<font color = lightgreen>Who cares if France gave some reports to Iraq? Those reports were the property of the Government of France and they may do with their own reports what they please. This is woefully insufficient to make any sort of claim of "complicity" or even "espionage".

I highly doubt they will find anything useful or important here, but I know that there are some who will not let go of this. *sigh* :rolleyes: </font>

<font color="#a7d6d5">So basicly Azred, what you are saying, is that when governments share classified information there is no expectation of keeping things classified? That is soooooo wrong. If you want to say, give us secret info, so we can warn your enemies, you will find that most of your allies will guit giving you information....information you might just need to keep your own people alive and well.

Edit: Honestly I believe France will be embarrased about some things found in Iraq, but even if not, they still have quite few issues facing them over their actions in Africa....but Im not going to harp on them about it.</font>

[ 04-29-2003, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

<font color = lightgreen>No, I am not suggesting that, because classified means classified. However, if the claim is that France gleaned classified military information from Washington sources and passed that info on to Iraq then France (or at least some agents thereof) is guilty of espionage, a charge I doubt anyone is willing to make.
What I am saying is this: suppose a French diplomat sits in on a strategy session, then later writes notes to himself about that meeting and decides to pass along those personal notes to a friend at the Iraqi Consulate. How is this wrong? At worst, it falls into a gray area that is not necessarily espionage.

Besides, I doubt anyone in Washington was discussing detailed military plans with anyone associated with France, given the French dedication to diplomacy over military action.

This is a molehill, not a mountain. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>