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[Previous entry: "Halle-bloody-lujah"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "TJC Muzzles 2003"] 13 April 2003: "The Can of Worms II"
Jackie D links to an MSNBC article, "I’m Shocked, Shocked!", detailing some finds by US 3rd InfDiv at A French Embassy spokeswoman 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.You're damn right, it's a newer model. As far as I can make out, Roland 3 started production in 1995, and didn't enter service with France and Germany until later than that. 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 marché parallel, or black market.Uh, sure. The French armed forces have a total of 20 Roland systems, the Bundeswehr has 11; if one went missing, I'm sure they'd notice. And, as I said, the thing has been in production for less than a decade. It's not like the international black market for arms is going to be awash with these things. The French government either knew, in which case they're dirty, or if they didn't, they're incompetent; either way, they're culpable. Speaking of illegal exports of anti-aircraft missiles, Hans Blix noted on 14-Feb-2003 that Iraq had illegally imported 380 engines of the type used in SA-2 GUIDELINE missiles (intended to power the al-Samoud II). What he didn't mention, and what I'm curious about, is who sold those engines to Iraq. Large-scale production of SA-2 variants has taken place in two countries: the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (as the Hong Qian-1 and 2). Egypt reverse-engineered and modified the model, but never put it into production. Now, the SA-2 and its variants were sold to, and used by, a fair number of countries, but you don't just pull 380 missile engines out of your spare parts stores; we're looking at a producer here. So the list of suspects is rather short: a former Soviet Republic, most likely the Russian Federation or maybe the Ukraine, or the PRC. The opening of the Can of Worms continues... |
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