Posted on 10/23/2006 12:27:45 AM PDT by MadIvan
THE war in Iraq is unlikely to be resolved by a US Administration committed to a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, according to Gerhard Schröder, the former German Chancellor, whose newly published memoirs stoke his four-year feud with President Bush.
Herr Schröder won a re-election campaign in 2002 by setting out German opposition to the invasion of Iraq. As a result, relations with Washington deteriorated and the two leaders barely spoke for three years.
In extracts from his memoirs to be published in Der Spiegel magazine, Herr Schröder explains what went wrong and why it will be difficult for the President to make peace.
Again and again in our private talks it became clear how God-fearing this President was and how ruled he was by what he saw as a Higher Power, says Herr Schröder in the memoirs, Decisions: My Life In Politics.
The problem begins when political decisions seem to result from a conversation with God. If you legitimise political decisions in this way, then you cannot respond to criticism or suggestions by changing policies or introducing nuances.
The former Chancellor, an agnostic, seems to consider President Bush to be a Christian fundamentalist, and as such less likely to make the compromises needed to end the conflict in Iraq.
We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law, he says. But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies.
If both sides claim to be in possession of the only valid truth, then there is no room for manoeuvre.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Maybe he would still be Germany's chancellor, if he would of borrowed some of the President's "faith."
"We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law, he says. But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."
When was the last time a Christian fundamentalist blew up 3000 people? : )
PING
Heaven forbid! Thanks, but no thanks!
Schröder was the worst German Chancellor since Hitler!
I'm still waiting for my lesson in how to be a good suicide bomber in Sunday school. Gee, I don't even like to hunt, and I've been a blood thirsty Christian for over 30 years. Thirsty for His blood to cover my sins that is, and when I take communion.
I wonder what he has to say about Bill Clinton's 12-pound Bible.
But I was never much attracted to worshiping the idol of the X42s. I couldn't worship that -- thing -- anyway. I'd have had to buy kneepads...
This dingbat seems to believe that somehow his "enlightened" (I would say perverse) view of our existence grants him some degree of clarity in dealing with these matters.
Yet at the same time, he's fighting another far more fundamentalist and far more aggressive, maniacal, and far less logically grounded form of belief.
Now, pray tell, how does this man, who can't even seem to understand where President Bush--a Christian like most of Schroeder's Germany--hope to understand Islamofascism or even claim to understand it better than Bush?
As if negotiations or flexibility ever worked with these jacklegs in the Middle East... You'd think these braindead knownothings would have figured that out with Iran, who has turned down how many offers now?
I understand your point; even though, if Schroder were a Christian, he would have been a much better leader. I think God would have made that happen.
And a guy who freaks out at the mere sugestion he dyed his hair is a perfectly acceptable world leader?
Is this Germany's Jimma Carter?
Merkel is Christian, her father was a priest who was so deeply religious that he accepted to move from Hamburg to Communist East Germany in 1954 because he got the call from his church. Merkel says that one of her favourite songs she likes to sing "Now let us all thank God". God bless and strengthens her in the fight against the Godless.
Good comparison!
Gerhard, have some dignity and just fade away.
This sounds like Clintonian influence at work, if you ask me.
Was it her father's church that started the prayer vigil to bring down that wall?
We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law, he says. But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."
What a bunch of BS! How many headlines in the US are about Christians going around beheading people, planting IEDs, mowing people down with cars and setting markets ablaze with car bombs? The religion of peace, unfortunately, does, and you know very well that if a Christian did any of this, it would be headline news forever!
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