Germany stands firm on refusal to send troops

OCT 14, 2004

BERLIN - The German government said yesterday it will
not budge from its refusal to send troops to Iraq,
reinforcing its position after its 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,' Mr 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's comments came after Defence Minister Peter
Struck was quoted in a newspaper interview as saying
that while he ruled out a deployment now, he could not
make 'binding statements' about the future.

'I rule out the deployment of German troops in Iraq
now,' he told the Financial Times.

'In general, however, there is no one who can predict
developments in Iraq in such a way that he can make
binding statements.'

Mr Struck and other German officials said developments
in Iraq meant the position on sending troops was under
constant review, noting that Berlin was already
providing financial assistance to Iraq.

A senior official said: 'When the situation in Iraq
changes, when elections have been held or there are
other developments, then we will make decisions on
this basis.'

If a democratically elected Iraqi government were to
ask the United Nations for support, the international
community, including Germany, must be in a position to
respond, he added.

France, Germany and other Nato members agreed in June
at a summit in Istanbul to create an alliance training
mission for Iraq. -- AP,Financial Times



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