Washington Wants German Troops in Iraq
June 9, 2006
According to the daily Berliner Zeitung, Rumsfeld called on his German counterpart Franz Josef Jung to deploy Bundeswehr soldiers in training Iraqi forces in Baghdad.
The request apparently came shortly after the German elections last autumn, with Washington hoping that the new government might do a U-turn from the Social Democratic-Green party coalition's staunch resistance to the military invasion.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel has adhered to the same policy upheld by her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, who categorically rejected involvement in the US-led military presence in Iraq.
German newspapers allege that in government circles, sending troops to the country, even in a training capacity, is seen as the thin end of the wedge.
"If we gave them an inch, they would take a mile," the Berliner Zeitung quoted one source as saying.
Germany stays firm
Speaking after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels Thursday, Jung stressed that despite repeated urging from Washington, Germany would not be sending the Bundeswehr to Iraq.
In 2004, NATO agreed to a training mission which has so far seen 1,000 Iraqi officers trained in the Iraqi capital and a further 500 in Europe, including at the Bundeswehr's Military Academy in Hamburg. German soldiers are also training Iraqis in the United Arab Emirates.
"Germany is contributing to stabilizing the Iraqi forces," emphasized Jung in Brussels, but reiterated that deploying troops inside the country remained out of the question.
Modern-day challenges
At the meeting, NATO defense ministers approved new guidelines to adapt the military alliance to modern-day challenges and provide for the deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops, a spokesman said.
The move comes as the alliance is increasingly called upon to conduct missions unlike the purely military operations it has run in the past, like moving aid into quake-hit Pakistan or providing training.
"NATO has gone through very fundamental changes in terms of what it has done and what it is doing, and this will bring the force planning into line with the realities of the 21st century," said spokesman James Appathurai.
Simultaneous missions
The so-called "ministerial guidance" will prepare NATO to conduct simultaneously two large missions, involving some 60,000 troops, and six smaller ones, comprising up to 30,000 soldiers each.
"We no longer need to prepare for one big war. We have to prepare for, and indeed carry out, a multitude of military operations," Appathurai said.
The document will guide the 26 members of the alliance in ways to prepare for NATO's new operations and work with other bodies like the UN, the EU and non-governmental organizations.
The spokesman said that the allies had also committed "to endeavor" to boost their military spending to two percent of gross domestic product; a level only achieved currently by seven states.