Weapons Report Finds Cross-Party Consensus in Germany

German politicians are in broad agreement about the implications of U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix’s report on the Iraqi government’s compliance with Security Council Resolution 1441. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who was also involved in the preparation of the report, said it could take months to determine whether Baghdad is hiding any nuclear weapons. Now, both government and opposition want the inspection teams to be given more time to complete their work.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said that the inspectors’ report did not point to any significant breaches of the U.N. Security Council’s resolution and that military intervention was not justified at this point. However, he noted that Iraq still had to cooperate more fully with the inspectors.

After discussing the issue with the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday afternoon, Mr. Schröder said, "No one has the right to take any action without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council." Addressing a meeting in Berlin later that evening, Mr. Schröder also drew attention to differences in the way Washington is treating Iraq and North Korea, which actually has weapons of mass destruction and has thrown U.N. inspectors out. Europeans, he said, found that difficult to understand.

Chrisitan Democrats criticical of government stance

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel, also said the inspectors should be given more time to clarify what she called “serious questions,” although she warned against giving the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein the impression that he could string things out as long as he wanted. But she also called for an end to “the endless chain of suspicions” about Washington’s plans for unilateral military action and said more should be done to find a position acceptable to both the United States and its allies.

Merkel reserved her harshest criticism for the German government itself. “I believe there is a good chance the U.N. Inspectors will want more time,” she told reporters on Monday night. “And I think it’s wrong to adopt any rigid position in advance, which is what the Chancellor has done. That does not increase the pressure on Iraq but lowers it instead, which also makes Iraq less willing to cooperate with the U.N.” The whole world, she added, was shaking “its head over Germany’s behavior.”

Merkel’s predecessor, Wolfgang Schäuble, agreed with her criticism, saying the government’s announcement it would not support any Security Council resolution in favor of a war undermined efforts to pressure Baghdad into compliance. Schäuble also told German public radio on Tuesday that the U.N. resolution probably did justify a military strike but called for more the inspectors to be given another four weeks.

Giving the Security Council the last word

The premier of the state of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber -- who also heads the CDU’s sister party in the state, the Christian Social Union -- said every effort must be made to find a peaceful solution. He added that a unilateral US military strike would be “unacceptable.” The decisive body in this matter, he said, "must remain the United Nations and the Security Council.”

The Free Democrats’ leader, Guido Westerwelle, also believes the report shows a diplomatic solution is still possible. However, he said that preconceived positions such as those adopted by both the German chancellor and the US president limited the Security Council’s room for maneuver.

The government’s junior coalition partners, the Greens, greeted the report with some relief. Party leader Reinhard Bütikofer said that everything had to be done to disarm Iraq without resorting to military force. He also accused the opposition of trying to shirk responsibility, saying the government’s position now meant that Europe was more unified on the Iraq issue than skeptics had predicted was possible. The Social Democrats’ General Secretary, Olaf Scholz, also criticized the opposition’s stance, accusing the CDU of “lacking in patriotism in the Iraq debate.”