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Polish Troops Find New French Missiles in Iraq
Reuters ^
| October 3, 2003
| Pawel Kozlowski
Posted on 10/03/2003 5:32:29 PM PDT by g'nad
Polish Troops Find New French Missiles in Iraq Fri October 3, 2003 03:54 PM ET By Pawel Kozlowski WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish troops in Iraq have found four French-built advanced anti-aircraft missiles which were built this year, a Polish Defense Ministry spokesman told Reuters Friday.
France strongly denied having sold any such missiles to Iraq for nearly two decades, and said it was impossible that its newest missiles should turn up in Iraq.
"Polish troops discovered an ammunition depot on Sept. 29 near the region of Hilla and there were four French-made Roland-type missiles," Defense Ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak said.
"It is not the first time Polish troops found ammunition in Iraq but to our surprise these missiles were produced in 2003."
The Roland anti-aircraft system is a short-range air defense missile in service with at least 10 countries, including France and Germany.
They are fired from a mobile launcher vehicle and defense experts say the missiles are highly effective against aircraft attacking at low and medium altitude.
Under a strict trade embargo imposed by the United Nations, Iraq was barred from importing arms after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Among others, Russia, Britain and France all sold arms to Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s. In Iraq's arsenal were Soviet-built Scud missiles, British Chieftain tanks and French Mirage fighters.
But Iraq managed to circumvent the arms trade ban in the 1990s through shadowy deals with various arms traders and kept its military equipment functioning.
"NO MILITARY EXPORTS"
"Since July 1990, France has not authorized a single shipment of military equipment to Iraq," a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. Similar accusations surfaced in the U.S. media in April, she said.
In 1980-81, 13 Roland-1 missile systems were shipped to Iraq and from 1983 to 1986, 100 Roland-2 missile systems. The Roland-3 has never been exported to Iraq, she said.
"It is not credible to say that the Roland missiles found a few days ago were produced in 2003 and delivered just before the Anglo-American intervention," the spokeswoman said. "Let's be absolutely clear about this: no military exports to Iraq were licensed after July 1990."
It was unlikely that the missiles could be used 17-18 years after their delivery, she added.
Mleczak said Polish troops were notified about the missiles by a local Iraqi, who received a reward for the information.
"The ammunition depot was neutralized," said Mleczak. Polish television pictures showed missiles placed in a shallow trench and a huge explosion when the Poles blew up munitions at the site.
Since early September, Poland, a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, has led a multinational force in one of four so-called stabilization zones, in central Iraq.
In the run-up to the outbreak of the 2003 Iraq war, American and British combat pilots struck Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries repeatedly as they patrolled no-fly zones in the north and south of the country.
(Additional reporting by Jon Boyle in Paris)
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: france; iraq; iraqfranceweapons; poland
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"Since July 1990, France has not authorized a single shipment of military equipment to Iraq," a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters.
yeah... those helicopters, radars, ammunition and missiles with the "Made in France" tags just showed up on their own... friggin' frogs...
1
posted on
10/03/2003 5:32:30 PM PDT
by
g'nad
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2
posted on
10/03/2003 5:33:35 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: g'nad
3
posted on
10/03/2003 5:35:37 PM PDT
by
Leroy S. Mort
(If you don't like whup-ass, don't open the can,)
To: Leroy S. Mort
good grief... I did a search with every word in the title fer cryin' out loud... I ain't no dummy, but WTF?
4
posted on
10/03/2003 5:37:30 PM PDT
by
g'nad
To: g'nad
Quick Search "Polish" and order by post time.
5
posted on
10/03/2003 5:40:02 PM PDT
by
Leroy S. Mort
(If you don't like whup-ass, don't open the can,)
To: Leroy S. Mort
First time I saw this news.
6
posted on
10/03/2003 5:42:58 PM PDT
by
Ciexyz
To: Ciexyz
Look under the "Breaking News" column. Always a good place to start out.
7
posted on
10/03/2003 5:46:24 PM PDT
by
Leroy S. Mort
(If you don't like whup-ass, don't open the can,)
To: g'nad
For those of you that don't know, the Roland is about in between the Hawk and the Patriot as far as size goes. In other words, the system is pretty big. How in the world do you hide something like that?
8
posted on
10/03/2003 5:49:43 PM PDT
by
U S Army EOD
(Feeling my age, but wanting to feel older)
To: Leroy S. Mort
I did that... I got nothin... and I ain't no computer illiterate... it's a commie plot I tell yuh...
9
posted on
10/03/2003 5:51:18 PM PDT
by
g'nad
To: Peach; JohnHuang2; Torie
Oh my sweet Lord, manna from heaven
10
posted on
10/03/2003 5:52:46 PM PDT
by
jwalsh07
To: Leroy S. Mort
We all do not look through each and every post to read, so an occasional repost does a lot more GOOD than harm.
Except for those who may be anal retentive
11
posted on
10/03/2003 5:53:18 PM PDT
by
steplock
(www.FOCUS.GOHOTSPRINGS.com)
To: g'nad
Dude, some things need repeating. Good post!
12
posted on
10/03/2003 5:54:31 PM PDT
by
jwalsh07
To: Corin Stormhands; ksen
hey corin, ain't you a frenchy?...
13
posted on
10/03/2003 5:56:12 PM PDT
by
g'nad
To: jwalsh07
Aha! Those French XXXXXXds, they're always up to somethin'!
To: g'nad; ksen
hey corin, ain't you a frenchy?... My people were Huguenots. They had sense enough to get out in the late 1600s.
15
posted on
10/03/2003 5:59:19 PM PDT
by
Corin Stormhands
(Imagine there's no lib'rals. It's easy if you try...)
To: steplock
(shrugs)
16
posted on
10/03/2003 6:01:29 PM PDT
by
Leroy S. Mort
(If you don't like whup-ass, don't open the can,)
To: jwalsh07
Isn't it just unbelievable? And the French just don't understand how it happened...
17
posted on
10/03/2003 6:05:51 PM PDT
by
Peach
(The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
To: g'nad
Quick guess- if you type like I do, proofreading 3 or 4 times helps, sometimes. If just one word in the whole string was wrong you wouldn't catch the previous post. Searching seems to work better if you go for one or two words then narrow down from the results.
From one who's "been there done that." ;)
To: g'nad
I taped the video from Fox news. In several frames, the date, "2003" is clearly stenciled on the missile shipping/storage tubes.
19
posted on
10/03/2003 6:26:32 PM PDT
by
TXnMA
(No Longer!!! -- and glad to be back home in God's Gountry!!)
To: g'nad
France caught again with their pants down, yet, no weapons of mass destruction is to be seen.
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