After seeing a month of terror attacks around the world, the United States may have found a new friend in its war on terrorism — Russia.

On the other hand, it seems more and more likely that the American efforts to go into Iraq will not see any support from one of its closest allies — France.

Though Russia has said it is against the use of force in Iraq, things may be changing.

Last month, when the Chechen rebels stormed a theater in Moscow, Russia was forced to deal with an unfamiliar type of attack. The Chechen rebels have now claimed their quest for liberation from the once super giant to be a religious one, or Islamic jihad. They have claimed to be fighting for Allah and have adopted tactics from Palestinian homicide bombers.

Russia was faced with about 50 Islamic terrorists with bombs strapped to them and mines set up around the building. Negotiating was not an option. The Chechens gave Russia 48 hours to pull its troops from Chechnya before innocent hostages would be executed.

So, Russia was not in the best of situations, but it proved to the world it will absolutely not tolerate terror. Russia took a hard-line approach similar to the United States and Israel.

The Russians raided the theater using an experimental paralytic gas to rescue over 700 innocent people. About 115 of those hostages died from the gas, but more might have been killed by the terrorists.

Russia didn’t give in. It has now seen a fairly large-scale terrorist attack and understands how to deal with terrorists — exterminate them.

But does this mean our once sworn enemy is finally on our side?

Not necessarily, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent tone suggests the country might be coming around.

He has linked the Chechen rebels to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, claiming rebel bases are being used to train Islamic extremists.

According to an article on www.frontpagemagazine.com titled “Moscow’s Red Dawn,” a Russian media outlet called the theater the “Third Twin” in reference to the Twin Towers. Putin has also agreed to not negotiate with any terrorist, much like President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Russia has also intensified operations in Chechnya, much like the United States did in Afghanistan and has attempted to do in Iraq.

But the French-American relationship doesn’t look to be as optimistic, as one of America’s best friends continues to distance itself from the United States.

The country that we have saved not once, but twice, is even threatening a veto in the United Nations Security Council if a proposal to attack Iraq is sought out by the United States. Why?

There are a number of reasons dating back to 1975 when French President Jacques Chirac was France’s prime minister.

According to an article from the National Review Online titled “The Chirac Doctrine: France’s Iraq-war plan,” it was the first time Chirac met then-Vice President Saddam Hussein. The two hit it off, if you will, and that year Chirac headed to Iraq and became the first French leader to officially visit Baghdad.

Out of appreciation, Saddam granted French oil companies special privileges as well as guaranteeing them 23 percent of Iraqi oil.

The relationship became very profitable for both parties. France sold $20 billion in weapons to Iraq and became the rogue nation’s second-largest trading partner. Iraq then sold more oil to France than anyone else in Europe. The relationship continued to grow until 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Because of this past relationship, Chirac seems to think he can convince Saddam to “talk the right talk and walk the right walk.”

Really, why did the relationship go sour to begin with? Why didn’t he talk Saddam out of the invasion in 1991? Let’s face it: Saddam is not the guy you just sit down and change completely.

The French are rather na‹ve if they really believe they can just change his mind. It makes you think of World War II, when European leaders thought the same of Hitler. But some have yet to learn a lesson.

Its pretty evident that France is not with us on this one, but why? Business interests.

It’s funny, the left accuses Bush of wanting to go into Iraq to please his oil buddies. But going to war with Iraq is going to hurt the oil companies. Production will go down and prices will go up.

It is France who has the vested business interests in Iraq; that is why they don’t want us in there.

According to the Associated Press, the French had a huge showing at the Baghdad International Trade Fair this year.

The French are doing all they can to stall and stop any action in Iraq. It is in their business interests to do so.

Hopefully it won’t take something as big as the Moscow incident to get them on board.

Zach Calef

is a junior in apparel design, production and

merchandising from Cedar Rapids. He is a member of the Daily’s editorial board.