Opposition: Schröder Indirectly Responsible for Iraq War

Germany's opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) are holding Chancellor Schröder's Social Democratic-Green government indirectly responsible for the Iraq war. On Wednesday, the CDU's foreign affairs spokesman Friedbert Pflüger said he had relied on information supplied by the BND, Germany's federal intelligence agency, that Iraq possessed several mobile chemical laboratories. Pflüger pointed to recent statements by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that the information came from questionable sources and could not be trusted. Pflüger said the German government should now shed light on the matter. "Either the BND worked sloppily or the German government communicated the information of the BND in a grossly negligent way," Pflüger said and added that in both cases, the government bore "the full political responsibility."