Maybe I can shed some light here.... maybe a wild guess as well..... I remember before the ground offensive began, in the months leading up to the advance there was a lot of political talk going on in France as to whether the French Division (Division Daguet) would actually advance into Iraq or whether they would stay in Saudi Arabia in case of a potential Iraqi flank attack. It was probably the most tension we had in the Gulf. Guys in my company were even talking about deserting with their APCs, forming own groups and crossing the border on their own, damning the consequences and going out in a blaze of Glory. The whole time it was rather "iffy" as to whether we would go to Iraq. Case 1: Maybe the bar shown was a specimen made up in this time? In the end the Division Daguet crossed the border 24 hours BEFORE the official start of the ground war along with a brigade of the 82nd Airborne, so the fears of not being in Iraq fell away. Case 2: Maybe the A.S. clasp was initially thought out for troops who did not cross the border (supply troops in Saudi Arabia for instance?). In the end everyone got the middle east bar Case 3: Maybe after Div. Dag. left there were to be French troops kept in Saudi (Embassy guards, Liason etc) who were to get the bar? If they did or not, i have no idea. Maybe back in the old days unofficial bars were worn, but I would say that anyone trying to wear unnoficial bars in the French Army in the 80`s and 90`s would have had his gonads removed. There was zero tolerance for things like that.