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That´s what Prof. Pommerin wrote to me:

"Da hätten sie gewiß Recht (You were right), wenn ich als bekannter USA-Freund (if I as a well-known US-friend)(Harvard Fellow und Fulbright-Ehrenprof. an der Vanderbilt University) solche Sprüche gemacht hätte (had said such remarks)! Der frühere Dt. Botschafter bei der NATO (the former German Ambassador to NATO), von Richthoven war ebenfalls anwesend (von Richthofen was also there), solche Äußerungen sind natürlich nicht gemacht worden (of course, such comments were not made). der Veranstalter hat ein entsprechendes Schreiben in die USA gesandt (the organizer has sent a letter to the US). An diesem Beispiel ist mir klar geworden, welche armen Schweine diejenigen sind, deren Ruf in den Medien durch Gerüchte oder angebliche Äußerungen geschädigt werden, un die dies mehr
oder weniger hilflos über sich ergehen lassen müssen (to remain untranslated)! ...
Falls es mehrere Veröffentlichungen gibt, würde ich eventuell Klage erheben."

Okay, so Pommerin categorically denies having made those comments.

You left the last two sentences of his e-mail untranslated. My translation: "This example has made clear to me how miserable ["arme Schweine" -- poor wretches] anyone is whose reputation is harmed in the media by rumors or alleged statements and who has to suffer this abuse more or less helplessly ...
If there are several publications ["mehrere Veröffentlichungen"], I might consider bringing a lawsuit."

It is unclear what he means by "mehrere Veröffentlichungen" -- perhaps he won't sue the American Enterprise Magazine, in which the article appeared, but will sue any media that reprint the comments attributed to him?

In my opinion this is fairly serious. If Pommerin is right, then Zinsmeister made up the statements attributed to Pommerin out of whole cloth -- a serious breach of journalistic ethics. I am not a journalist, but I believe in most reputable media this would constitute a "firing offense".

Conversely, if Pommerin is lying, then he has only dug himself deeper into the hole he is already in.

I will e-mail Mr. Zinsmeister and ask him to respond after he gets back from Iraq.

Regardless, the larger point, as you well know, remains: There are many Germans in high office (Daeubler-Gmelin, for example) or with influence (Drewermann, for example) who do indeed make similarly preposterous claims about the U.S. every day.