Polish spokesman resigns after Franco-German missile blunder

WARSAW (AFP) Oct 07, 2003
A Polish defense ministry spokesman resigned Tuesday after erroneously claiming that Polish troops had discovered a recent batch of Franco-German missiles in Iraq, an official statement said.

Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski accepted Eugeniusz Mleczak's resignation, the statement said.

The defence ministry said Saturday that a Polish patrol had found four anti-aircraft missiles south of Baghdad.

But on Monday, the military was forced to backtrack, following a strong rebuke from France, stating that the troops made an "error of interpretation" when they said they had found the missiles manufactured that year.

The missiles had the markings that read 07-01-KND 2003, which the troops mistook for the year of production.

French President Jacques Chirac strongly denied the defense ministry remarks Saturday.

"There cannot be any missiles there in 2003 because the missiles haven't been built for the past 15 years," Chirac said on the sidelines of a European summit in Rome.

SPACE.WIRE