German Government on Collision Course with the US Again?

Green party leader Angelika Beer announced over the weekend that the German coalition government is obliged to refuse all passive support to the US and Britain if they launch a war against Iraq without a UN mandate.

Germany's constitution doesn't allow "logistical support or participation in Awacs operations, in the case of an offensive," Beer, the Greens' defense expert (photo), told the newspaper Die Welt.

The Greens, junior partner to the Social Democrats (SPD) in the German governmental coalition, called on the government to refuse all support to the US and Britain if the two countries attack Iraq.

The statements put the German government and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on a possible new collision course with Washington. The Bush administration has been less than happy with Schröder's refusal to support a US invasion of Iraq and what were perceived as anti-American statements during the chancellor's re-election campaign.

At a party convention in Hanover on Sunday the Greens, Schröder's coalition partners, decided that the government must not allow the US to use its military bases in Germany, to fly through German airspace or to rely on German soldiers to fly Awac reconnaissance planes.

SPD Secretary General Olaf Scholz and SPD parliamentary group deputy chairman Gernot Erler also spoke out against German participation in Awacs flights in several radio interviews on Sunday and Monday. Scholz, however, confirmed that the US would be able to use German airspace and its military bases without restriction, if it goes to war with Iraq.

US request unconfirmed

The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) first broke the unconfirmed news that the US had requested the aid of German and allied soldiers flying Awacs at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on last Wednesday.

Both the German Defense Ministry and Kerstin Müller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, have denied that the US has asked Germany to take part in Awac operations.

Germans vital to Awac fleet

There are 17 Awacs planes used by NATO that are stationed in Geilenkirchen, Germany. The planes are flown by soldiers from different NATO countries, nearly one-third from Germany.

The German government does not yet know what the US would use the Awacs for, according to newspaper reports. German soldiers may be expected to participate in the surveillance of Turkish airspace, an action that both NATO and the Defense Ministry admit is more than passive military support, the FAS reported.

Iraq completed the dossier it compiled with details of its arsenal on Sunday. It is reportedly on its way to the UN in New York.