that 9/11 was an EU/UN response. So far ...
Rummy needs to have a press conference stating that French missile's were used against us that were manufactured and sold during the military freeze on Iraq. If we make a big enough fuss about this, Kerry would have to answer what coalition partner he is referring to that would help us if he were elected. France needs to be treated worse than S. Africa during Apartheid.
I don't doubt it.
"I think that the French people are our friends, but the leadership and the elite are hopelessly corrupt."
You're living in cloud cuckoo land mate or obviously haven't met many Frenchies lately. Your average Frenchman believes in & backs it's countries socialist policies wholeheartedly and is as anti-US as you'll find in Europe.
I had a conversation recently with a French guy (married to an English friend of ours, lives in the UK, quite intelligent, good job, etc). His opinion of Americans is summed up in his statement...
"They want us all to eat McDonalds hamburgers and drink Coca-Cola" (No kidding, this is word for word what he said)
Also, while there are of course exceptions, generally the French are self serving, self centred, greedy little cowards. History proves this.
Do you have any idea about the dealing between President Reagan and Iraq?
Take a peek here http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php and read 1980 to 1984. Be sure to read the September, 1988 & December, 1988 information. Hell, just read the whole page and you'll learn we aren't the angels you think we are. We sold him everything that we are trying to find now. But don't let the facts get in your way.
Thank you dear FReeper; yes, I'm quite aware of the Iran/Iraq war era. Simply put, our enemy's enemy was our ally. Much like Stalin was our ally against Hitler.
Not only did France provide Iraq with advanced weaponry, they also provided them intelligence. Add to that France's efforts to prevent any real sanctions from moving forward through the U.N.
Plain and simple, France was Saddam's friend and our enemy.
Roger that, CWOJackson. OLA
All the Rolands found in Iraq were from the 1980s batch as supplied in the 1980s. The supplies found by both the US and Polish forces were from this batch. Only the media continued to run with it and showed their ignorance. These were supplied to the Iraqis in the same decade as a US firm supplied Bell helos to Iraq.
Fruck the Fuench.
Gertz is clutching at straws here. 68mm SNEB rockets were in the Iraqi inventory literally in the hundreds of thousands. 68mm SNEBs are as common in the worlds grey and black market arms sales and in the inventories of many middle east nations. Unguided rockets, like the SNEBs, are sealed in containers and even twenty years later can be removed from the packaging factory fresh. Gertz talks non-sense and I'm amazed that individuals lap it up. US TOW missiles have been found in Iraq which are still as fresh as the day they were packed in their crates back in the 1980s. Gertz talks non-sense and I'm amazed that individuals lap it up.
I have to agree with you, mate. I'm unfortunately in a positionm not of my choosing, who is a green card holding resident alien here in the U.S. and he is like a caricature of what a craven, greed-filled, snobbish, drunken frenchman who complains about his liver would be.
Ooh! That doesn't even begin to describe this man. La Bas A La Francais! Bessez mon cul.
Source this please. I've seen missles represented as new on the tv. Dated 2003.
OK, fine...Then how about a surgical air strike?
But aside from that, have French companies been complicit in the Oil for Food scandal and in selling arms and precursors to Iraq even as recently as spring of 2003? The answer is yes. Have French weapons been found from recent production runs? Yes. Could the weapons have been sold legitimately to others and then resold to Iraq? Undoubtedly- that's how Iraq obtained many items while under sanctions. Whether or not the manufacturer knew the ultimate destination is a matter for the courts.
There have been missiles, rockets, shells, etc found with the original "packaging" and on that packaging is the usual manufacturers' information.
Though he doesn't mention it here, the binary chemical shell used in the botched attack on us troops by people who weren't aware of what it was ... was of much more recent manufacture than the first Gulf War. It was circa 1996.
Also, it's not just coming from Gertz now. Oil for Food program is a treasure trove of info and is backing Gertz. I have seen pics of crates of mortars and rockets with mid '90's dates. The latest I saw was '98. We know they got weapons during the embargo, but they are just saying they were smuggled in. This was much bigger. It had to be done with the knowledge of the UN and ergo, permission.
That was the missile tube. The canister was carrying non-standard markings that neither the Germans or France label them with. This was asessed as being the Iraqi markings for an issue or upgrade. KND 2003 was applied by the Iraqis themselves. The Al Kindi missile plant refurbished missiles and was inspected by UNSCOM in regards to SA-2 missile engines. The real clue to them being from the 1980s deliveries was the missiles themselves. All the Roland missiles found in Iraq carried full production marking tags. The Poles who found a Roland cache snipped off the missile tags. All serials match up with those delivered during the long war with Iran. Even the Rolands found by the US were all found to have been from the 1980s delivery. Individuals who hang on to this story are simply deluding themselves. Same as the story that emerged during 2003 of the Iraqi MiG-25 packed full of newly produced Russian and French electronic reconnaissance equipment. Nothing of the sort was found - The MiG-25 carried standard Soviet supplied recon gear.
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