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El Paso becomes hostile territory for German troops By Scott Gold, Fort Bliss, Texas April 5 2003 For 35 years, there has been a single permanent force of foreign troops on US soil, here on the western tip of Texas, home of the largest air defence training centre in the world and the permanent home of Germany's Air Force Command. On joint training exercises, over pilseners at the Soldatenstube pub, the two forces have coalesced as partners, a proud emblem of post-World War II alliances. But the war against Iraq is beginning to weaken that cherished solidarity. As Germany's opposition to the war has grown increasingly strident, as the mood here plunges with word that Iraqis have killed or captured at least 15 Fort Bliss soldiers, the troops are suddenly viewing each other with a wary, distant eye. After all these years, they are - once again - strangers more than allies. The changes are subtle. There are no brawls, and publicly military officials on both sides downplay the tension or deny that it exists. But privately some military personnel at Fort Bliss grumble about the irony of welcoming German troops only to watch them lay their arms down when America went to war. "It's shocking," Eric Hildreth, a Department of Defence official who oversees sports programs at Fort Bliss, said of Germany's war opposition. Some German and American families who have been neighbours for years are suddenly not speaking to one another. "I don't understand this stand-off," said Skip Stoltenberg, an El Paso resident who was born in Germany and emigrated to the US in 1948 after marrying a US Army officer. Ilse Irwin, 73, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, near Frankfurt, and emigrated to the US as a Fulbright scholar in 1954. A practising Catholic, the retired university professor devotes much of her time to fighting hatred and genocide, largely by working with the area's Jewish community. Irwin volunteers at the local Holocaust museum, and lately has steeled herself every time she has to guide German airmen through an exhibit or take them on a tour of a local temple. Repeatedly, she said, they have been hostile about her work. Some have raised questions about the US's agenda and suggested that the motivation for the war is oil and the close relationship between the US and Israel - a common charge in Western Europe. "I've had a terrible time," she said. "They say that Israelis are just modern-day Nazis. I defend Israel, but I get very nervous because I don't want to blow my cool. I don't hear it too often. But I hear it often enough." Fort Bliss, built before the days of Pancho Villa as a cavalry outpost to protect the border, became the US Army's air defence centre during World War II. With increased attention focused on the Middle East, its desert conditions and surrounding military bases have increased the post's importance to both the US military and its allies. Thirty-one allied nations train here, said Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt. Only Germany, however, has used US facilities to house permanent military installations. German officials say they reap a number of benefits from being in Texas, from the ease of purchasing US weapons systems to the arid weather. German troops have their own school, church and social club, and have long forged close friendships with US residents and military officials. Postings to Fort Bliss, which often last three years, are seen as plum assignments, leading some Germans to break their ties with the military and move to El Paso permanently. Many German families become taken with the area's culture and several German airmen are so enamoured with Texas that they've become proficient rodeo riders. "Many of them return over and over again," Offutt said. "It's a lifestyle that is very different for them. And they love it." Even among European leaders who have denounced the war as reckless and unnecessary, however, Germany's opposition has been vociferous. One sign carried by a protester last week at Berlin's Brandenberg Gate read: "Stupid war; Mindless violence." The tension has escalated in America, too. In Tennessee, one high school cancelled a scheduled student-exchange program with a German school, citing Germany's opposition to the war. The Los Angeles Times