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Stardate
20020124.1401 (On Screen): During the Soviet era, Iraq was extended about $9 billion worth of credits, mostly in the form of military equipment to be paid for later. Those loans still exist, and given Russia's current economic conditions, they wouldn't mind receiving some of it back in the form of hard currency, which Iraqi oil certainly could raise if need be. So this gives Iraq some diplomatic influence with the Russian government. The Iraqi foreign minister is visiting Moscow now, and the Russian Foreign Minister has issued a statement indicating that Russia opposes US military action against Iraq.
"The struggle against terrorism should be based on a firm legal basis and the U.N. should play a coordinating role in the joint international effort," Ivanov said. "That is why Russia sees as unacceptable a mechanical spread of the anti-terrorist operation to any other country, including Iraq."
"If such a thing occurred, this would not only weaken the anti-terrorist coalition but also help extremist forces which want to ruin this coalition and aim at using contradictions among its members to achieve their goals."
This is getting tiresome. There is no coalition. There has never been a coalition. The United States was attacked, and the United States is at war. If other nations want to come along and help, they are welcome to do so as long as their help doesn't involve grabbing the steering wheel. If that is the price of their help, then they are welcome to stay home. But there is no coalition.
The "firm legal basis" for this war was established when Congress invoked the War Powers Act on September 14. And that is all the authorization that the United States needs in order to fight.
By the way, here's our answer.
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