Joining the Fight

The last time the united states organized a military coalition — against Iraq in 1991 — Germany wriggled out of it by sending five mine sweepers and a check for $6.5 billion. This time Germany has decided to get off the sidelines. Chancellor Gerhard Schröder last week announced he was contributing 3,900 soldiers and sailors to the war against terrorism, the first time since World War II that German troops will be deployed outside Europe. “This decision,” said Schröder, “is truly important, fundamental and historic.”

But German troops may not see combat. Schröder told a press conference that the U.S. had not asked Germany to take part in the air war over Afghanistan or provide troops on the ground. The contingent includes only 100 combat-ready special forces, like Germanys élite KSK commandos. Germany is putting on standby 800 soldiers attached to a unit of Fuchs armored cars that can seek out nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, a medical evacuation unit with a flying hospital and 1,800 sailors whose ships will patrol the waters off Pakistan to protect alliance vessels.

Mindful of divided opinion at home about the war, Schröder was careful to say he was answering specific requests from the U.S. The main reason German troops will play primarily a support role is believed to be the Pentagons desire to avoid the confusing chain of command that exists in Kosovo, where Germanys 5,100 soldiers serve alongside American, French and British troops. Germany also has 600 soldiers leading U.N. peacekeepers in Macedonia.

Schröders announcement touched off some unseemly jostling by European nations that also want to be seen as close allies of the U.S. in its Afghan campaign. Within hours, French President Jacques Chirac appeared at a White House press conference to announce his support, providing 2,000 troops. At the same moment, Italy announced it would send 2,700 soldiers to the region, including the aircraft carrier Garibaldi, transport and fuel supply planes and 1,000 troops to be used in escort and humanitarian missions. Even the Netherlands promised military support. The Europeans appeared to be vying to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain, which now has 4,200 troops in the region, including a naval task force and a small contingent of Royal Marines.

Amid the stampede to befriend America, the Schröder government was embarrassed at one point last week when U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that no specific request had been made to the Germans, making Schröder look like a fibber.

After a hurried plea from Berlin to the White House, Rumsfeld took the rare step of issuing a clarification to say that the U.S. had indeed requested specific German units. Even so, support for the war effort is not assured in Germany. A poll conducted last week for Die Woche showed only 51% of Germans favor their army units taking part in the deployment, with 46% opposed. Half said they were opposed to German troops taking part in a ground war in Afghanistan.

The government decision also has split parliament, which must approve the deployment. The pacifist Green Party, junior partner in the government, has been sharply divided on whether to support the U.S. attacks. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the leading Green in the government, has supported the effort to remove the Taliban, but party leaders have called for an end to the bombing. Winfried Nachtwei, the Greens defense expert, said the bombing is “no longer proportionate and politically increasingly counterproductive.” Even members of Schröders Social Democratic Party have expressed concerns. “The fear of many,” said Michael Müller, vice chairman of the SDP parliamentary delegation, “is that this deployment is only the first step, and it will grow step by step.”

Last August, Schröder threatened to resign if the Bundestag failed to approve the Macedonia deployment. That threat is not necessary now because the opposition Christian Democrats are also keen to be seen as supporting the U.S. Still, they may try to limit the deployment to six months instead of the year Schröder wants. The real question is how long public support will last if Germanys first overseas military deployment in half a century starts to yield Germanys first military casualties.