Schroeder: No relation to our forces in Kuwait to any possible attack against Iraq

The German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stressed on Wednesday that sending a German military force to Kuwait has ultimately no link to the possibility of striking Iraq.

Meantime, the American ambassador in Berlin Daniel Kuts has called on Germany to use its influence on Baghdad, stressing that directing a military strike against Iraq will be the last resort if other exerted efforts fails to convince Baghdad to permit the return back the UN weapons inspectors.

Schroeder said in a statement to the German weekly "De Czeit " that the mission of the German military force in Kuwait has no connection to Iraq. He denied the existence of current plans to attack Iraq but he stressed the need that Baghdad should permit the UN inspectors to return back to make sure that its arsenal is free of the mass destruction weapons. He said this request is in line with Iraq's international obligations but this should be implemented politically, And I do repeat, politically," he said.

On what have been said on Iraq's relations to international terrorism, Schroeder said in an advise addressed to the Americans: "I always, in secret and in open, give the advise that one should think for three times before carrying a military act without proof, especially if the price to be paid for that is the collapse of the anti- terrorism alliance."

In a similar statement to the same paper, the American ambassador Kuts said that the military solution will be the last resort in case all other efforts failed. He added that before that concentration will be made on the political dialogue and the economic pressure and all standing relations with Baghdad should be used, noting in this regard that it seems that Germany have relations and an effect on Iraq that the US does not.