Posted on 09/14/2002 5:21:27 AM PDT by ch.man
Abstract A Bad Move and the Consequences
The German electoral campaign becomes more unreal the closer it comes to the end. If a single issue has taken on nearly absurd dimensions, it is Chancellor Schröder's over-hasty dispute about possible German military involvement in a strike against Iraq. No matter how delicate the issue, the Chancellor is showing us that he will stop at nothing to fend off electoral defeat. Schröder gives the impression that, any day now, the Germans will be pressured to join a war against Baghdad. Not only is the Chancellor apparently uninterested in a dialogue on the issue with Washington, he has failed even to show that the Americans, whatever they do, expect any help from the Germans. What would it be? Combat troops or armored divisions that don't even exist? The gap between the political hubris and the military deficit yawns wider.
Schröder's campaign strategists came up with the Iraq issue as a desperation move when the Social Democrats' poll figures were down. Now it is simply a bad move, and it threatens to limit Germany's future options.
Unfortunately, more sensible German politicians have allowed themselves to be dazzled on this issue. Stoiber, the opposing candidate, could have called for German participation in the context of a clear United Nations mandate. That would have preserved Germany's options, and the signal would have been understood in Washington.
September 13, 2002 / First published in German, September 11, 2002
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