Word: exocet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...gulf war is a test not just of armies but of arms, and the big loser is already clear: France. During the Iran-Iraq war, Baghdad laid out $16 billion for Mirage jets, Exocet missiles and other French-made weapons -- close to a third of the Iraqi arsenal. But when the dust settles from Operation Desert Storm, French arms makers may find they have taken as bad a beating as Saddam's soldiers. While American jets and missiles and British aircraft have dazzled the world, Iraq's French-supplied firepower has been drubbed or simply withdrawn...
There are other potential Iraqi surprises. Saddam, remembering the damage done to the U.S.S. Stark by an Exocet missile in 1987, could attack allied ships in the gulf with either air-launched or sea-launched Exocets. They would do little damage to a battleship or cruiser but could cause havoc on a destroyer or frigate. It is also possible that Iraqi frogmen might try to swim in and plant mines in Saudi ports or oil facilities...
...allied soldiers locked in combat with Iraq's huge and well-equipped military, the question of who armed Saddam Hussein is hardly academic. They know that France sold Iraq the Mirage F-1 jet fighter as well as its armament, the Exocet missile, which could be launched with deadly effect against allied ships. Egypt provided many of the artillery pieces and secondhand, Soviet- built tanks that imperil allied soldiers on the ground. And the U.S. encouraged other nations to supply the sophisticated aircraft, advanced armored vehicles and other weaponry that threaten coalition soldiers. "It angers me," says 1st Lieut. Alan...
France furnished about a fifth of Iraq's imported weapons systems, including Mirage F-1s, Puma attack helicopters, and Exocet as well as antitank and antiaircraft missiles. The camouflage nets and plastic decoys being used by Iraq to fool allied flyers were also sold by French companies. "You send them a check, and they'll sell you anything," an American pilot fumed last week. More worrisome, France sold Iraq the Osirak nuclear reactor that was bombed by Israel in 1981. After that attack, which heightened concerns that Iraq might be pursuing a nuclear-weapons capability, Paris shied away from nuclear...
...building where it's completely precise, and they say, 'If it's going so well, why isn't the war over?' " Another senior official says, "In this video-game war, we have been so successful so far that people may really be shocked if Saddam gets off an Exocet and sinks one of our ships or pulls some other big surprise." The parallel universes of the enemies -- that of the alliance and that of Saddam Hussein -- have their own elaborate reality and logic. Each makes some sense on its own terms, each is performing its role in collision with...