-Caveat Lector-
"`We have a responsibility toward our allies in NATO [to support the
airstrikes in Yugoslavia],'' argued German Chancellor Schroeder. "We ALSO
<sic> have a responsibility toward the people of Kosovo.''
Schroeder Backed on Kosovo Stand
By TONY CZUCZKA
.c The Associated Press
BONN, Germany (AP) -- Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won broad support from his
party today for his stand on bombing Yugoslavia after he rejected calls by
left-wingers for a stop to NATO's air assault.
Schroeder, speaking at a special convention of his Social Democrats, insisted
Germany's credibility as a NATO ally was at stake in a conflict that has
launched its military into combat for the first time since World War II.
``We have a responsibility toward our allies in NATO,'' Schroeder declared in
a speech kicking off an afternoon of debate. ``We also have a responsibility
toward the people of Kosovo, who have become victims of the most gruesome
human rights violations.''
Kosovo overshadowed a meeting originally called to elect Schroeder as new
party chairman, bolstering his authority in the 6-month-old government. His
leftist rival, Oskar Lafontaine, quit that post and the finance minister's
job last month in a power struggle.
Running unopposed, Schroeder, a centrist, was elected today by 370 of 493
delegates, or 76 percent. The less than overwhelming support was a sign that
many Social Democrats feel Schroeder doesn't represent the party's soul,
having stayed aloof from its core left-wing beliefs and now going against its
decades-old anti-war tradition.
But with the party now forced to make hard choices in government, a large
majority of delegates backed the government's staunch commitment to the NATO
campaign in a show of hands.
Addressing his critics, Schroeder repeated NATO's argument that continued
airstrikes -- which include German Tornado warplanes -- are necessary to
force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic agree to peace in Kosovo and a
return of ethnic Albanian refugees.
``An end to airstrikes would not bring us one millimeter closer to this
goal,'' he said.
That stand has provoked vocal objections from a leftist minority in the party
as well as the once thoroughly pacifist Greens, Schroeder's junior coalition
partner.
But a motion by left-wingers and the Social Democrats' radical youth
organization calling on the government to press for an end to the airstrikes
and fresh Kosovo peace talks was rejected at the convention.
Though its defeat had seemed certain from the outset, the move indicated the
depth of unease among many Germans about their country's assertive new role
in the post-Cold War world.
``It must be possible to replace military logic with political logic,'' said
Andrea Nahles, head of the youth wing.
Schroeder argued forcefully for his stand in an hourlong speech, saying that
Germany had a special responsibility to stand firm against Milosevic
precisely because of its Nazi past.
``Especially as Germans, our response must be clear: We must never again
allow murder, expulsions and deportations to be tolerated by politicians,''
he said.
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