January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

BERLIN, Jan 23: Germany and France angrily rejected criticism from the United States on Thursday that they were isolated within Europe in their effort to avoid war in Iraq, and reaffirmed they would cooperate to secure peace.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac said war was not unavoidable as political leaders in both countries attacked US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld for dismissing their opposition to bloodshed as the view of “old Europe”.

The row, which deepened divisions in the trans-Atlantic alliance, even angered strong advocates of US policy in Germany and France and was likely to further galvanise growing peace movements in both European countries.

It also revived tension between George W. Bush and Schroeder only months after the German leader annoyed the American president with his anti-war campaign for re-election.

“We are both of the opinion, and the French president said that quite clearly yesterday, that one can never accept it when it is said that war is unavoidable,” Schroeder said during a ceremony in Berlin to mark the anniversary of a friendship treaty between the former adversaries.

“War may never be considered unavoidable,” said Schroeder, addressing hundreds of French and German students as Chirac listened. The comment drew loud applause.

Every effort at a peaceful solution was needed to ensure Iraq comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1441, he said.

Schroeder has made clear Germany would not vote for any resolution seeking authority for war in Iraq. France has not said how it will vote but stresses it will cooperate closely with Germany.

OLD EUROPE?: Rumsfeld had said “vast numbers of other countries in Europe” backed the United States on a possible war in Iraq. He called the German-French position “a problem”.

“You’re thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don’t. I think that’s old Europe,” Rumsfeld said in Washington. “If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the centre of gravity is shifting to the east. And there are a lot of new members.”

German conservative Volker Ruehe, a former defence minister and normally a strong advocate of US policy, said: “It’s not right to play off Eastern Europe against Western Europe.”

“Rumsfeld is not exactly a diplomat and it is not very wise to say something like that,” said Ruehe, chairman of the German parliament’s foreign policy committee.

“It’s unheard of,” said Hans-Ulrich Klose, a Social Democrat in parliament. “The Americans can’t call nations a problem just because they don’t share their view. The Americans shouldn’t try to divide Europe into ‘good’ and ‘not-so-good’ Europeans.”

French Environment Minister Roselyne Bachelot was even more blunt in her response to Rumsfeld.

“If you knew what I would like to say to him, to Mr Rumsfeld...,” Bachelot, a senior conservative who was Chirac’s campaign manager in the last election, told Europe 1 radio.

“I come from the Loire region where there used to be a famous person by the name of Cambronne,” she said, referring to French General Etienne Cambronne, known perhaps apocryphally for his vulgar reply to British troops who urged him to surrender during the Battle of Waterloo.

Chirac called for calm. His spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said: “Polemics have no place in this debate.”

Riding a popular wave of anti-war sentiment in Germany, Schroeder was re-elected chancellor in September after speaking out against any German role in an Iraq war. The position angered Bush and put strains on German-US relations.

Schroeder softened his stance after the election and sought to repair damage. But he issued his strongest anti-war statement Tuesday ahead of state elections, saying Germany would not vote for any resolution seeking authority for a strike against Iraq.—Reuters