German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (R) chats with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (L) during a parliament session of the German Bundestag in Berlin, Thursday 13 February 2003. Schroeder defended his anti-war stance on Iraq Thursday, telling parliament that a UN disarmament resolution was not a trigger for war and expressing solidarity with Germany‘s NATO allies. PHOTO - TASR/EPA

BERLIN - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder vowed he would fight to prevent war in Iraq and said a majority of U.N. Security Council members backed his view. Confronting fierce accusations from opposition leaders that he is isolating Germany, dividing Europe and wrecking NATO, Schroeder made a passionate speech to parliament saying Germany had earned the right to stand by its stance against war. „We can disarm Iraq without war. I see grasping this chance as my responsibility,“ Schroeder told deputies. Schroeder‘s stance helped him win re-election last September and remains overwhelmingly popular, with 84 percent of Germans in a recent Forsa poll opposing war. But since then, anger over spiralling unemployment and a stagnant economy have sent his party‘s poll ratings down to a post-war low of just 22 percent.

His anti-war line has also increasing drawn fire from the opposition and domestic media who accuse him of wrecking a German foreign policy that was for decades based on good relations with Washington, and dependability in NATO and Europe. Schroeder‘s political survival is at stake in the dispute, with political analysts saying he may be forced to quit should Germany end up completely isolated in opposing war. Germany, unlike France, has categorically ruled out supporting a U.N. resolution mandating war regardless of what weapons inspectors find there.

Germany, France and Russia last week signed a joint declaration calling for weapons inspections in Iraq to be intensified and extended. China backed the declaration. Schroeder‘s stance has upset relations with the United States and prompted business leaders to warn that the row could further hurt already struggling German business. About 10 percent of German exports go to the United States.

Schroeder said U.N. resolution 1441 passed in November that demands Baghdad disarms does not include any automatic authority for a military strike against Iraq. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Germany did not think Iraq was in „material breach“ of resolution 1441. The United States had not convincingly explained what linked the September 11 suicide attacks with Iraq, Fischer said. Angela Merkel, leader of the main opposition Christian Democrats, told Schroeder: „Your position… has unfortunately made a war in Iraq more likely, you have lowered the pressure on Saddam Hussein.“

Guido Westerwelle, leader of the liberal Free Democrats, called for new elections.

France, Belgium and Germany have opened a damaging rift in NATO by blocking U.S. proposals for the alliance to send Patriot air defence missiles and other military aid to protect Turkey from any Iraqi attack. They have argued that starting defence planning now would lock NATO into a „logic of war“.

Schroeder said Germany had 10,000 troops in international missions abroad, more than any other nation other than the United States. Relations with the U.S. were based on „mutual respect“ and would survive the Iraq dispute, he said. Reuters