Reply #71: The first thing that came to mind this morning when I saw this was [View All]

quid pro quo. Check this out:

Saturday, 14 September, 2002, 09:08 GMT 10:08 UK

Analysis: US-Russian 'battle' for Iraq

By Nikolai Gorshkov
BBC's Moscow correspondent

The battle for Iraq has begun.

The first salvo was made by President Putin on the 11 September, who issued an ultimatum to Georgia to root up "international terrorists" or face Russian action.

The salvo was aimed as much at Georgia's President Eduard Shevardnadze, as at the US President George Bush.

It was a pre-emptive strike on the eve of Mr Bush's speech at the United Nations, where he was expected to issue an ultimatum to Iraq.

Moscow was hinting that it would treat Georgia, an American ally, in the same way as Washington was about to treat Iraq, Russia's business partner.

Observers believe a quid pro quo has been in the making.

As a conservative Russian newspaper Trud put it, "Let's swap Saddam for Shevardnadze".

However, the US does not appear to have accepted the offer.

The ubiquitous quid pro quo may be still very much alive, but who wins this tug-of-war remains to be seen.


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It appears now that the desperation has set in with the 9/11 commission's assertion that there were no Iraq/al-Qaeda ties, Putin may have.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2256221.stm