Addressing various issues of German-American relations in the post-Sept. 11 world, German ambassador to the United States Wolfgang Ischinger spoke to a crowd of around 60 in the Alumni Lounge last Tuesday.Ischinger spent most of his time discussing the effects of Sept. 11 on German foreign policy. He said that the increased threat of terror, as well as U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, have accelerated the transformation process of Germany from a post-World War II state reluctant to be involved militarily in anything, to a state willing to commit troops to foreign conflicts.

According to the Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis, after arriving in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 10, 2001, Ischinger took office the following day. Prior to becoming the German ambassador, he served as State Secretary, the highest civil service post in the German Foreign Office, from 1998 to 2001.

On discussing his first say of work, Sept. 11, 2001, Ischinger said, "I worked from about 7:30 to 9 a.m., when literally the world changed. Literally, my entire period the last three years has been totally dominated by 9-11 and the consequences."

Ischinger began his talk by using the term, "partners in frustration," to characterize U.S.-German relations over the past few years. As an example, he cited a recent trade dispute between the two countries in the World Trade Organization concerning airplane manufacturers Boeing, a U.S. company, and Airbus, a European company.

Moving to the subject of military intervention in Afghanistan, Ischinger said that a small band of German soldiers died there in the winter of 2001 and 2002. He told the audience that that he gave a speech that day and said, "From a German point of view, we can say about these seven soldiers something we have not been able to say about any German soldiers in the last 100 years-namely that we are 100 percent certain that they died fighting on the right side of the war."

Ischinger said that this view is different from America's, because the United States always thinks it is fighting on the right side of the war.

Shifting to Iraq, Ischinger said that because Germany wanted to be 100 percent sure it was fighting on the right side, intervention in Iraq was not accepted by his government.

Ischinger spent the end of his remarks discussing future threats, particularly nuclear development and proliferation in Iran.

"The fact that we have not had a coherent, agreed policy approach on Iran for the last 25 years, which was before [American] hostages were taken at the end of the 1970s, makes this an important moment, and I think we need to confront Iran with a coherent question approach," Ischinger said.

To do this, Ischinger said that we need to tell them that if they end their nuclear program, we will give them something in exchange.

Kai Keller '07, a German student who works at the Brandeis Center for German and European Studies, said, "I was curious about how [Ischinger] would present himself. He was facing an American audience at a time when relations aren't best between these two countries. He was also facing an American Jewish audience."

Keller said he felt that Ischinger did not come to win the hearts of the audience, and that he was very honest.

On the subject of the war in Iraq, Keller said he didn't agree completely on his country's policy, but that Ischinger made a good argument.

"If we would have joined the war, we would have been on the right side," Keller said. "The question relates to what the war was about. Not even Americans know what it was about. I don't think you should fight a war for economic reasons, but other reasons are legitimate.