Germany Deliberates Military Role in Iraq

The German government is coming under mounting pressure to rethink its attitude towards military involvement in Iraq following Tuesday's attack on the United Nations in Baghdad. In the past months, Berlin has used every opportunity to emphasize that it would not send German soldiers into post-war Iraq, unless there was a clear U.N. mandate

Although it promised humanitarian and reconstruction aid after the end of the U.S.-led invasion, the government has argued that those who waged the war must also deal with all issues concerning stability in the country.

Despite this stance, the German government was among the first to condemn Tuesday's bloody attack on the U.N. in Baghdad. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called it an act that was directed not only against the U.N., but against the international community as a whole.

German policy should stay the same

Foreign ministry spokesman Walter Lindner brushed aside international demands that Germany should assume a military role in Iraq to help secure peace there. He referred to U.N. resolution 1483, which states that it is the responsibility of the coalition forces to maintain stability and secure peace in post-war Iraq. "That hasn’t changed a bit after the terrible attack in Baghdad," said Lindner.

The spokesman pointed out that Germany was not part of the coalition forces. "We would have liked to see a greater role for the United Nations in the peacekeeping and reconstruction process, but it was not to be. As things are at the moment, there’s no reason for the government to rethink its decision not to send German soldiers to Iraq."

Yet statements like this have not prevented senior parliament members of the ruling Social Democrat (SPD) and Green parties from thinking ahead and going through all the possible scenarios that might evolve in the wake of Tuesday's attack.

The SPD’s foreign affairs expert Hans-Ulrich Klose said Berlin should consider that the situation may change. "What if the United Nations requests military protection for its own members in Iraq? That would certainly increase the pressure on the German government to rethink its current stance," said Klose. "What I’m saying is that Berlin should not categorically rule out sending soldiers to Iraq under any circumstances."

More power for the Iraqis

The Greens’ foreign affairs spokesman Ludger Vollmer, however, is skeptical whether an international peacekeeping mission to assist the coalition forces and the U.N. representatives on the ground would provide a solution to the conflict -- and one that would serve the Iraqi people.

"I, too, am in favor of rethinking the cooperation between the U.N., the coalition forces and NATO in Iraq," said Vollmer. "But the issue of sending German soldiers there is not one that has to be debated right now. There first have to be viable political concepts as to how to secure lasting stability in post-war Iraq. I can’t see any such concepts right now."

According to Vollmer, the only solution in the long run is to hand over more power to the Iraqis and keep foreign interference at the lowest possible level. "As everyone can see, we are further away than ever from such a state of affairs."