BRECHEN SIE DAS EIS: BUSH TRIFFT SCHROEDER AM GIPFEL
Thu Nov 21 2002 13:47:31 ET
Prague (dpa) - Having feuded since summer on whether to threaten Iraq with war, U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder tried to mend fences at a NATO summit Thursday.
Bush and Schroeder broke the ice by shaking hands at a ceremony in Prague Castle, with the American leader insisting afterwards that the ;exchange of pleasantries'' had been cordial.
;We've got a relationship to maintain and we will maintain it...,'' said Bush. Schroeder told reporters he had repaired relations with President Bush.
;There can be differences of opinion between people in both private and public life,'' said Schroeder to reporters, adding: ;I made it clear to the president that at no time was his personal integrity being questioned.''
German officials confirmed Chancellor Schroeder had received a letter from Bush which has been sent to 50 countries asking for assistance on Iraq.
Schroeder, however, repeated his vow not to take part in any military strikes on Iraq but left open whether Germany would assist in post-war reconstruction.
The question remained whether the brief Prague summit encounters meant that German-American ties were indeed ;unpoisoned'' as suggested by U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld earlier this month.
President Bush was reportedly furious over Schroeder's outspoken opposition to U.S. threats of military force against Iraq during Germany's election campaign.
Schroeder narrowly won reelection after vowing not to get involved in what he termed American ;adventurism'' and declaring Berlin would never send troops for an Iraq war even if it was approved by the United Nations Security Council.
He also directly called into question Bush's strategic wisdom and warned that an Iraq war could engulf the entire Mideast. Those who sought an Iraq war simply failed to recognise this, said Schroeder.
Germany's former justice minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, brought about a full-blown crisis in German-U.S. ties by comparing Bush's methods to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. She resigned within hours of Schroeder's reelection in September.
But the damage had been done and both Rumsfeld and U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice declared ties with Germany to be poisoned.''
Prior to the Prague summit Schroeder and Bush had not spoken with each other or even telephoned since July. The U.S. leader made a point of not calling or writing Schroeder to congratulate him on his reelection as is customary.
The deep chill marked the lowest point in traditionally close transatlantic ties since 1945. Germany and the U.S. are major trade parters and about 70,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in Germany. dpa lm si sc
