WOULD YOU HELP ME TAKE BACK THE SENATE??
Posted on 10/03/2002 4:47:42 AM PDT by eabinga
Berlin — President Bush stressed the decades-long ties between the United States and Germany on Thursday in a letter sent on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of German reunification.
Mr. Bush's words were in sharp contrast to those from the U.S. administration last month, which bristled during Germany's election campaign as Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder used his opposition to any U.S. military action against Iraq to gain support.
In a letter addressed to German President Johannes Rau and the people of Germany, Mr. Bush wrote that the United States stood with Germany during the Cold War and that "the end of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall were a great success for both our nations."
"Over the past five decades, millions of Americans have visited or lived in Germany as soldiers, students and businessmen," Mr. Bush wrote, according to Rau spokesman Klaus Schrotthofer. "Their friendships with Germans and fond memories of their experiences form a strong basis for facing the new challenge ahead."
During the election campaign, Germany's justice minister reportedly said Bush was using Adolf Hitler's tactics of military aggression to distract attention from domestic problems, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the U.S.-German relationship had become "poisoned."
Hours after winning re-election, Mr. Schroeder announced that the justice minister would not be in his new Cabinet and that he planned to try and explain Germany's position on Iraq to the Bush administration.
"We will discuss it in a fair and open way without in any way endangering the basis of German-American relations," the chancellor said. "That is my firm intention."
Later that week, the White House softened its tone, with spokesman Ari Fleischer pledging that the "United States will continue to work well with Germany, and work through any strains."
(Excerpt) Read more at globeandmail.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.