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."