Posted on 09/14/2001 12:07:17 PM PDT by mdittmar
BERLIN (AP) - More than 200,000 Berliners gathered before the Brandenburg Gate on Friday in a demonstration of solidarity with Americans, remembered here fondly for rebuilding Germany after World War II and sustaining the city during the Soviet blockade. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Johannes Rau were joined by Washington's new ambassador, Dan Coats, and Cabinet and parliament members in the show of sympathy for Tuesday's attacks on symbols of U.S. economic and military power: the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
"No one knows better than the people here in Berlin what America has done for freedom and democracy in Germany," Rau said. "We would not be standing next to the Brandenburg Gate tonight without America's contributions over long years and in difficult times.
"Therefore we say to all Americans from Berlin: America does not stand alone."
Coats, the new U.S. ambassador, who arrived in Germany just a week ago, thanked Germany's leaders and people for their outpouring of sympathy and pledges of support. Throngs of Germans laid flowers and offered condolences at the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Germany.
"I have seen the depth and sincerity of your sorrow in the tears in your eyes. I have heard it in the trembling of your voices," Coats said. "I have seen that in Germany, now in the last few days, that America could not wish for a more reliable friend."
"America will never forget this," he said.
In Hamburg, German authorities released an airport employee detained in connection with this week's terror attacks, the federal prosecutor's office said Friday.
Federal investigators said Thursday that three suspected terrorists aboard the hijacked planes once lived in Hamburg and were part of an organization formed this year to destroy symbolic U.S. targets.
Evoking Cold War images of the once-divided city in his remarks, Coats said Germans and Americans would once again be called on to display the same courage against a common enemy - "one who is nearly invisible, one who hates our civilization."
"The struggle against this enemy will not be brief. It will not be easy. It will not be painless," he said. "This struggle will demand from all of us courage, patience and fortitude."
"But these are qualities which you in the past half a century have displayed in abundance," the ambassador said. "I am firmly convinced, as we stand shoulder to shoulder once again to defend our common values, to defend our common civilization, we will prevail in this struggle again."
Earlier, Germans across the country joined in three minutes of silence for the victims of Tuesday's attacks. Hundreds stood in front of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, joined by workers in overlooking office buildings who stood motionless in windows.
Thank you, Germany
Worth noting.
We're united.
"Why can't we Americans ourselves show such unity?"
Because we're mired in the liberal/conservative, Republican/Democrat politics of it. The Germans (and most other nations) only see the tragedy and the pain, as well as the need for retribution. Of course we do too, but we see it through the prism of our politics. Notice the threads complaining about Clinton, Bush, Libertarians, whoever. Unfortunately, we often carry our political baggage into the fight.
Nice to know they still remember us.
BZ, one of the local Berlin tabs, has a picture of the crowd, which was also its front page photo for the day under the headline "200.000 Berliner weinten mit Amerika" ("200,000 Berliners weep with America"). They've made that front available as a PDF.
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