[Iowa-dx] Fwd: Re: ] "War and Peace and the Greens of Germany"

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/16/europe/germany.php

International Herald Tribune
Germany wrestles with keeping its soldiers in Afghanistan
By Judy Dempsey
Sunday, September 16, 2007

BERLIN: Germany's military presence in Afghanistan is becoming so
unpopular that it could force Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition
government to reconsider its support for the U.S. counterterrorism
operation there, legislators said Sunday.

The growing unpopularity stunned the government over the weekend when
the opposition Greens voted against prolonging mandates that come up for
renewal next month and in November, and when another opposition
movement, the Left Party, held a big antiwar demonstration in Berlin.

Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of Merkel's party, the Christian
Democratic Union, accused the Greens of walking away from their
responsibilities.

Although the Greens are in the opposition, the influence of its pacifist
wing poses a challenge for the Social Democrats, Merkel's coalition
partners.

Niels Annan, a Social Democrat legislator and foreign policy expert,
appealed to his party Sunday to take the decision of the Greens seriously.

"The population more and more calls into question the mission in
Afghanistan," he said.

According to an opinion poll carried out this month by the Forsa
Institute, more than 50 percent of Germans want an immediate withdrawal
of the country's troops from Afghanistan.

During an emotional debate in the university city of G=C3=B6ttingen on
Saturday, the pacifist wing of the Greens party roundly criticized its
leadership by voting against Germany's sending troops into any military
operations against the Taliban or Al Qaeda.

The rank and file of the party also voted against extending the use of
German Tornado reconnaissance jets, which for six months have been
essential for providing intelligence to NATO forces involved in the
increasingly violent battle against insurgents in the Afghan south.

That intelligence is also passed to the U.S. forces who are working
closely with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Germany has no troops directly involved in the U.S. mission in
Afghanistan but is participating in two other aspects of the American
effort - around the Horn of Africa and in Kuwait.

The mandate for involvement in the entire mission comes up for renewal
in mid-November, with Merkel's conservatives committed to renewing it
but the rank and file of the Social Democratic Party reluctant to.

Defense Ministry officials said Sunday that if the mandate was not
renewed, then German Tornadoes could be prevented by the lower house of
Parliament, which must sanction every military mission, from passing
aerial intelligence on to the Americans.

The Social Democrats will debate the situation in Afghanistan during
their party congress next month.

The party leadership, which includes Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, has tried to keep the party united over the issue, despite
the presence of a strong pacifist wing in this party as well.

Merkel, too, has started explaining to the public why German forces must
remain in Afghanistan. In response to the growing criticism from
opposition parties, which have either called for a partial or complete
withdrawal, she said in her weekly video podcast over the weekend that
"there was no alternative" to remaining in Afghanistan.

"We must not leave Afghanistan to the terrorists again," she added.
"This military commitment is important for those who live in Afghanistan
but also for the security and freedom of German citizens."

Merkel has spent the past few months trying to steer a middle course by
keeping the troops in Afghanistan but not sending them into regions
where there is heavy fighting.

So while her government has come under pressure from NATO to send German
troops to the south of Afghanistan, Merkel has turned down the request
while insisting that Germany remain a steadfast ally because of the work
it is doing in the north, where most of its forces are based.

Germany is also involved in training Afghan police forces.

While Merkel's conservative bloc supports prolonging the mandates, the
Social Democrats fear that its continuing support for the missions will
lead to losing more votes to the Left Party.

The Left Party is led by Oskar Lafontaine, a former chairman of the
Social Democrats who has consistently opposed the presence of any German
soldiers in Afghanistan.

The stance of the Left Party has attracted pacifists and disgruntled
Social Democrats who believe that their party has betrayed its
credentials as an antiwar party and genuine leftist party.

The Social Democrats also face a threat from the Greens. The
re-emergence of the pacifist wing over the weekend confirmed the end of
Joschka Fischer's influence.

As Green leader and foreign minister from 1998 to 2005 in a Social
Democrat-led coalition government under Gerhard Schr=C3=B6der, Fischer fough=
t
passionately to persuade the pacifist wing of his party to support
NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999. Fischer said at the time
that Germany had a moral responsibility to help stop the "ethnic
cleansing" of Kosovo's Albanians by Serbian forces then led by President
Slobodan Milosevic.

Fischer also persuaded the Greens to back sending troops to Afghanistan
in 2001 as part of the UN force.

___