GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

If Saddam Hussein tries to use the high-tech weapons he bought from France, he may have complaints about their effectiveness. Some French arms manufacturers, apparently worried that Saddam was not the most trustworthy client, programmed secret passwords into the computer-guidance systems of the fighter and bomber aircraft they sent to him, according to reports surfacing in Paris. Only the suppliers know the passwords, and unless they are keyed in, Iraqi guided missiles will not be able to reach their targets. Moreover, a Defense Ministry spokesman in Paris confirms that his country's warships carry transmitters that can jam French-built Iraqi radar systems and confuse the sensors on their Exocet missiles. But he concedes that battle-ready Western forces "definitely cannot jam all the weapons systems, because we have simply delivered too much weaponry to Iraq."

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart