The Recalcitrant Ally

One Western leader for whom the Iraq issue has been a political windfall is Gerhard Schroder. The German Chancellor, up for re-election when Germans go to the polls this Sunday, was far behind his conservative opponent, Edmund Stoiber, premier of the state of Bavaria, who had made a chief issue of the country's economic woes. Schroder has closed the gap in the past month and last week even edged past Stoiber for the first time in the eight-month campaign. One reason for Schroder's turnaround is his smooth performance as a crisis manager. When eastern Germany was inundated by heavy flooding last month, Schroder put together a $7 billion reconstruction plan and deferred a planned tax cut 12 months to pay for it. Even more important, say political analysts, were Schroder's strong statements opposing any U.S. military action against Iraq — whether approved by the U.N. or not. Schroder's position angered the Bush Administration but was immensely popular at home. "It was very important because 80% of the people are against the war in Iraq," says pollster Manfred Gullner. But some political analysts worried that by opposing Bush, Schroder was damaging long-term relations with Washington. "Germany is dividing Europe, and for the first time in 50 years a German government has become anti-American in both style and substance," said Christian Hacke, a political scientist at Bonn University. "This is a catastrophe."