(War-unwilling; 02-03; p.2)

The German government's and opposition's views

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder gave a policy statement concerning the current international affairs on 13.02.03 before parliament. In the subsequent discussion, foreign minister Joseph Fischer and MP Ludger Vollmer, formerly state's secretary in the foreign ministry completed the picture of the government's aims.
One may access an official protocol of all the parliamentary proceedings of that date, so that only the main positions will be given here. (The protocol is in German, but an official summary of the chancellor's speech is available in English.)

The government's stance can be summarised as follows:
• no other authority but the United Nations may legitimise the use of force, especially military force in international relations;
• preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction which includes the destruction of existing arsenals is of utmost importance in respect to Hussein-clan ruled Iraq;
this goal will be achieved concerning bacteriological weapons in particular by long-term verification and control measures only; military threat poses - once called "Kanonenbootpolitik" in German, translated: cannon-boat policy - are a conditionally suitable means to that end;
• in the international field, fighting effectively terrorists' threats is still an important goal; Arabian nationalism as in Iraq and Islamic veiled terrorism as of al-Qaeda are of different origin, however, could be used against common adversaries;
• the way, a regional crisis is solved may not endanger the stability of this region.

The opposition's stance is best described with the speech of MP Wolfgang Schäuble:
• preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction which includes the destruction of existing arsenals is of utmost importance in respect to Hussein-clan ruled Iraq;
only the military threat of mainly the USA enabled the current inspections to happen;
• the USA are still the guarantor of German security;
• political leadership does include to explain why one after having "thoroughly examined" (Plenarprotokoll des Deutschen Bundestages 15/25, p. 1909 C; translation, original in German) the case considers a policy as adequate that is against the will of many. (read on here)