| Germany not offering troops Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-04-033806.asp?reg=EUROPEhttp://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-04-033806.asp?reg=EUROPE
Germany not offering troops for Iraq - official
BERLIN, Sept. 4 — Germany is still not willing to send soldiers to Iraq as it does not see the United States and Britain handing control to the United Nations, a leading ruling party official said on Thursday.
Facing almost daily casualties in Iraq, Washington is pushing for a new U.N. resolution to get more countries to contribute troops and cash, but insists on keeping full U.S. military control and a dominant political role. Olaf Scholz, general secretary of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, denied German media reports that Berlin had been asked to contribute troops and said Germany would limit its role in Iraq to humanitarian aid. ''At the moment it is not being discussed that the American government and British government should give up their responsibility for the occupation situation in Iraq,'' Scholz told German radio in an interview. ''It is not about the United Nations getting responsibility for what is happening there now, so nothing in the situation has actually changed,'' he said. The proposed resolution marked a policy reversal for the U.S. administration, which had resisted U.N. involvement after the Security Council's refusal to approve the war that toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. France, Russia, China and Germany were among nations which opposed the war. Although some major concessions were made in the draft document, diplomats said intense negotiations were in store, with France and others wary of rubber-stamping a U.S. occupation. ''Germany didn't start the war and didn't participate in it so we must be very cautious about what we do,'' Scholz said. ''There are no requests to Germany to do anything in Iraq with its own soldiers,'' he said, but added that any such requests would always be very carefully examined. The Leipziger Volkszeitung reported on Thursday that Washington and NATO were pushing Germany to make a decision in the next few months about whether to contribute troops to Iraq. Citing unnamed sources in the leadership of the German military, the newspaper said NATO Secretary-General George Robertson had repeatedly urged the government to participate in any possible NATO operation in Iraq. Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
|
|