COLOGNE, Sept 9: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Monday his country would not “click its heels” and follow the United States into war with Iraq, and denied that his position was straining relations with Washington.

“The Middle East doesn’t need more war, it needs more peace,” Schroeder said to loud applause at a Social Democrat rally at a central square in the western city of Cologne. “It is a mistake to think about military intervention in Iraq.”

The German leader, whose anti-war stance has helped him catch up with the conservative opposition in opinion polls ahead of a Sept 22 election, has repeatedly attacked US President George W. Bush’s administration over Iraq of late.

This has broken with a long-standing German tradition of avoiding criticism of its most important ally, prompting the US ambassador to say recently it was indeed hurting ties.

“Some are accusing me of endangering the German-American friendship,” Schroeder told the rally. “What kind of friendship is that if you are not free to state your opinion but instead have to stand there and click your heels together?”

Conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber has accused Schroeder of damaging transatlantic relations, saying the chancellor should air his differences with Bush in private on the telephone and not at campaign rallies.—Reuters