Germany willing to send troops to Iraq, says Fischer (Not really)

[ze_dscherman]

Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister, signalled yesterday that Germany would be prepared to contribute troops in a US-led alliance to send Nato troops to Iraq.

"Our possibilities are limited but we are open to discussions," he said during a visit to Washington.

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, confirmed yesterday that the United Nations was in discussions on the possibility of a new resolution on Iraq. "I have been in talks with other foreign ministers and Kofi Annan over the possibility of opening the discussion for a new UN resolution," he said.

SNIP

Mr Fischer said that securing stability in Iraq and other crisis regions in the Middle East, including Iran, must be the "common cause" of the US and Europe. "To secure peace is of common interest to Europe, my country and the US," said Mr Fischer.

Mr Fischer expressed German discontent with UN resolution 1483, which in effect provides the US and the UK with the rights of an occupying power. "The UN has to play a central role for the process to carry wider legitimacy," he said.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1057562478645&p=1012571727166

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To me it is astonishing how different this is reported in German news. Mr. Fischer is interpreted as saying "No" to sending troops, with only a (probable) excemption in case of a new UN resolution. No talk of sending troops under a US-led NATO alliance.

See also: http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_921418_1_A,00.html

I very much agree with the quoatiations by Mr. Voigt, an aide to Mr. Fisher:

"I can't imagine that a country that didn't want to go to war, didn't win the war, and that is therefore not an occupying force, can or should operate under conditions set by the operating force in Iraq. If at all, it should only be under U.N.-established conditions. I don't know whether the Americans are ready for that," he said.

Even if the German troops weren't already stretched too thin, Voigt added, "I don't think it is a meaningful German policy to jump from deployment to deployment without doing any serious long-term planning. ... That means you don't jump from flower to flower and try to suck the nectar out, and then believe that you gain influence that way. You only gain influence if by solving problems."

[OldEurope]

1. This is a wonderful example for terribly bad journalism

In the whole article I cannot find any word of Fischer to prove the headline. Am I blind or silly, or is this FT-guy silly???

[Kellanved]

2. Interesting

Voigt is responsible for the German-American relationship. He argued strongly in favour of joining the coalition before the war.

However:
Powell returned the case of beer (Flensburger) he got from Fischer in Germany, because, as he said, he found no shop accepting the bottles for deposit. (Fischer gave it to him full, Powell returned it empty ;-) )
Fischer got a fish knife and a fork from Powell.

[German-Lefty]

3. Not the first time

I remember seeing an AP article on Salon say something like "Germany now supports Iraq War". It was crap too. I wish they'd stop putting words in Fischer's mouth. I kind of like that green party guy.

Personally I kinda hope they don't send any troops there. There are still German troops in Afganistan defusing landmines and acting as bait.

On one side Europe could say "This is an American mess; let them deal with it." On the other though it's going to be a humanitarian mess and you want to help those people.

It think other countries would be willing to send troops to help with reconstruction and maybe policing, but they don't want to get caught up in helping America occupy another country. The chalenge is tring to keep those things seperate. I'm not sure it can be done.

There's also a kind of pride game being played. If the US were to confess it made a mistake in attacking Iraq, the EU could step in and say "see we told you so". That would be a huge political victory for Germany and France and huge defeat for Bush and Co.

If you need me to translate German let me know.

[ze_dscherman]

4. Translating German

Probably no need for that.

I don't know where "Old Europe" comes from, but AFAIK all other participants in this discussion are German ;-)

[OldEurope]

5. Munich

chchch...

[ze_dscherman]

6. You did not have a bavarian accent ...

.nt.

[OldEurope]

7. Err...

...you mean so what how a Filser-letter?
:toast:

[ze_dscherman]

8. There musted I first a time google

around out to find what a Filser-letter is.
:toast:

[OldEurope]

9. LOL...good for the first time!

:beer:

[Capt_Nemo]

10. Remember, it was this way that the troubles with Chirac started:

In the New Year address to the nation Chirac stated that the french
armed forces would have to be prepared for any eventuality. The
anglo-saxon media reported this as meaning that the french had joined
the US/UK bandwagon and that its objections were nothing more than
rhetoric.
I think that Chirac got mighty pissed off with that "they say one
thing in public another in private stuff", and that goes a long way
to explain the virulence of the rebuffs of US/UK policy by De Villepin,
later that month.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi German-Lefty!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: