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Illustration for TIME by STEVE BRODNER |
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SYMBOLIC CLASH: Germany and the U.S. sem set on different courses on Iraq. Can the eagles be reconciled? |
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| Collision Course |
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder won re-election by hammering the U.S. plan to attack Iraq. But an enraged George W. Bush started hitting back. Can Schröder undo the damage — and what does the bad blood mean for Europe?
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By JAMES GEARY/Berlin |
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Posted Sunday, Sep. 29, 2002; 1.58 p.m. BST
In the world of NATO — the old, familiar world of staunch allies and unblinking deterrence — it counted as big news: defense ministers meeting in Warsaw last week agreed to admit seven Eastern European countries into the alliance in November. But this so-called big-bang expansion was all but drowned out by the technicolor blasts coming from a brand new world — a world of terrorism and pre-emptive strikes against enemies who can't be deterred. In this new world, it turns out, steadfast friends are at each other's throats, one war may start before the last war is finished, and Europe and America aren't sure whether to trust each other.
The high-stakes diplomatic battle that raged last week between Washington and Berlin was partly about Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's election-campaign criticism of U.S. plans to attack Iraq. Schröder staged a remarkable comeback victory against challenger Edmund Stoiber in large part thanks to his promises to reject a U.S. war, whether or not it was sanctioned by the United Nations. He loudly and repeatedly claimed that he would not "click his heels" to Washington's insistence on military "adventures." And the fight was also partly about the ill-chosen words of German Justice Minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin, who was quoted comparing Bush's tactics to Hitler's because both used foreign crises to deflect attention from domestic ones. It was her remark that caused George W. Bush to lose his temper and strike back — he pointedly did not make the traditional call to congratulate Schröder on his victory, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld talked about a "poisoned" relationship and refused to meet privately in Warsaw with his German counterpart, Peter Struck, whom he referred to only as "that person."
But there was more going on than a President's anger or a Chancellor's bellicose words. The battle was, in a very real sense, between the old and new ways of looking at the world — between the comforting idea that democracies don't attack unless attacked, and the unsettling notion that security can demand a harsh first strike.
Schröder may not actually believe in the old world any more — sources tell Time that even before he hammered the President publicly, he had assured Bush that he would be with him on Iraq if the Americans built a coalition. But if Schröder didn't believe in the old world, 80% of his people did — that's the percentage of Germans who oppose the war. So he played to them on the stump and did what he had to do to get re-elected. But did he destroy his country's precious ties with the U.S. in the process?
Though hostilities now show some signs of easing, Schröder was clearly worried by the vehemence of the American response. The Chancellor may not have clicked his heels to Washington, but he did hotfoot it to London just days after the election to enlist Tony Blair's support in patching things up with Bush. The two leaders met for an informal dinner, with only an interpreter present, in the upstairs flat at No. 10 Downing St. Though the British are careful not to show any signs of schadenfreude, one government official says Schröder's predicament "is delicious for Blair. It shows the transatlantic bridge is working and that Blair is the pivot."
That bridge — which Schröder derided during the campaign as supporting only one-way traffic — could be an important route through which the Germans and Americans make nice. Even as they debated opposite positions, Blair and Schröder were careful not to attack one another, notes Henrik Uterwedde, deputy director of the German-French Institute in Ludwigsburg. "Blair has protected Schröder," he says. "You never heard him join in the chorus against him. Now, he's in a unique position to get the Germans out of the corner."
A more direct — and ultimately more effective — approach may come from Germany's Green Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer. A fluent English speaker and friend of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Fischer has exactly what Schröder seems to lack: a nuanced understanding of domestic American politics and a realization of the importance of U.S. support in a crisis. "We have not forgotten that the U.S. liberated us and defended us in the cold war," Fischer told TIME. "I know the United States very well. Bob Dylan was more important for my political orientation than Karl Marx."
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