October 05, 2003

CIA Setup?

So here's the story. Apparently, some Polish troops found some anti-aircraft missiles in Iraq which appeared to be manufactured in France and had the year "2003" stamped on them. This would indicate, presumably, that the missiles were made this year and sold to Iraq in violation of UN conventions.

You can imaging the righteous indignation of US forces and politicians who have taken a hammering from the French in the last year. US sources quickly spread the story to a range of media outlets.

French President Chirac angrily denies the implicit assumptions. He says France has not produced such weapons since 1993, so any "2003" markings would be bogus.

It's kind of funny. The French, the British and the US are the world's greatest weapons salesmen. Their arms industries have competed to sell weapons to many corrupt and dangerous regimes over the past fifty years. If truth be told, all are tarred with the same war-mongering brush.

So is this a "smoking gun" that will shoot down French moral superiority in Iraq? Not likely. You see, the Polish troops who claim to have discovered the missiles also say that they destroyed the weapons on site. Now why would they do that?

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