Germany Pledges Help to U.S. in Security Council

In separate meetings with Germany's top two leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell got Berlin's pledge to help reach a compromise on a U.N. postwar resolution in the security council next week.

Powell, who left Berlin at around 5 p.m. Friday, completed a one-day visit which covered everything from healing the German-U.S. rift of the past year to the roadmap to peace in the Middle East. He received Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's promise that his government would work with the United States towards lifting the U.N. sanctions currently placed on Iraq in the Security Council next week.

But Berlin stopped short of offering full support to a U.S.-British-Spanish resolution before the Security Council, which Washington wants a vote on next week. France and Russia have expressed skepticism about the proposal, which gives the U.S. and Great Britain a major say in the Iraqi oil industry and is vague on the duties of a possible U.N. coordinator in Iraq. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who has a close working relationship with Powell, said after their afternoon meeting that the resolution was "a good basis" from which to work from.

"We have an interest in reaching agreement," Fischer told reporters. "I am optimistic."

The meetings were the first high-level meetings between German and American officials in Berlin since President George W. Bush's 23-hour visit last May. Since then, the German and American relationship has undergone a radical transformation. Schröder's refusal to support the Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq virtually shut down contact between the two leaders in recent months.

Powell's visit was greeted in Germany as a positive first step to getting the transatlantic relationship back on track. Following his meeting with Schröder, Powell told reporters that the governments of the United States and Germany had put their serious disagreements behind them and were ready to "move on."

Meeting U.S. commander's former villa

In a subtle reminder of the importance Germany placed on its relationship with America, Fischer scheduled his afternoon meeting with Powell at the former home of the commander of U.S. forces in Berlin following World War II. Though their bosses have talked only once in the past year, Powell said he and Fischer keep in regular contact.

"Joschka and I can always speak our hearts and minds to one another," said Powell, who thanked Fischer for past speeches on the importance of the German-American relationship.

"The weather is a symbol of how good our ties are," said Fischer, pointing to the sunny skies above during an otherwise cloudy day in Berlin. "They are not simple … but [Germany] is shaped by its deep relationship to America."

No discussion of NATO in Iraq

The two did not discuss a possible role for NATO troops in postwar Iraq. Though several European countries have pledged troops to maintain security in Iraq, U.S. officials are reported to be looking for something more long-term. German soldiers have made up a large portion of the NATO troops currently policing the Balkans. But German politicians are reported to be wary of committing soldiers to maintaining stability in Iraq, a war which the government opposed.

"We focused on the Security Council decision," said Fischer. "Everything else is in the future."