Poland: French Missile Report Was Wrong

WARSAW, Poland (AP)--After a protest from French President Jacques
Chirac, Poland said Saturday it had been mistaken in reporting that
its troops found new French-made anti-aircraft misiles in central
Iraq.

Chirac swiftly denied selling Iraq weapons in violation of the U.N.
weapons embargo imposed against Saddam Hussein's regime in 1990. The
claims, he said, ``are as false today as they were yesterday.''

An aide to the Polish prime minister said an initial report that the
Roland missiles found by Polish troops days ago were produced in 2003
was incorrect. France said it stopped producing any type of Roland
missile in 1993.

Prime Minister Leszek Miller met with Chirac twice to explain the
mistake, said the aide, Tadeusz Iwinski. The two leaders were in Rome
on Saturday for a European Union summit.

``There can be no 2003 missiles since these missiles have not been
made for 15 years, Chirac told reporters in Rome. ``Polish soldiers
confused things. I told ... Miller so frankly--friendly but firmly.

France used similar arguments to rebut allegations in April that
recently made Roland missiles have been found in Iraq.

The report first came in a statement by a ministry spokesman to Polish
state television that the troops uncovered French-made Roland missiles
in the town of Hilla, in the zone of central Iraq where the Poles lead
a peacekeeping force. A ministry statement said the missiles were
destroyed on Wednesday.

Maj. Andrzej Wiatrowski, a spokesman in Iraq for the Polish-led force,
said pictures of the missiles taken before they were destroyed might
clear up when they were made.

``That's the job for our superiors. Our job is to recover and destroy
dangerous material,'' Wiatrowski said by satellite phone.

Iwinski said the matter has been settled. ``It was wrongly said that
the rockets were produced in that year,'' Iwinski said by telephone
from the summit. ``President Chirac has accepted Prime Minister Leszek
Miller's explanation.''

The Polish defense minister, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, ``expressed his
regrets'' for the mistake, a ministry statement said.

France long had close ties to Iraq that included lucrative weapons
deals. Paris supplied arms, in exchange for oil, during the eight-year
Iran-Iraq war.

In June, an Associated Press reporter traveling with the 3rd Infantry
Division found two Roland 2 missile launchers in excellent condition
on Habaniyah airfield, 45 miles west of Baghdad. Each launcher had
four missiles mounted on it, but both launchers had been flipped onto
their sides, apparently in an effort to unload the flatbed trucks on
which they were mounted.

At the time, U.S. Army officers said dozens of such missiles had been
found on military bases across Iraq and all were believed to have been
delivered before July 1990.

The French Foreign Ministry emphasized on Saturday that France has not
authorized the sale of weapons, or even spare parts, to Iraq since
July 1990, when the United Nations imposed sanctions on weapons sales
following Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.

The ministry statement said Roland 1 missiles and launchers were
exported to Iraq in 1980-81, while Roland 2 missiles were exported
from 1983 to 1986. France stopped making Roland 2s in 1988 and Roland
3s in 1993, it said.

France used similar arguments to rebut allegations in april that
recently made Roland missiles have been found in iraq.

The Polish Defense Ministry said the Roland missiles were among about
a dozen missiles uncovered near Hilla on Tuesday, including
Soviet-made Malutka, French Hot and French-German Milan missiles. The
Roland missiles are about 25 feet long, radar-guided and launched from
the back of a truck.

The U.S. military found 35 Roland missiles when it captured Baghdad
International Airport in April. Roland missiles also were found when
Australian troops captured an airfield in western Iraq.

The Web site GlobalSecurity.org says the Roland weapon system is
intended for anti-aircraft defense of armored and mechanized the units
to counter aircraft flying to nearly at 1 1/2 times the speed of sound
or hovering helicopters.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V9249.AP-Iraq-French-Mis.html;COXnetJSessionID=11w5IQVnQefHDpmCYZmAi607 zgHGgkkOduEd528aFXtXKJYIumDl!-1395306204?urac=n&urvf=10653002177830.265157693688 6102

Source: Beata Pasek Associated Press Writer Via The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution