INTERVIEW WITH JOSCHKA FISCHER
GERMAN FEDERAL FOREIGN MINISTER

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

October 31, 2002

Excerpt

BILD: Herr Fischer, after the attacks of 11 September, the Federal Government pledged unstinting solidarity to the US. Is that all over now?

Fischer: We are not retracting any of our solidarity. Chancellor Schröder and I even risked the Red-Green Coalition because of our solidarity with America in the fight against terrorism since we are absolutely convinced that we have to fight this new totalitarian threat posed by terrorism.
As far as Iraq goes, the situation is different, however. When I discuss this issue with American friends, I encounter no outrage over the German position, but rather a reflective mood. The question here is can we and do we want to secure stability in the region with a large military presence for years or maybe even decades after a military strike against Iraq? That is the crucial question.

BILD: In a letter to a newspaper, an American reader recently asked, "Who was on your side when times were hard - Saddam Hussein?" What would you say to this man?

Fischer: I would reply that Saddam Hussein is a hardship for his own people, for his region. That's what I always thought. And therefore there was and will be no policy of appeasement towards Saddam Hussein, rather effective containment! But we also believe that Saddam Hussein is not the world's biggest problem after the attacks on New York, Djerba and Bali. Our key task is the fight against international terrorism. A fight that we are conducting with an alliance of states. A strike against Iraq would endanger this alliance. Thus we ask ourselves whether the right priorities are being set.
We have to discuss this in the interest of our friendship. It is a grotesque accusation to suggest we want to shirk our responsibility, that we are ungrateful - or whatever else. The principles of German foreign policy remain the same: the German-American alliance, European integration and our historic and moral responsibility towards Israel.

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