Can Kerry convince more allies to join the Iraq effort as he claims? Today's Financial Times carries an interesting story,

Germany might deploy troops in Iraq if conditions there change, Peter Struck, the German defence minister, indicated on Tuesday in a gesture that appears to provide backing for John Kerry, the US Democratic presidential challenger....

Mr Struck also welcomed Mr Kerry’s proposal that he would convene an international conference on Iraq including countries that opposed the war if he were to win next month's election.

Germany would certainly attend, Mr Struck said. “This is a very sensible proposal. The situation in Iraq can only be cleared up when all those involved sit together at one table. Germany has taken on responsibilities in Iraq, including financial ones; this would naturally justify our involvement in such a conference.”

I am skeptical that Kerry will succeed but its not at all implausible as many on the right have claimed.

Update: The next day, Schroder repudiated the comments of his foreign minister and said that Germany will not send troops to Iraq regardless of who wins.

As I said before, I think its very unlikely Germany would send troops to Iraq. Nevertheless, incidents like this show that Kerry's claim - that he would be better able to convince the allies to help in Iraq - if not to actually deploy troops - sounds about right.