Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (10676)	10/4/2003 4:38:31 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793687

Poland apologises for French missiles report WARSAW, Oct. 4 — Poland apologised to France on Saturday for claiming that its troops had found advanced French-made missiles in Iraq that had been produced this year. The report sparked strong criticism from French President Jacques Chirac, who called it wrong and drawn up without proper checks. However, neither Polish nor French authorities denied that the Roland-type anti-aircraft weapons were discovered near the Iraqi town of Hilla in a zone controlled by the Polish-led military force. ''Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski expresses regret concerning the information on the alleged date of the production of these missiles,'' the ministry said in a statement, adding that a investigation had been ordered. The Polish Defence Ministry said on Friday that Polish troops in Iraq had discovered four French-made Roland missiles, which are part of short-range air defence systems in many countries including France and Germany. Ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak told Reuters the missiles were manufactured in 2003, but the French Foreign Ministry promptly denied that, saying production of the most modern Roland 3 rocket ended in 1993. ''There could not be any 2003 missiles because those missiles have not been manufactured for 15 years,'' Chirac told a news conference at a European Union summit in Rome. ''I believe the Polish soldiers have created confusion that could have been avoided with thorough verification,'' he said, adding that he had made the point to Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller ''in a friendly but frank and firm way.'' FRANCE ANGRY The spat briefly sent France's relations with Poland, the biggest of 10 countries set to join the EU in seven months, to fresh lows after Chirac criticised Poland for supporting the U.S.-led war on Iraq, some diplomats said. But a senior French diplomatic source told reporters that following the Warsaw's apology ''France was satisfied and the issue was clarified.'' Many Polish politicians cannot forgive Chirac, an outspoken opponent of the war, for his remark this year that Poland and other EU newcomers ''missed a good opportunity to keep quiet'' when they signed a joint open letter in support of Washington. France has been irritated by Poland's refusal to accept a new EU voting system embedded in a draft constitution which EU members and newcomers debated in Rome. The United States gave a Polish-led force control over a zone in south-central Iraq after Poland emerged as one of its strongest allies in the war against Iraq. Industrial sources in France said 2003 was the year the missiles were checked in Iraq by an Iraqi company, not the year of manufacture. A French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday that Roland 1 missile systems were sent to Iraq from 1980 to 1981 and Roland 2 systems from 1983 to 1986. The Roland 3 was never exported to Iraq, she said. Under a strict trade embargo imposed by the United Nations, Iraq was barred from buying arms after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. But Baghdad managed to circumvent the ban in the 1990s through shadowy deals with various arms traders. famulus.msnbc.com