The 39th high-level international security conference taking place over the weekend in Munich was witness to some strong speeches and verbal sparring on Saturday that reflected the transatlantic tension brewing between Germany and America in the past weeks.

At the closely guarded conference attended by more than 250 top-level military officials and politicians from 40 countries, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that Washington still hoped war against Iraq would not be necessary, but that the world was serious about disarming Baghdad.

Rumsfeld: "No one wants war"

"No one wants war. War is never a first or an easy choice. But the risks of war need to be balanced against the risks of doing nothing while Iraq pursues weapons of mass destruction," Rumsfeld told the gathering. He said that it was difficult to understand how anyone could still doubt Iraq’s intentions after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s report to the U.N. Security Council a few days ago.

In Saturday’s speech Rumsfeld urged the international community to support the military pressure on Saddam Hussein to avoid a war.

"If the international community once again shows a lack of decisiveness, then there’s no chance that Saddam Hussein will voluntarily disarm or flee and thus no chance for a peaceful outcome," he said.

Rumsfeld said that Iraq had been given years to disarm and now the world would know within "days or weeks" whether it was cooperating with U.N. inspectors.

"He (Saddam) has not been contained, he is successfully getting into that country darn near everything he wants," he said.

Even American Senator John McCain from Arizona, who is part of Rumsfeld's delegation, sharply criticized the stance of German and French politicians towards Iraq.

Without naming people, Senator McCain accused both countries of acting in "calculated self-interest" and of a "disinformed, primitive anti-Americanism".

German minister sticks to his guns

For his part German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on Saturday that he remained unconvinced of the case for a war against Iraq. He rejected suggestions that Europe was divided on the issue, saying public opinion was firmly against war.

"I am not convinced. That is my problem. I cannot go the public and say that these are the reasons because I won’t believe in them," Fischer said.

The German Foreign Minister instead pleaded in his speech that the U.N. weapons inspectors should continue their work and be given more time to carry out inspections. Fischer turned down Rumsfeld’s demand for a quick decision. "We shouldn’t just follow the logic of a military attack," he said.

The minister renewed his criticism of the U.S. stance of forcing Iraq to disarm through war if necessary. He said the international community was not yet finished with its responsibilities in Afghanistan and the weeding out of the extremist Al Qaeda.

"That’s the first critical question that I ask is why is this being prioritized now? To this day I can't see why. Saddam Hussein is a terrible dictator. But we have known that for a long time," he said. Fischer also reiterated the high risks that a war in Iraq could mean for stability in the Middle East and the war against terror.

Rumsfeld: NATO's dithering "inexcusable"

The U.S. Defense Secretary however reserved harsher criticism for NATO’s failure to take a decision on giving military aid to Turkey in the event of a war against Iraq. He branded as "inexcusable" the move by Germany, France and Belgium to stall NATO’s decision on the issue with the argument that providing military support to Turkey, which shares a border with Iraq, could undermine diplomatic efforts to avert a conflict.

On Thursday NATO Secretary-General George Robertson gave the allies until Monday to object to the measures, which include deploying Patriot missiles and surveillance planes to Turkey.

"I can’t imagine doing that, it is beyond my comprehension... Turkey is an ally, the North Atlantic Treaty provides for this. Turkey is a member of the alliance. To prevent defensive capabilities – just the planning, not even deployment – I think that is inexcusable," Rumsfeld told the conference.

Rumsfeld's comments trigger protest

Over the past two weeks, Rumsfeld has whipped up a storm in Germany with his disparaging comments about Germany’s opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq. In late January, he labeled Germany and France, another critic of U.S. plans, as the "old Europe".

He followed those up with a further controversial comparison on Wednesday, by lumping Germany together with Libya and Cuba when he described the three as the countries that have indicated they would not help America in a war against Iraq in any way.

In Saturday's speech, Rumsfeld refrained from criticizing Germany directly and instead played down his comments on the "old Europe". "When I spoke a few days ago of the old Europe I caused quite a stir, but if you take my age into consideration, then I think that could be pretty friendly," he said.

Transatlantic ties under strain

There is little doubt that once-taut ties between the United States and Germany -- ties that were tightened during four decades of the Cold War and knotted by American support of German reunification in 1990 -- have been come undone in the past months.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has been mute in his public comments about Rumsfeld's latest statement. But a high-ranking member of the German Foreign Ministry let the United States know Friday about the difficulties that Rumsfeld had created.

"It is simply not wise to carelessly endanger a partnership that has been so important to us with such irresponsible comments," said Karsten Voigt, the government's coordinator for German-American affairs, in a radio interview.

Voigt also pointed out that Germany was making a contribution to the U.S. war on terrorism. The Germans and the Dutch will take over the leadership of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul on Monday. Germany also is assigning 2,600 soldiers to guard 95 U.S. bases and facilities within the country as the American military has built up its forces around Iraq, and Schröder has promised the Americans that they could use these bases to conduct any war.

"When (Rumsfeld) fails to publicly mention this, I think he is making a political mistake," Voigt said in a separate radio interview.

Those outside the government made even stronger comments. "Rumsfeld has flipped out," former Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said on the television news channel n-tv.

At the conference, German Defense Minister Peter Struck plans to have a closed-door session with Rumsfeld. Struck told a Munich newspaper that he planned to use the meeting to clear up some issues between the countries.

U.S. economic pressure on German companies says paper

The high-level conflict has unsettled the German business community, much as Bush's military buildup has troubled the country's peace movement. "We are extremely concerned that we could lose 10 percent of our exports to the United States," said Anton Börner, the president of the Federation of German Wholesale and Foreign Trade.

Such a loss could be devastating for the German economy, Börner told a newspaper in Hanover, the Neue Presse. In the face of Germany's high unemployment rate and stagnating economy, he said Schröder was acting irresponsibly in his opposition to the U.S. drive to overthrow Saddam.

In the latest development, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has reported that the United States is reportedly putting economic pressure on Berlin. The paper says that the U.S. has decided to cut its planned multi-million investments in German military bases.

The Bush administration has also threatened to put economic pressure on German companies that do business with Iraq, the paper reports. A letter sent by the government in Washington to Germany's Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement reportedly names firms such as Siemens and warned that they would lose their business ties to the U.S. if they continued to export to Iraq. Germany has strong trade ties to Iraq worth some 336 million euro.

The U.S. Defense Secretary's visit to Europe to drum up support for a possible American-led military attack against Iraq has been met with large anti-war demonstrations and protests. Hundreds of demonstrators have poured into Munich to join protests against the conference of what they see as the "world's war elite" and a possible war against Iraq.

Police estimated that about 10,000 people took part in a demonstration on Saturday morning under the motto, "no to war against Iraq".