Germany not offering troops for Iraq - official

[Kellanved]

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.

...
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.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-04-033806.asp?reg=EUROPE

[drewb]

1. Good for them, at least someone in the world has a backbone...

[ixion]

2. fool them once, shame on us, fool them twice, well

in the words of Chimpy McWhistleAss:
"uh, er, won't get fooled again."

[madrchsod]

3. now for the rest of the story

germany is not sending troops to iraq..but they are sending more troops to afganistan. of course this will never be reported here in the usa.

[underpants]

4. Bottom line at the UN is NO BREMMER!

And a deal will be difficult: the U.N. will agree to American control of the military operations, but not civil administration. "No Bremer," an international diplomat told me. "He's not done very well."
-Joe Klein
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030908-480298,00.html

[Kahuna]

5. You broke it. You fix it. The U.S. is lucky that...

the UN isn't working on imposing sanctions on us.

[Zero Gravitas]

6. Of course not

The proposed UN resolution is a joke, a fig leaf paying lip service to "UN control" but in reality changing nothing. They are hoping that other countries will be more willing to send cannon fodder...erm... I mean troops to Iraq because we are out of our depth. Its not going to happen.

This is George W. Bush's war and he and his cronies have alienated the world community. Now they (and the rest of us) will have to take responsibility for their actions.

[LeftistGorilla]

7. hay...

Germany not offering troops for Iraq

just like lots of other countries....
mine too...

[bspence]

8. Another score for the left

I hate the schadenfreude (new word for me!) going around, but I love that Bush is falling flat on his ass.

Now we can point to the worst foreign policy in the history of our country during the next election.

The point of a good foreign policy is to hurt your enemies and increase your allies. Bush has done completely the opposite. Our enemies are recruiting more fighters than ever, and our allies are giving us the finger.

Way to go NeoCons! :yourock:

[StandWatie]

9. schadenfreude is a great word..

There really should be an English equivalent for a very specific human emotion.

[Kellanved]

10. Now France + Germany

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3388335

--snip
DRESDEN, Germany (Reuters) - France and Germany responded coolly on Thursday to a U.S. move to win a United Nations mandate for a peacekeeping force for Iraq, and the new Iraqi foreign minister said Turkish troops would be unwelcome.

"We are ready to examine the proposals but they seem quite far from what appears to us the primary objective, namely the transfer of political responsibility to an Iraqi government as soon as possible," French President Jacques Chirac said.

Facing almost daily casualties in Iraq, Washington has drafted a new U.N. resolution aimed at getting more countries to contribute soldiers and cash to its occupation. But it insists on full U.S. military control and a dominant political role.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a news conference with Chirac that the proposals showed movement in the U.S. position but did not go far enough. He said that while France and Germany opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, they now wanted to help bring stability and democracy to the country.
...
--snap