U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld heads to Germany this weekend, and he may not be receiving much of a warm welcome.

The occasion of Rumsfeld's visit is the Munich Conference on Security Policy, a annual gathering where leading military, political and security experts meet to chew over pressing world problems. When the sessions open Saturday, the dominant question on the participants' minds will be the growing possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq, a worry that President George W. Bush fueled on Thursday when he told Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that "the game is over."

The Germans at the conference will have another issue on their minds as well. Over the past two weeks, Rumsfeld has been tongue-lashing the Germans because of their opposition to the U.S. offensive against Iraq.

In late January, he labeled Germany and France, another critic of U.S. plans, as the old Europe. He followed up those comments with a critical comparison on Wednesday. "Then, there are three or four countries that have said they won't do anything. I believe Libya, Cuba and Germany are ones that have indicated they won't help in any respect," he told a congressional hearing in describing the countries that are backing U.S. efforts against Iraq.

Relations being rocked

The comments represented another loosening in the 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.

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 clear up some issues between the countries.

Companies fear export drop

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.

The conference that Rumsfeld will attend has been held since 1962. To its director, Horst Teltschik, the gathering is on the same level as the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switizerland. But to its opponents, it amounts to a summit of the "world's war elite." Hundreds of these opponents are pouring into Munich to join protests against the conference and a possible war against Iraq. Police expect that up to 13,500 demonstrators will turn up in the city.

As a result of Rumsfeld's visit, the state interior minister of Bavaria, Günther Beckstein, said he feared that "outbreaks of extreme violence" could occur. To prevent such battles, Munich police have assembled a force of 3,500 officers, including some from other German states. They have also closed off the area around the hotel Bayerischer Hof where the conference is being held. "We will have a zero-tolerance policy against violent protesters," a spokesman for the police department said.

Americans urged to avoid downtown

Because of the potential violence, the U.S. State Department has encouraged Americans to avoid downtown Munich over the weekend. A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Munich described the warning as routine measure, which he said was also issued last year.

But the mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, was upset by the announcement, saying it created the impression that the demonstrations and the criticism against Bush's Iraqi policies were a danger to residents and visitors. "I think that blows things completely out of proportion," he said.

Ude plans to be a part of Saturday's main demonstration against the possible war against Iraq. The march is being organized by the German Trade Union Federation. More than 30 other groups, including the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany, said they would join.