Poland: French Missile Report Was Wrong

Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3226870,00.html
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.
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Oh look.

Can't say I'm suprised that they didn't find real French made 2003 missiles.
I remember saying conspiracy
rolleye.gif
in the original news thread. Just kinda proves the point, people will jump on whatever they can.
 

SuperTool

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
14,000
2
0
Originally posted by: Czar
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3226870,00.html
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.

Oh boy, do all these right wing analysts and Bush apologists have egg on their faces. But will they apologize and retract their statements? Nope, they'll pretend like nothing happened and continue repeating other falsehoods as they always do.
 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: SuperTool
Originally posted by: Czar
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3226870,00.html
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.

Oh boy, do all these right wing analysts and Bush apologists have egg on their faces. But will they apologize and retract their statements? Nope, they'll pretend like nothing happened and continue repeating other falsehoods as they always do.


Check the original thread. This news was posted several times....
 

ReiAyanami

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2002
4,466
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the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?
 

minibush1

Member
Sep 14, 2003
119
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0
Update
Polish govt under fire for French missiles report
By Marcin Grajewski
REUTERS
4:25 a.m. October 6, 2003

WARSAW ? Poland's leftist government faced accusations of incompetence on Monday after it was forced to retract a report that its troops had found modern French-made missiles in Iraq.

The Defence Ministry apologised to France at the weekend for having said Polish troops had found Roland-type missiles manufactured this year in an Iraqi zone controlled by the Polish-led international military force.

French President Jacques Chirac rebuked Poland at a European Union summit on Saturday for having failed to check facts before releasing the information, which would be highly embarrassing for Paris if the missiles were indeed produced this year.

France says Roland 1 missile systems were sent to Iraq from 1980 to 1981 and Roland 2 systems from 1983 to 1986. The most modern Roland 3 was never exported to Iraq and its production ended in 1993.

Polish opposition politicians and a leading newspaper said the affair could harm Poland's position in the EU even before the post-communist country joins the bloc next May.

"This is a disgraceful scandal. It harms our interests," said Jan Rokita, leader of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, demanding a parliamentary inquiry.

The Gazeta Wyborcza daily said the incident could weaken Poland's hand in negotiations on a new EU charter.

Some EU members opposing the U.S.-led war on Iraq, notably France and Germany, have been irked by Poland's siding with Britain and Spain in supporting Washington's policies.

"At a delicate moment in negotiations, on which Poland's future in the EU depends, some in Europe again started to regard us as mischief-makers with an anti-French obsession, who are incompetent at the same time," Gazeta commented.

Prime Minister Leszek Miller put a brave face on the diplomatic spat.

"We have agreed with President Chirac that the issue has been put behind us," Miller told public radio, reiterating that a spokesman made the statement on the missiles without consulting Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski.

But Szmajdzinski struck a note of defiance.

"Let's not create an impression that those missiles were not there at all. And that France has never sold missiles to Iraq," he told private Radio Zet in an interview.

"I understand...President Chirac's nervousness, because it is awkward when the public opinion learns that the French missiles were there," he added.

 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.
 

chowderhead

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 1999
2,633
263
126
The problem I have is that with 24 hour news channel, every story is broadcast almost instanteously as it happens. There is little time to vet the story. The initial intelligence and spot analysis is sometimes suspect.
Kay No Longer Sure Trailers Were Labs
However, the first headline is what sticks in most people's minds.
When the story is corrected or ammended as more information becomes available, people tend not to remember that.
I mean right after the end of the war, there were numerous initial reports, that WMD could have possibly been found but later they turned out to be this or that.
Many times, when a group of people in Iraq is detained, the word al Qaeda is mentioned in news reports. I wonder how many truly belong to al Qaeda.

Thus, public opinion my be swayed/formed by misleading/incomplete news and information.

I don't know what can be done about this but IMO, the news media and the gov't should not be so quick to release information that the don't have full confidence.


 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

First of all the League of Nations doesn't exist anymore.

Second:

The Roland short range surface to air missile systems were originally sold to Iraq in the 1980's they are not a prohibited weapons system under UN sanctions imposed after the 1991 war. Thier is no evidence as of yet that these missiles were sold to Iraq by France after these sanctions were imposed. If they do have some of the very last batches of those missiles made after 1993, the most likely sources for them would be from Syrian stocks.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.

No actually it isn't.
 

Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.

anyway doesnt matter what type they were
http://www.army-technology.com/projects/roland/
Roland 2 and 3 missiles have command to line-of-sight guidance and hollow charge warhead, with both impact and proximity fuzing. Roland 3 has longer range, 8km to Roland 2?s 6.3km. It also has a larger warhead, 9.2kg, to Roland 2?s 6.5kg.
The limit to Iraq missile range was 150km, no go with this one either
 

LunarRay

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2003
9,993
1
76
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.


