French soldiers deployed to Qatar
From Andrea Koppel
CNN
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- France has deployed a unit of 39 French soldiers and two armored personnel carriers to Qatar, a French diplomat told CNN Saturday.
The soldiers were "on their way," she said. Their deployment followed a request made by the Qatar government as part of a bilateral arrangement, she said.
The soldiers are specialists in detecting and identifying nuclear, biological and chemical agents, as well as in decontamination.
Last week, the French ambassador to Washington, Jean-David Levitte, told CNN that France was prepared to deploy such specialists if Iraq were to launch a chemical or biological attack against the U.S. and its "coalition of the willing."
The French diplomat said, however, that French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was recently in Qatar as part of a visit to three Persian Gulf nations to reaffirm the French government's commitment to defense agreements with them.
