virus: France against publishing secret documents on Iraq's weapons programs

From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Wed Sep 04 2002 - 16:05:02 MDT


Considering all the assistance France has sold to Iraq all these years, i
am far from surprised...

France against publishing secret documents on Iraq's
weapons programs
Agence France-Presse | 9/04/02

    France said it was against publishing top-secret evidence
    on Iraq's alleged development of weapons of mass
    destruction, saying the public arena was not the place to
    wage such a campaign.
    "These are not issues which we can deal with publicly.
    This calls for serenity and seriousness, and we should
    therefore beware of any leaks and any saber-rattling
    proposals," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told
    France Info radio.
    On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he
    would in the coming weeks release damning information
    about Baghdad's alleged efforts to develop nuclear,
    biological and chemical weapons, to prove the threat
    posed by Saddam Hussein.
    The foreign minister said that France and Britain had
    shared information on the proof of such a weapons
    program. and it "is out of the question to divulge these
    exchanges."
    De Villepin said it was important to act responsibly in
    evaluating whether a "country could own chemical or
    biological weapons, and if it could turn into a threat."
    He added it was important that France evaluate such risks
    together with its European partners.
    "The international community is today very worried,
    which justifies our determination in the face of the
    proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
    Washington on Wednesday stepped up its war rhetoric,
    with President George W. Bush calling Saddam Hussein a
    "serious threat" and saying he would take his case against
    Iraq to the United Nations next week.
    De Villepin said "France, the world, cannot accommodate
    such a risk, and that is why we demand with insistance the
    return of the UN (weapons) inspectors to Iraq and that the
    country conforms with the demands of the international
    community."
    If it did, he stressed, it was up to the UN Security Council
    to decide on any international action.
    UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998 in the face of an
    imminent US and British missile attack on Baghdad, and
    have since been barred from returning despite insistent UN
    demands.



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