The United States has asked Germany to provide protection for its bases from the end of January? Another piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Iraq is another step closer to liberation. The German reaction will be interesting to watch. A spokesman for the German defense ministry said that Germany had actually agreed to help to guard US bases, but it had made no commitments as to the extent of the aid. This is going to be a highly explosive issue for the coalition of Greens and Social Democrats, as Schröder won re-election by running against the US. There's a very large number of pacifist idiots in Germany who're opposed to any German aid to the US, no matter how indirect. Overflight rights? Of course not. Limiting US troop movements? Well, sure. (I wonder how they would want to put that into practice, being pacifists and all). In fact, they would oppose military action against Saddam even if all other countries in the UN came crawling on their knees to beg for German support. War is wrong, they say, violence never solves anything, so let's allow the madman to build weapons of mass destruction (you know, the kind that never solve anything). One day they might not solve anything by leaving a radioactive crater in Frankfurt, Munich or Berlin.

So the pacifists in both coalition parties are likely to be in explosive mood when the shooting in Iraq begins. Schröder will have to make a stark decision at that point, and no matter what he chooses, he has a problem. Since the election he has realized that sticking to his dogmatic unilaterist approach of no German aid whatsoever is going to cause Germany great harm internationally. He also knows that the left wing of his SPD party is going to be even more upset with him than it already is, and the see-no-evil-unless-its-American Greens with their pacifist roots are going to go into spontaneous combustion. If Schröder does accede to the US demand for protection of US bases and overflight rights, there's a good chance that his coalition will fall. If the does not, then the opposition will have a field day with piling on to Schreöder's already dismal position in the polls by pointing out that internationally he's a disaster for Germany too. Either way this is going to result to more damage to the already sinking ship of the Red-Green coalition. The Reds and the Greens are so far behind in the polls now that there's no chance that they could win another election now.

What I really wonder is this: are American forces really stretched so thin that they really, really need German aid in guarding American bases? Sure, it helps and allows American military personnel to be used more fruitfully in Iraq, but is it really necessary? Or is Bush killing two disgusting insects with one stone here? War in Iraq takes care of both Saddam and Schröder. You gotta love it.