-Caveat Lector-
http://dynamic.washtimes.com/twt-print.cfm?ArticleID=20030307-
545570
Iraq strengthens air force with French parts
Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 7, 2003
A French company has been selling spare parts to Iraq for its
fighter jets and military helicopters during the past several months,
according to U.S. intelligence officials.
The unidentified company sold the parts to a trading company in
the United Arab Emirates, which then shipped the parts through a
third country into Iraq by truck.
The spare parts included goods for Iraq's French-made Mirage
F-1 jets and Gazelle attack helicopters.
An intelligence official said the illegal spare-parts pipeline was
discovered in the past two weeks and that sensitive intelligence
about the transfers indicates that the parts were smuggled to Iraq as
recently as January.
Other intelligence reports indicate that Iraq had succeeded in
acquiring French weaponry illegally for years, the official said.
The parts appear to be included in an effort by the Iraqi military to
build up materiel for its air forces before any U.S. military action,
which could occur before the end of the month.
The officials identified the purchaser of the parts as the Al
Tamoor Trading Co., based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A
spokesman for the company could not be reached for comment.
The French military parts were then sent by truck into Iraq from a
neighboring country the officials declined to identify.
Iraq has more than 50 Mirage F-1 jets and an unknown number
of Gazelle attack helicopters, according to the London-based
International Institute for Strategic Studies.
An administration official said the French parts transfers to Iraq
may be one reason France has so vehemently opposed U.S. plans
for military action against Iraq. "No wonder the French are opposing
us," this official said.
The official, however, said intelligence reports of the parts sale
did not indicate that the activity was sanctioned by the French
government or that Paris knows about the transfers.
The intelligence reports did not identify the French company
involved in selling the aircraft parts or whether the parts were new or
used.
The Mirage F-1 was made by France's Dassault Aviation.
Gazelle helicopters were made by Aerospatiale, which later became
part of a consortium of European defense companies.
The importation of military goods by Iraq is banned under U.N.
Security Council resolutions passed since the 1991 Persian Gulf
war.
Nathalie Loiseau, press counselor at the French Embassy, said
her government has no information about the spare-parts smuggling
and has not been approached by the U.S. government about the
matter.
"We fully comply with the U.N. sanctions, and there is no sale of
any kind of military material or weapons to Iraq," she said.
A CIA spokesman had no comment.
A senior administration official declined to discuss Iraq's
purchase of French warplane and helicopter parts. "It is well known
that the Iraqis use front companies to try to obtain a number of
prohibited items," the official said.
The disclosure comes amid heightened anti-French sentiment in
the United States over Paris' opposition to U.S. plans for using force
to disarm Iraq.
A senior defense official said France undermined U.S. efforts to
disarm Iraq last year by watering down language of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1441 that last fall required Iraq to disarm all its
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.
France, along with Russia, Germany and China, said yesterday
that they would block a joint U.S.-British U.N. resolution on the use
of force against Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters in
Paris on Wednesday that France "will not allow a resolution to pass
that authorizes resorting to force."
"Russia and France, as permanent members of the Security
Council, will assume their full responsibilities on this point," he
stated.
France has been Iraq's best friend in the West. French arms
sales to Baghdad were boosted in the 1970s under Premier
Jacques Chirac, the current president. Mr. Chirac once called
Saddam Hussein a "personal friend."
During the 1980s, when Paris backed Iraq in its war against Iran,
France sold Mirage fighter bombers and Super Entendard aircraft to
Baghdad, along with Exocet anti-ship missiles.
French-Iraqi ties soured after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that led
to the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
France now has an estimated $4 billion in debts owed to it by
Iraq as a result of arms sales and infrastructure construction
projects. The debt is another reason U.S. officials believe France is
opposing military force to oust Saddam.
Henry Sokolski, director of the private Nonproliferation Policy
Education Center, said French transfers of military equipment to
Iraq would have "an immediate and relevant military consequence, if
this was done."
"The United States with its allies are going to suppress the Iraqi
air force and air defense very early on in any conflict, and it's
regrettable that the French have let a company complicate that
mission," Mr. Sokolski said.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell last month released
intelligence information showing videotape of an Iraqi F-1 Mirage
that had been modified to spray anthrax spores.
A CIA report to Congress made public in January stated that Iraq
has aggressively sought advanced conventional arms. "A thriving
gray-arms market and porous borders have allowed Baghdad to
acquire smaller arms and components for larger arms, such as
spare parts for aircraft, air defense systems, and armored vehicles,"
the CIA stated.
Iraq also has obtained some military goods through the U.N.-
sponsored oil-for-food program.
A second CIA report in October on Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction stated: "Iraq imports goods using planes, trains, trucks,
and ships without any type of international inspections � in violation
of UN Security Council resolutions."
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