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Iraq
French Rolands used in Iraq
2003-04-13
The French government insists that it has strictly enforced a tight embargo imposed on Saddam Hussein’s regime by the United Nations in 1990. But Saddam never lost his taste for French weapons or luxury goods. And evidence found by U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq suggests that—despite U.N. sanctions—the dictator continued to receive an abundant supply of both until very recently.
Who's shocked by this?
LT. GREG HOLMES, a tactical intelligence officer with the Third Infantry Division, told NEWSWEEK that U.S. forces discovered 51 Roland-2 missiles, made by a partnership of French and German arms manufacturers, in two military compounds at Baghdad International Airport. One of the missiles he examined was labeled 05-11 KND 2002, which he took to mean that the missile was manufactured last year. The charred remains of a more modern Roland-3 launcher was found just down the road from the arms cache. According to a mortar specialist with the same unit, radios used by many Iraqi military trucks brandished MADE IN FRANCE labels and looked brand new and never used. RPG night sights stamped with the number 2002 and French labels also turned up. And a new Nissan pickup truck driven by a surrendering Iraqi officer was manufactured in France as well.
I'm betting this is just a small fraction of what the French actually shipped to Saddam.
U.S. soldiers who moved into one of Saddam’s sumptuous palaces found a treasure house of less-deadly French goodies. Sets of Baath Party-logo silverware were marked MADE IN FRANCE on the back. And the palace was littered with the French cigarette brands Gauloise and Gitane. There were even packages of brown-stained white French underwear. Political conservatives on Capitol Hill are already fuming at this new evidence of possible French perfidy, though French officials deny wrongdoing. A French Embassy spokeswoman speaking from both sides of her mouth at once insists that the Roland-2 missile was an old model which the manufacturer stopped making years ago, though she admits the Roland-3 is a newer model. She says the Chirac government’s position is that new goods from France found in Iraq were probably illegal deliveries that Saddam purchased on a marche parallel, or black market.
"It was those alk runners that did it!"
Posted by:Steve White

#5  What? No "Ethel, my pills!" comment from you guys yet? You guys are slipping! C'mon!
Posted by: Dar   2003-04-13 19:15:04  

#4  Rolands are antiaircraft - wannabee Patriot missles.

My bet is they caused the damage in Baghdad becuase they were unguided once the ground radars shut off. And if the ground radars stayed on, they likely caught a wild weasel HARM from a SEAD misslion, and became unguided fairly rapidly.
Posted by: OldSpook   2003-04-13 17:32:51  

#3  
"Political conservatives on Capitol Hill are already fuming at this new evidence of possible French perfidy"


And what are political liberals on Capitol Hill doing? Lining up for French bribes?
Posted by: Dave D.   2003-04-13 14:33:15  

#2  This is just the tip of the iceberg. Finally heard from a friend of mine in Kuwait yesterday. Half of what they're finding supplied to the Republican Guard after 1991 came from France. I'm sure there are going to be SERIOUS repercussions for France from all of this. If not, we need to have a little "Saddam" party with our own government.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-04-13 14:15:42  

#1  Considering how short the shooting war lasted, those French arms must be pretty effective, eh?

The French Arms merchants should be worried about the reputation of their products.
Posted by: penguin   2003-04-13 13:56:24  

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