SELF-EVIDENT? :

German Leader's Warning: War Plan Is a Huge Mistake (STEVEN ERLANGER, September 5, 2002, NY Times)

Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, believes that the Bush administration is making a terrible mistake in planning a war against Iraq, and he is not afraid to say so.

A new war in the Middle East, he says bluntly, would put at risk all that has been gained so far in the unfinished battle against Al Qaeda.

The arguments against a war with Iraq are so strong, he said, that he would oppose one even if the Security Council approved.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Germany offered "unconditional solidarity" and support to the United States as "a self-evident duty, as a friend," he said in an interview at his home here. Fighting Iraq, which he regards as entirely separate from fighting Al Qaeda, could shatter that unity.

Most of us seem to define "unconditional solidarity" and "self-evident duty" rather differently than Herr Schroder, don't we? Note also that after all the Franco-German whining about the U.S. not prostrating itself before the altar of the U.N., he apparently has no intent of being bound by a Security Council resolution if it authorizes war? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 6, 2002 3:26 PM