Polish Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Eugeniusz Mleczak resigned Tuesday, four days after his announcement that missiles made by France this year were found in southern Iraq.

The announcement sparked a diplomatic rift between the two countries.

A statement by the ministry Tuesday said Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski has accepted Mleczak's resignation and appointed Colonel Adam Stasinskia to replace him.

On Friday, Mleczak said four "Roland" surface-to-air missiles found by Polish stabilization troops in south-central Iraq were made by France in 2003.

The claim drew a strong and immediate denial and rebuke from France, an opponent of the United States-led war on Iraq.

French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that France had not produced the missiles for 15 years and stopped selling weapons or even spare parts to Iraq in 1990, when France joined the international coalition to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

On the same day, the Polish government announced that Mleczak made the comments without authorization from the Polish military, and it took back the claim and officially apologized to the French government.

The Polish military said Monday the troops made an error of interpretation, mistaking the coded inscriptions on the missiles, reading 07-01-KND 2003, for the year of production.

An investigation in the ministry and the army has begun and a report on the incident will be released on Oct. 13.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2003)