Posted on 10/13/2004 9:07:39 PM PDT by focusandclarity
Germany won't send troops to Iraq
From correspondents in Berlin October 13, 2004
THE German government said today it won't budge from its refusal to send troops to Iraq, reinforcing its position after the country's defence minister appeared to suggest that Berlin might one day consider a deployment.
Germany strongly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq and has refused to send any troops to the country - a position that officials have said will hold no matter who wins the US presidential election.
"I want to say clearly and unmistakably what the chancellor told the Cabinet: the position of the German government as far as Iraq is concerned is clear - it will not be changed," Thomas Steg, a spokesman for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
"It will remain in the future what it was in the past - there will be no German soldiers in Iraq," Mr Steg said.
Mr Steg's comments came after Defence Minister Peter Struck was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying that, while he rules out a deployment now, he could not make "binding statements" about the future.
"I rule out the deployment of German troops in Iraq now," Mr Struck told the daily Financial Times Deutschland. "In general, however, there is no one who can predict developments in Iraq in such a way that he can make binding statements."
He did not elaborate.
France, Germany and other NATO members agreed in June at a summit in Istanbul to the creation of an alliance training mission for Iraq.
Germany has been helping in reconstruction by training Iraqi police officers and troops in the United Arab Emirates. It also is providing the Iraqi military with 100 used trucks and 20 Fuchs armored vehicles.
The Associated Press
"It will remain in the future what it was in the past - there will be no German soldiers in Iraq," Mr Steg said."
Read their lips, Mr. Kerry, you'll get no co-operation from Germans!
I knew their military was a joke, but I didn't figure that it was down to one guy!
Remember when talk of German troop "deployment" brought fear to the host country?
This is bad for Kerry's claims that he will expand the coalition, not that anyone should have believed that in the first place.
"Germany Won't Send Troops to Iraq"
Your "take" on my mistake gave me a good laugh!
I'm going to have to be less hasty and more careful in my typing. Thanks again.
"It will remain in the future what it was in the past - there will be no German soldiers in Iraq," Mr Steg said.
The weiners have spoken.
Speaking of Kerry and Troops of Various Nations...
See this earlier posting this evening:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1244206/posts
Well thanks! Things like that are why I always cut and paste, BTW - I know I can't type worth a darn.
Maybe this is a bad thing to say and if so may God forgive me. I hope I live to see the day when Germany or France needs our help and we tell them to F*CK OFF!
Why would we want unwilling coalition partners? They would be a hinderance, not an asset. Besides, the Germans and French aren't well liked by the Iraqi's. Who does John Kerry think he is inviting those who the Iraqi's consider unwelcome into their country? The choice isn't John Kerry's to make. Another point is the Germans and The French have proved themselves to be unworthy as a partners, back stabbers who were more interested in their corrupt back door dealings with Saddam than they were in stopping a world threat, a mass murderer, a terrorist.
They continue to pursue a venue which undermines the USA.
I would not want these countries as coalition partners unless their attitudes changed.
They are no longer allies, they are at best, competitors.
What's more, i think Bush should consider seriously moving all bases out of germany, and into poland where they would be welcome and respected, and the economic boost much more apreciated.
What is the source of your Information that the Germans and French aren't well liked by the Iraqi's??!
BTW - if Germany and the US aren't allies anymore (your words) I share your viewpoint, that the US troops should leave Germany as soon as possible. If we don't share values and friendship anymore, it makes absolutely no sense to defend each other.
If John Kerry should win the election (I do not think so) it is quite likely that his invitation for western Europe to join in the Iraq war is rejected. The possiblity of French or German soldiers fighting in Iraq is not probable with the contemporary gouvernments. There has to be a major political change after the next elections first. Meanwhile the emotions against this war are much too high in the European society. Taking part in this war would be a fast political suicide for every politican in Germany or France.
BTW - I suppose that John Kerry will leave Iraq soon to the mullahs. The only way to stop this development is quite clear... But as a European I do not give any voting advisory ;-) .
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