BERLIN: A crucial impact of September 11 on Germany has been to plunge relations with the United States into their worst crisis of the past 50 years due to fierce differences over how to respond to international terror.

Initially it seemed that Berlin would march shoulder to shoulder with Washington as it had throughout the Cold War.

Germany backed the Afghanistan war and sent 100 elite KSK troops to take part in combat. Germany and the Netherlands commanded the international security force (ISAF) in Afghanistan — to which Berlin has contributed 2,300 troops — until earlier this year.

But from having been one of the most eloquent supporters of the US after the attacks, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder swiftly backed away from his pledge of “unconditional solidarity” once it became clear that the US was intent on going to war with Baghdad.

Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac instead became outspoken leaders of the European anti-war coalition. In America conservatives dubbed them the “Axis of Weasels” but back home polls showed up to 80 per cent of Germans strongly backed the anti-war position.

Chancellor Schroeder made rejection of war a cornerstone of his reelection campaign in 2002 where it distracted from the dismal economy and helped him narrowly win a second term.

Dismay in Washington turned to fury after a German cabinet minister — who was later forced to resign — compared US President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.

But mostly the discourse was sober, flat out disagreement.

“Excuse me, I’m not convinced!” declared German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in a public row on Iraq with US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld at an international security conference in Munich last February.

This new willingness of Berlin to stand up and say “no” to the US — which only lost extra-territorial rights as a German occupation power with the 1990 unification — may be one of the most profound shifts fuelled by the attacks.

The respected news magazine Der Spiegel, quoting chancellery documents, says Schroeder plans to use his rejectionist Iraq stance as a model for a new foreign policy doctrine aimed at positioning Germany as “Mittlemacht” (middle power) in the global arena.

“The hegemony of the United States will no longer be seen in the light of traditional German-American friendship. Instead, a sober policy of national interests will be given priority in which a dash of scepticism over the US won’t hurt...,” says Der Spiegel.

Schroeder and Bush do not consult by telephone and have only met briefly at three international summits to shake hands and make strained small-talk since last year.

A government spokesman said on Monday it was still not clear if Schroeder and Bush would meet when the Chancellor travels to the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month.

Even with current US moves to give the UN a bigger role in Iraq, some pundits argue it will take “regime change” in both Germany and the US before bilateral ties can improve.

A further striking post-September 11 development in Germany has been Berlin’s refusal to increase military spending, which sharply contrasts with the United States — which massively raised defence spending and even France, which approved moderate hikes in military funding.

German defence spending is frozen at 24.4 billion euros (27 billion dollars) annually for the years 2003 to 2006. Whereas the US spends 3 per cent of its GDP on the military, and France and Britain 2.5 per cent each, Berlin directs just 1.6 per cent of its GDP to the armed forces.

In other areas Germany reacted swiftly to new challenges posed by the September 11 attacks.

The government passed a big anti-terror package at the end of 2001 which includes such things as tougher background checks on people working at airports, armed guards on commercial airliners, more money for security services and tighter controls on radical groups in Germany.

Laws on expelling illegal aliens were beefed up and the government rushed the production of enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate all 82 million Germans should the disease be used for germ warfare purposes.

Security at buildings considered possible terrorist targets has been massively upgraded.

The US embassy in Berlin is now protected by huge concrete wall with an outer ring of concrete blocks to stop car-bombers. Israeli and Jewish sites are also under sharply tighter protection.—dpa