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German Greens vote to back coalition

Fischer: Green foreign minister backs the German troop deployment

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's Greens party averted the collapse of the government by backing the deployment of troops for the war on terrorism, but it stopped short of a whole-hearted endorsement.

A national party conference passed a motion in favor of the troop pledge Saturday after an emotional plea by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who demanded solidarity with the United States and warned the Greens they would otherwise risk political oblivion.

Under pressure from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, Greens delegates meeting in the northern city of Rostock rejected pacifist proposals that would have disavowed Fischer and taken the junior party out of the government.

But they approved a motion that only agreed to "accept" a decision by parliament -- including most Greens lawmakers -- to commit German soldiers, planes and ships to the anti-terror campaign.

Party leaders carefully chose the wording so as not to alienate war opponents, who cherish the Greens' roots in the movement against the stationing of U.S. nuclear missiles in Germany in the late 1970s.

Still, supporters of Fischer's course hailed the decision and foes of the U.S.-led attacks on Afghan targets expressed surprise their position was defeated by roughly a 2-1 margin in the show of hands vote.

"I'm very relieved," lawmaker Volker Beck said after the passionate nine-hour debate. "There is a majority in this party that will say yes to the use of military force under certain conditions and as a last resort."

Schroeder narrowly won a parliamentary confidence vote this month that he called to bring his coalition in line behind the deployment, which starts Monday. Germany has pledged up to 3,900 troops, but Schroeder has stressed there are no plans to send ground troops to Afghanistan.

Fischer has gradually pushed the Greens to accept German combat missions in recent years, notably in the NATO-led war against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

But faced with opponents who held up "No to war" signs in the meeting hall and a banner saying "Joschka, you war criminal," he made a renewed, fiery pitch Saturday.

"I ask for your trust," Fischer, at turns angry and pleading, told some 800 delegates. "I plead with you: Don't abandon me and my policy."

Some members booed when he said Germany "must stand at the side of our alliance partner, the United States" in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York.

"I wish we could have been spared what happened on Sept. 11," Fischer said. "But that doesn't make this war any less real."

"In the world of the 21st century, we won't be able to avoid the military factor as a government party," he said.

He insisted the U.S.-led attacks on Afghan targets were only part of a broader strategy including diplomacy and humanitarian aid to dry out the roots of terrorism.

Opponents of German military involvement criticized civilian casualties in the U.S.-led bombing of Afghan targets and expressed fear that Germany was moving too fast in breaking postwar taboos on sending soldiers abroad.

Fischer, a one-time student radical who now is Germany's most popular politician, has felt the party's dilemma between power and pacifism especially sharply. He appeared exhausted after his speech Saturday as other party leaders crowded around to congratulate him on the vote.