- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - European
heavyweights France and Germany joined forces Wednesday to prevent any
U.S.-led war on Iraq, which French President Jacques Chirac called "the
worst solution."
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- But a Russian military source said Washington and its
allies had already decided to launch a month-long military strike from
mid-February with or without fresh backing from the U.N. Security Council,
in which Russia and France hold veto powers.
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- "Germany and France have the same judgment on this
crisis," Chirac told a news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder marking their 40-year special relationship as the political and
economic driving force of the European Union.
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- "We agree completely to harmonize our positions
as closely as possible to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis,"
Schroeder added.
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- Their comments, and the reported attack plan carried
by a Moscow news agency quoting a senior military source, signaled a sharp
increase in tensions surrounding the possibility of war against Iraq, accused
by Washington of hiding banned weapons.
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- Iraq said its anti-aircraft batteries had shot down an
unmanned U.S. spy plane Wednesday after destroying a craft in December
in what General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
described as a "lucky shot." There was no immediate U.S. comment
on the latest spy plane claim.
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- U.S. President George Bush is massing more than 150,000
troops in the oil-rich Gulf and has already made clear he is ready to use
them, with or without a new mandate from the Security Council, if he considers
Iraq has not disarmed.
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- Bush says he has seen no proof of total disarmament but
is hoping U.N. weapons inspectors will back his view when they report back
to the Security Council Monday and insists the decision on whether to launch
a strike has not yet been taken.
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- RUSSIAN REPORT
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- Interfax news agency's specialist military news wire
AVN quoted an unnamed high-ranking source in the Russian general staff
as saying, however, that U.S.-led operations would be launched once an
attacking force had been assembled in the Gulf.
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- "According to the information we have, the operation
is planned for the second half of February. The decision to launch it has
been taken but not yet been made public," the source told the agency,
which has generally authoritative contacts in the Russian military and
political establishment.
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- The source did not indicate how the Russian military
knew of such an operation, the main aim of which he said was not so much
to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein but to secure U.S. control over
Iraqi oilfields.
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- Russia has a major commercial interest in Iraqi oil and
has made clear its eagerness to exploit Iraq's huge reserves once U.N.
sanctions are lifted. A big oil producer itself, the struggling former
superpower also fears a likely drop in crude prices once Iraq's reserves
are opened up.
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- Oil prices eased Wednesday as dealers took profits from
a two-month bull run sparked by the momentum for war, while gold, seen
as a safe haven, hit its highest price in nearly six years.
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- "The war will be short, lasting about one month,"
the Russian source was quoted as saying.
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- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage flew
to Moscow Wednesday to try to convince officials that diplomatic options
were "just about exhausted."
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- U.N. arms inspectors say they need several more months
to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Russian
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday "most countries" believed
diplomacy had a long way to run.
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- France, which says it has yet to see a convincing case
for war, has hinted strongly that it might veto a resolution authorizing
force. Germany, which holds a non-veto Security Council seat, said it would
not vote for one. Most of the 15 Council members have said the inspectors
need more time.
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- CRUNCH WEEK AHEAD
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- In Iraq, scores of U.N. inspectors searched more sites
suspected of producing banned arms while a U.N. official said Iraq would
face mass starvation if a rationing system to cope with 13 years of sanctions
collapses during any U.S. invasion.
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- Amid criticism that it has fallen short on planning for
a post-war Iraq and its likely impact on regional oil prices, the Bush
administration told Congress the United States would remain "as long
as necessary" after any war to help rebuild the state.
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- The Babel newspaper owned by the eldest son of President
Saddam Hussein, who Bush wants to remove from power, accused the U.S. president
of making "stupid and disgusting" comments and repeating accusations
on illegal arms because he had no proof.
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- "Bush has become the laughing stock of world leaders
and peoples," it said in a front-page editorial referring to opposition
to war by some U.S. allies.
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- Australia is due to send troops and a transport ship
to the Gulf this week and Washington's closest ally Britain has ordered
thousands of troops to the Gulf.
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- Bush hosts British Prime Minister Tony Blair on January
31 for what some see as a possible council of war. The inspectors say Iraq's
record so far has been mixed, and Blair reiterated on Wednesday that that
was not good enough.
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- "The inspections regime is not a detective agency.
That duty to cooperate is not just about access to sites it is about being
open and honest," he told parliament.
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