Gaines was at a loss to explain the rabid reaction. It certainly did catch us off guard. The spokesman for the German embassy declined to comment. On the other hand, folks in Alamogordo, population 30,000, seem quite happy to have 900 well-paid German troops and their families propping up real estate values and soaking up microbrews in the local pubs. And they tend to hate the German government because it has been pursuing neo-Nazis with vigor.
Conspiracy buffs are right about one thing.
Germany's military is dedicated to the multinationalist spirit of the U.N. German soldiers march in European peacekeeping brigades under French, U.S. and Dutch command, and Germany has offered to take part in future U.N. peacekeeping operations. But don't count on German pilots to strafe American cattle ranchers at the behest of Boutros-Boutros Ghali or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Its troops have scarcely fired a shot in anger in 50 years. Arthur Allen, a regular Salon contributor, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist. He was an Associated Press correspondent based in Bonn, Germany for three years.