Some Modern French History

A friend writes:

I’ve written before about how John Kerry and his liberal co-conspirators continue to lie about our foreign policy – claiming President Bush has no allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. I’ve highlighted the Democrat plan to encourage anti-American opposition abroad so that our efforts in Iraq especially, appear to be wrong, isolated, and in trouble.

On Iraq, Kerry’s position boils down to his belief that America should have followed France and Germany’s advice about handling Saddam. After all, John Kerry and French President Chirac espouse the same views on the war, post-war efforts, and our Coalition.

So, Kerry trusts French judgment on Iraq more than President Bush’s. (Note that some fellow Democratic Senators like Joe Lieberman, Zell Miller, and Evan Bayh [just to name three] still support our Iraq policy.)

However, all Americans should have heard by now that the investigation of the UN sanctions program for Iraq has uncovered billions in bribes paid by Saddam and his murderous thugs, especially to French companies and individuals close to French leaders.

Skeptical? Then those who might vote Kerry should know some facts about how close Kerry’s French friends were to Saddam.

1). France sold a top-of-the-line nuclear reactor in 1975 that Saddam used to try and develop nuclear weapons.

This was the reactor that the Israelis (thankfully) destroyed in 1981; otherwise Saddam would almost certainly have had nuclear weapons in the 1980s or not long after.

Saddam himself conducted negotiations with the French in the early 1970s, making the nuclear deal with then French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac. Yes, that’s right; Chirac who today as French president hates George W. Bush and opposed the war.

2.) Saddam’s most capable combat jet was the French Mirage F-1. France sold several dozen to Saddam’s air force in the 1980s. Iraq was readying its French-supplied F-1s to deliver biological weapons against US forces and our allies as we prepared for DESERT STORM.

Iraq admitted to the UN it tested BW delivery by Mirage F-1s using modified drop tanks in December 1990 and January 1991. Photos and a film clip of the testing are on-line

3.) France supplied Saddam’s Iraq with its most advanced anti-ship missiles in the 1980s.

On 17 May 1987, Iraq attacked the US Navy frigate the USS Stark with French-made Exocet missiles - an attack that killed 37 American sailors and seriously wounded 11 others. The attack was so effective because France sold Saddam top technology.

4.) In 1996, France abandoned the UN-sanctioned No-Fly Zones protecting the Kurds in northern Iraq and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the south.

Paris left the US Air Force and our British allies to shoulder this burden alone from 1996 up to the March 2003 start of the Iraq war.

Iraqi air defenses regularly shot at British and American pilots patrolling the zones almost daily from 1999 to 2003 – four years of Americans (and Brits) at risk upholding UN restrictions against Saddam with no French help.

4a.) Worse, why did France favor Saddam and abandon the US and UK in 1996?

In August 1996, Saddam violated UN resolutions and brutally attacked Kurds and others opposed to his dictatorship in northern Iraq. President Clinton responded with an ineffective cruise missile attack (Operation DESERT STRIKE) and expanded the southern no-fly zone; a more effective measure. France quit, protesting our “harsh” policy.

Lo and behold, France then pushed the UN to allow Saddam to sell oil. Saddam began selling oil, France began earning billions in oil contracts, and France completely quit the No Fly zone enforcement mission all in the same month - December 1996. Coincidence? Yeah, right. So much for relying on French help containing Saddam then, or after 9-11.

It is a FACT that Saddam used his oil money for such humanitarian pursuits as:

• funding suicide terrorist bombers in Israel (some killing Americans)


• building prohibited missile systems (some launched at Kuwait and US forces during our recent Iraq war)


• rearming and expanding his murderous internal security forces (Saddam Fedayeen, Republican Guards, and foreign jihadists supplied with thousands of cars, motorcycles and trucks – the latter modified to carry heavy weapons


• building palaces where his psychopath sons and other family members could rape, torture, and kill randomly chosen women.

5.) France sold Iraq the sophisticated air defense command and control system – named KARI (Iraq in French spelled backwards… cute huh?) – we destroyed in DESERT STORM.

Saddam depended on the French to help him protect what was then – in 1990-91 – the largest nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs in the Third World and the world’s fourth largest army. Does Kerry recall he used the latter to invade and rape Kuwait and just prior to that, threatened to use his chemical weapons to – Saddam’s words – “burn half of Israel?”

Yes it is true that when Saddam fought Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s we wanted to help him win, but France went way over the top - selling Saddam some of the deadliest technology available at that time. Paris went too far. Also, the point is to show that the French were cozy with Saddam in a way America never was.

Indeed, anyone can search the internet and find that French oil companies were gaining lucrative contracts in Iraq. Thus, the ridiculous liberal claim that the United States of America was for war against Saddam’s regime just for oil is obviously less true than the fact that the French opposed war against Saddam’s regime for oil.

So, in conclusion, what does all this say about John Kerry?

John Kerry tears down his own country but supports French views, though France was the country most-responsible for Saddam’s nearly getting nuclear weapons before 1991.

John Kerry blames President Bush for failing to enlist Paris’ support, but France abandoned our military trying to contain Saddam in 1996 – five years before George W. Bush became President and 7 years before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

What this says about John Kerry is that he depends on ignorant voters to get elected. Iraq’s recent history is complex, but learning the facts sheds light on why President Bush’s plan to aggressively protect America beats John Kerry’s desire to please anti-American European socialists any day.

God bless President Bush, our armed forces, our intelligence agencies, our law enforcement, and brave Americans from all walks of life who grapple with a complex world in the fight to protect our democracy and freedom, as well as that of our allies. Yes, even those ungrateful, conniving French bastards. What’s more, because of President Bush’s get tough policies post 9-11, fellows like John Kerry will remain free to kiss French ass for the foreseeable future.