Germany may deny US use of its airspace

THE Pentagon fears that the chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, might deny the US forces in Germany - the greatest concentration of American men and materiel outside the United States - the right to use German airspace in any attack on Iraq.

This would prove a devastating blow to planners who rely on Germany as an integral part of their strategy to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

The US hospital at Ramstein air base is the largest in Europe, and is included in plans to care for wounded servicemen in a future campaign. AWACS radar planes, bombers, fighters, massive transport aircraft and stockpiles of much needed ammunition are on US bases in Germany, as well as tens of thousands of servicemen.

Currently the Americans fly at will through German airspace but the anti-American rhetoric is increasing in Germany, as polls show 85 per cent of the population are against a US-led invasion to topple Saddam.

A Pentagon spokesman said: "It is true that we would need German permission to use its airspace in operations against Iraq."

In Berlin, the German foreign ministry refused to confirm or deny whether permission to launch Iraq-related missions from Germany would be given although, there are no plans to impede US activities on the bases themselves.

A spokeswoman said: "When a decision to go to war is made it is the day such decisions concerning Germany will be decided. The question remains open."

At a campaign rally in Lübeck on Tuesday for the general election on 22 September, Mr Schröder said : "Not on my watch - no German involvement in a war with Iraq, whatever the UN may say."