Are you certain anti aircraft.. (defensive) missles are a violation of the UN's Resolution?

It is good to see that you agree the UN has the responsibility to enforce the resolutions and not the US.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: Czar
Anyone know what type of Roland missiles they were?

Iraq has only been confirmed to have Roland-1 Missiles which are not current production.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Those idiots already screwed this up once. Reading the date codes for spare expiration and confusing them with the date codes for production when a Roland system was found at Baghdad airport.

They also listed codes for the missiles that don't even correspond to any known manufacturers codes.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: LunarRay
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.


Are you certain anti aircraft.. (defensive) missles are a violation of the UN's Resolution?

It is good to see that you agree the UN has the responsibility to enforce the resolutions and not the US.

No SAM missiles, and guns are not prohibited. Importing them after sanctions were imposed would be, and any systems imported after 1991 (black market) are illegal. No evidence that these missiles were such.
 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: LunarRay
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.


Are you certain anti aircraft.. (defensive) missles are a violation of the UN's Resolution?

It is good to see that you agree the UN has the responsibility to enforce the resolutions and not the US.

Since resolutions are not enforced, they are usually not worth the paper they are written on.
 

minibush1

Member
Sep 14, 2003
119
0
0
Update
Polish defence spokesman resigns over missile row
WARSAW, Oct. 7 ? Poland's defence ministry spokesman resigned on Tuesday after triggering a diplomatic row by saying French-made missiles found in Iraq were manufactured in 2003.
''Colonel Eugeniusz Mleczak asked Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to relieve him of his post as press spokesman. That request was accepted,'' said the ministry in a short statement.
On Friday Mleczak said the missiles were manufactured in 2003, but this was denied by French President Jacques Chirac, who said the missiles had been out of production for 15 years.
The defence ministry is investigating how the information was issued and is due to report next Monday, at which point many local commentators believe more heads may roll.
Szmajdzinski apologised to the French for the comments but the Polish opposition and media have been highly critical of the government's handling of the affair.
The row came in the midst of a European Union summit in Rome and many domestic commentators said the row could harm Poland's position in the EU even before the post-communist country joins the bloc next May.
 

tnitsuj

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
5,446
0
76
Originally posted by: minibush1
Update
Polish defence spokesman resigns over missile row
WARSAW, Oct. 7 ? Poland's defence ministry spokesman resigned on Tuesday after triggering a diplomatic row by saying French-made missiles found in Iraq were manufactured in 2003.
''Colonel Eugeniusz Mleczak asked Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to relieve him of his post as press spokesman. That request was accepted,'' said the ministry in a short statement.
On Friday Mleczak said the missiles were manufactured in 2003, but this was denied by French President Jacques Chirac, who said the missiles had been out of production for 15 years.
The defence ministry is investigating how the information was issued and is due to report next Monday, at which point many local commentators believe more heads may roll.
Szmajdzinski apologised to the French for the comments but the Polish opposition and media have been highly critical of the government's handling of the affair.
The row came in the midst of a European Union summit in Rome and many domestic commentators said the row could harm Poland's position in the EU even before the post-communist country joins the bloc next May.


dumbass
 

LunarRay

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2003
9,993
1
76
Originally posted by: tnitsuj
Originally posted by: LunarRay
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.


Are you certain anti aircraft.. (defensive) missles are a violation of the UN's Resolution?

It is good to see that you agree the UN has the responsibility to enforce the resolutions and not the US.

No SAM missiles, and guns are not prohibited. Importing them after sanctions were imposed would be, and any systems imported after 1991 (black market) are illegal. No evidence that these missiles were such.

I think that is right... illegal import is both the exporter and Iraq... good point..

 

LunarRay

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2003
9,993
1
76
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: LunarRay
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
the best part is nobody seems to mind that saddam had them in clear violation of the League of Nation's resolution. what's the point of passing resolutions if the League of Nations isn't going to enforce them?

very true.


Are you certain anti aircraft.. (defensive) missles are a violation of the UN's Resolution?

It is good to see that you agree the UN has the responsibility to enforce the resolutions and not the US.

Since resolutions are not enforced, they are usually not worth the paper they are written on.

Then we need getting a new set of Articles that make enforcement the result of 'condemnation' or what ever language they use. Until we do something along those lines or get out we are stuck with it. It is like the USSC. It issues an opinion or decides a case and then moves on. It is up to the executive to effect the change etc.. The UN has the Security Counsel but no execution of non existing penalty for breaking the Resolution.. I agree it is worthless but, as of now it is our law too.

 

chess9

Elite member
Apr 15, 2000
7,748
0
0
How could they have French weapons? We gave them everything they needed 20 years ago. DUH!!

-Robert