German opinion turns heavily anti-war

By Werner Kierski

Traveling to Germany from Britain gives one a feeling of arriving on another planet regarding press and public perception of the current war in Iraq. In the US and Britain, 50-60% of those polled support the war against Iraq, although support appears weak and could fall if the campaign turns into a long or difficult one.

Pic Thomas Plamann - NRZ

Reading the papers, one also detects broad war support by the US press and considerable support among British news media. Arriving in Germany, one is immediately struck with dramatic differences. Recent opinion polls there indicate a massive 87% of the German electorate opposes the war. Further, 57% agree with the statement that "the United States is a nation of warmongers" and only 6% think that President Bush has any interest in preserving peace.

While France has taken center stage by defying the US and Britain in the United Nations Security Council, German anti-war feeling may run even higher. After all, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his coalition government won re-election as recently as October 2002 by running on an anti-war campaign platform.

Many in Germany feel that the Bush administration is badly managing relations with the Schröder government. Thousands of Germans took to the streets last month when US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld attended a Nato conference in Munich. Earlier he had compared Germany's reticence to sanction war to the behavior of such US enemies as Cuba and Libya. Ironically, Rumsfeld's ancestors lived near the northern German city of Bremen for generations before emigrating to the US. Following Rumsfeld's outburst, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading German conservative newspaper, pondered whether Washington had extended its 'axis of evil' to include Berlin and Paris.

It is perhaps surprising that US officials did not anticipate Germany's reaction earlier. Although a longtime US ally, German public opinion has consistently shown reluctance to engage in any war for more than 50 years. Feelings about World War II remain strong with Germans regarding their past through the unique twin perspectives of both conqueror and victim. The German federal constitution bans any war of aggression, only allowing war for the defense of the homeland and protection of Nato allies. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld appeared to hope that the German government would renege on election promises made months before and join in the coalition against Iraq. But realpolitik inevitably prevailed when Chancellor Schröder realized that support for Washington might well cost him his job.

Since then, the mutual recriminations have grown steadily worse. The US military has reportedly cancelled construction and maintenance contracts with German companies. Thousands of German consumers are boycotting McDonald's and other US companies. Some German exchange students visiting the US have reported being insulted and harassed.

The German press, which warmly supported the US in the months following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, has now largely turned highly suspicious of American unilateral politics. Der Spiegel, a popular national magazine, has focused on what it sees as a new US doctrine of global domination. Recent cover stories include "Blood for Oil" and "Operation Rambo", which portrayed US special forces as gun-toting unwashed Hell's Angels lookalikes. Another recent cover was titled: "Divine mission - the Crusade of George W. Bush". Television and radio programs constantly question the changing relationships between the US, Germany and Europe. Ironically, Germany has actually provided vital help in the search for weapons of mass destruction. German navy vessels have constantly patrolled the East African coast near Somalia and Yemen since late in 2001. German nuclear, biological and chemical weapons specialists remain based in Kuwait, with 120 further experts sent out from Germany as recently as March 21. In line with her NATO commitments, Germany supplies one third of the special AWAC aerial reconnaissance crews currently patrolling the Turkey-Iraq border.

Even this level of cooperation has stirred anger among the German anti-war lobby. In late March, police and demonstrators clashed in Hamburg, resulting in a number of arrests. Anti-war rallies in Germany have become virtually daily events. As in Britain, many German students have now become politicized and are cutting classes in order to voice their dissent. Some school authorities have threatened to issue fines for truancy.

Anti-war and anti-American feeling have spread to virtually every aspect of society. German Catholic and Protestant church leaders alike criticize US actions. Theatres have changed their programs to emphasize the tragic consequences of war. Meanwhile the first American war casualties have arrived in Germany, cared for at Ramstein, which houses one of the largest American military hospitals outside the US.

The longer US military forces remain in Iraq after the war, the more entrenched anti-US feeling in Germany is likely to become. And it is difficult to see how the bitter differences between the two former allies will soon be bridged.