The Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) reports that a senior Pentagon official has given the real reason for the French support for the murderer Saddam Hussein:

Pentagon advisor: France's anti-US position on Iraq stems from need to protect oil contracts

A senior advisor at the Pentagon has accused France of trying to thwart the USA's plans for Iraq in order to secure for her commercial companies lucrative oil contracts from Iraq.

In an interview with Fox news, the Pentagon advisor, Richard Pearl, said that French President Chirac has a long-standing friendship with Saddam Hussein that goes back many years.

The French government has many commercial contracts with Iraq it wants to protect, and its possible to sum them all up in one word: oil, said Pearl.

Notwithstanding, Pearl said he would not be surprised if at the last moment France does an about turn on its current opposition to war in Iraq, and joins the coalition against Iraq, reports Israel Radio.

Pearl extended his criticism to Germany, saying it is advisable for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to stop meddling in the question of Iraq since Germany has already stated that it would not take part in a war on Iraq even if the UN sanctioned such a move.

In 1981, France was building a nuclear reactor for Iraq when Israeli planes destroyed it - stopping Saddam Hussein from getting nuclear weapons. France and the United Nations condemned Israel - showing their hypocrisy just as they do today. For more information on Israel's 1981 heroic mission see below.

Raid on the Iraqi Reactor (1981)
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/
History/Osirak.html

Iraq built the Osirak nuclear facility near Baghdad with French assistance. When intelligence confirmed Iraq's intention of producing weapons there, the Israeli government decided to attack. However, the raid would have to occur before the reactor went “hot” so as not to endanger the surrounding community.

Every detail of the mission was planned meticulously. The target was distant: 1,100 km from Israel. Preparations included building target mockups and flying full scale dress­rehearsal missions. The aircrews were selected from the cream of the Israel Air Force's (IAF) fighter corps.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief­of­Staff, Lt. Gen. Rafael (Raful) Eitan, briefed the pilots personally. Displaying unusual emotion, he told them: “The alternative is our destruction.”

At 15:55 on June 7, the first F­15 and F­16's roared off the runway from Etzion Air Force Base in the south. After a tense but uneventful low­level navigation route, the fighters reached their target. They popped up at 17:35 and quickly identified the dome gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight.

Enemy defenses were caught by surprise and opened fire too late. In one minute and twenty seconds, the reactor lay in ruins.

The way home was quiet, bringing the mission to its successful completion. It was a perfectly orchestrated opera conducted by the IAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David Ivry. At least for the present, the atomic genie of Baghdad was put back into his bottle.