German Foreign minister Klaus Kinkel hailed the vote as the end of Bonn's "special role" as a country held back by its Nazi past from participating in imperialist operations outside the territory of the states that belong to NATO. "We have now seen that, contrary to the fears of some people, our soldiers presence is welcomed by all sections of the population," Kinkel declared.

There are already 4,000 German troops in Yugoslavia involved in logistics, medical, and engineering units of the NATO forces. But they are based in Croatia, far away from the more militarily strategic areas in Bosnia where Paris, London, and Washington have already deployed thousands of combat troops.

Record of German intervention
Bonn was the first imperialist power to intervene in the Yugoslav conflict. It was the first government to back the regime of Franjo Tudjman in Croatia in its bid to break formal ties with Belgrade-a move the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic used to justify launching the war for control of territory and resources from rivals in other republics. The government of Germany was the first to send military advisers and weaponry into Yugoslav territory as early as 1991.

In 1994, Germany's Constitutional Court rejected objections to plans that German AWACS planes over the Adriatic Sea would help police the UN embargo against Serbia and Montenegro. It also approved the deployment of German troops under UN auspices as engineering and medical personnel in Croatia. When NATO bombed positions held by chauvinist Bosnian Serb forces in Bosnia in September 1995, German Tornadoes took part in the raids, specifically in attacks that blew up bridges and other infrastructure in the town of Foca. A month later, 4,000 German army doctors, transport, and logistic personnel were deployed in Croatia.

The debate in Germany's big-business media over the deployment of combat troops in Bosnia has focused whether the memories of the Nazi occupation army in the Balkans would make German soldiers unpopular and more at risk than soldiers from other countries.

In an interview this spring in the German weekly Der Spiegel, German minister of defense Volke Ruhe argued that the German troops, although stationed in Croatia, have taken part in many transport missions in Bosnia without problems. "Our soldiers are trusted by all parties in the conflict," he said. He explained back then that Germany would take part in the continuation of the U.S.-led operation after December 20, designated earlier as the deadline for withdrawal of the NATO forces, with troops stationed in Bosnia. "We think of cooperating with the French in their sector in Bosnia," Ruhe told Der Spiegel.

In line with that, the new deployment will not have an exclusive German profile. Bonn's new contingent will operate jointly with French forces in southeastern Bosnia under the command of Brigadier General Hans-Otto Budde, commander of an existing French-German brigade in Germany.

Five years after Bonn was bashed by some U.S. columnists for being "penny pinching cowards" and a "Checkbook power" for not sending ground troops in the U.S.-led war against Iraq, Bonn is deploying the fourth largest force in Yugoslavia after Washington, Paris, and London.

As early as 1994, the opposition social democratic party in Germany supported a proposed change of the constitution, proposed by the coalition government of Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl. The amendment allowed German troops to operate outside the country's borders.

Prior to that, in 1991, Bonn took the first step on the way to put its military strength more in line with its economic and political power deploying 200 soldiers in Iran. Bonn's troops went there on the request of Tehran to carry out the same mission the U.S. troops were in the middle of on the Turkish-Iraqi border: driving fleeing Kurds back into Iraq.

At that time, Kohl said, "Germany has to do more for its fair share of international solidarity."

Although German imperialism has the biggest conscript army in Europe, it has been hard for the rulers there to use it abroad to flex their military muscle. Bonn has been held in check by its imperialist allies, who are also competitors.

And opposition among working people to military deployments abroad runs deep. In the beginning of the 1980s millions demonstrated in Germany, in some of the country's largest street demonstrations ever, against Washington's attempts to place middle-range nuclear missiles in western Germany directed against the Warsaw pact countries.

An opinion survey by Germany's state television on sending troops to Yugoslavia found 51 percent of the population saw the deployments as "not good," compared to 46 percent in favor.

This fall a debate has unfolded in Germany on whether a professional army should replace the conscript force to better be able to participate in overseas military operations. Minister of Defense Volke Ruhe said in an interview quoted in the November 20 Financial Times of London, "The most important thing the German army can contribute to NATO is conscription - its reservists and its capacity to grow to 680,000 well trained and well equipped soldiers." Pointing to Germany's military strategic interests in its region, Ruhe said he regarded Central Europe as the top priority.

Dispute over NATO enlargement
The rapid enlargement of NATO into Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary - as pushed by Washington and London - does not suit Bonn's interests as it will stir frictions with Moscow. Bonn has provided the government of Russia with $70 billion in loans and aid since German reunification in 1990. This sum includes the money Bonn had to pay to get the Soviet troops out of East Germany. A disproportionately big part of the loans to Russia by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are forked over by Bonn. The German rulers stand behind 60 percent of the loans from capitalist financial institutions to Russia.

Bonn has now decided to play a greater military role in its "backyard" to add muscle behind its economic power and counter the influence of its main competitors, of which Stockholm also is an important actor with the backing of Washington and London.

The strategic importance of the decision to deploy the German troops in Bosnia is reflected in the overwhelming majority vote in parliament. "I see a successful deployment as probably the start for German intervention for peacekeeping, peace enforcement, peacemaking," said Green Party legislator Marieluise Beck.

But the risks the decision could involve was reflected in a statement by Gunter Verheugen, a social democratic member of parliament. "We are not just taking another decision," he said. "It may mean that we must take responsibility for our young people losing their health or their lives."

Carl-Erik Isacsson is a member of the metalworkers union at the Scania truck factory in Sodertalje, Sweden.  
 
 
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