History will prove him a fool.
Posted on 09/23/2002 7:32:44 AM PDT by RCW2001
A taunting Schroeder sticks by Iraq position after narrow re-election BERLIN Emboldened by even his razor-thin victory in Germany's closest postwar election, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday stuck by his emphatic opposition to a war on Iraq after a campaign that angered Washington for unleashing anti-American tones. Schroeder's Social Democrats secured another four years for his coalition with the small Greens party in Sunday's vote, but the chancellor must confront a tougher opposition as he attempts to revive Europe's largest economy and rebuild ties with the United States. Schroeder's victory handed Europe's dwindling left another boost a week after Social Democrats triumphed in Sweden. Despite indications from Washington that the relationship with Berlin had been poisoned by campaign rhetoric stemming from Schroeder's anti-war stand, the chancellor insisted a friendship nurtured under Cold War tensions remained strong. Allies, he said, can withstand differences not only on Iraq but also on other areas, like strategies to combat global warming. "I think this difference of opinion will remain," Schroeder said. "We will have it out in a fair and open way without in any way endangering the basis of German-American relations. That is my firm intention." Yet the chancellor appeared caution, resisting a reporter's attempt to ask a question on the explosive topic in English, saying his English wasn't good enough. "Unfortunately I can't answer in English and I can't understand your question. Please try it in German," Schroeder said in well-spoken English, trying to keep the mood light. The chancellor clearly understood the question when posed about whether he would retain his anti-war stand and he answered in German. "There is no need to depart from what we said before the election and we will change nothing," he said. Yet Bush administration remained cold. "I have no comment on the German elections outcome, but I would have to say that the way it was conducted was notably unhelpful. And as the White House indicated, has had the effect of poisoning the relationship," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said while attending a NATO meeting in Warsaw, Poland. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will remain Schroeder's most important Cabinet member, entrusted with the role of repairing US-German relations and empowered by the Greens' strong showing that ensured the chancellor's second four-year term. Also expected to retain their posts were Interior Minister Otto Schily, the official charged with domestic security, and Finance Minister Hans Eichel, the architect of plans to balance the federal budget by 2006. Schroeder refused to go into details on his Cabinet until he enters coalition talks with the Greens who are in a position to demand additional posts. A top Schroeder aide, Franz Muentefering, said Monday he would not rule out given the Greens an additional Cabinet post, for a total of four. In the most dramatic switch, the justice minister ensured her own doom with reported remarks comparing Bush to Hitler. Schroeder said the minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, had submitted a letter Monday giving up the post in a new Cabinet, after receiving clear signals on Sunday the government would not have her. The chancellor may also be looking for a new labor minister, after the government's failure to make a dent in unemployment. Schroeder's victory was so slim and came so late that the chancellor never gave a definitive winner's speech and conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber never formally conceded. Official results gave the Social Democrats and Greens a combined 47.1 percent of the vote for the lower house, or Bundestag. Opposition parties led by resurgent conservatives under Edmund Stoiber totaled 45.9 percent. That gave the Social Democrats and Greens 306 seats in the new 603-seat parliament, compared to 295 for conservatives and the pro-business Free Democrats. Reformed communists won the other two seats. Schroeder's outspoken opposition to a military conflict with Iraq was credited with giving him a late push in a tight campaign. But it sparked a rare open spat with the United States and accusations he whipped up emotions against a vital ally for electoral gain. "What I criticize above all is that (Schroeder) opened the floodgates for anti-American tones," Stoiber said on German television, calling the crisis with the United States "the most devastating of the last 50 years." Schroeder has insisted he would not commit troops for a war on Iraq even if the United Nations backs military action, but many analysts expect him to adopt a softer tone after the election. Prospects for a conservative coalition were hurt by a scandal in the Free Democratic Party over deputy leader Juergen Moellemann's renewed attacks on a prominent German Jewish leader. Moellemann bowed to party pressure Monday and resigned his post, accepting "my part of the responsibility" for the Free Democrats' showing. But he said he would not give up the parliament seat he won Sunday. The party raised its support to 7.4 percent from 6.2 percent less than expected. Beyond his forthright stand on Iraq, Schroeder broad-brushed much of his agenda for a second term except to uphold values like a fair society and the welfare state.
Some 79 percent of Germany's 61 million voters turned out Sunday casting two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a party. The party vote determined the percentage of seats each party won in the Bundestag, or parliament, chosen from a list of candidates submitted.
Stung by Germany's jobless problem, he has pledged to reform the highly regulated labor market. He has also promised to expand all-day schools and child care to make life easier for working mothers.
History will prove him a fool.
It will affect Germany, greatly. Schroeder's burned some major bridges here, especially given his condescending "apology" to Bush after his Justice Minister's vile remark.
You know how sometimes someone angers you enough that you just don't bother with him anymore except where politeness requires some interaction? That's going to be the U.S. position with Schroeder's German government. It won't be worth the waste of time to yank our troops or anything, we just won't give a rip about what the Germans think on any level, on any issue.
Uh, yeah, whatever. We'll get back to you on that. Don't call us, we'll call you.
Enjoy your irrelevance, Gerry.
It isn't like that now, and that seems to be confusing a lot of people, Schroeder not the least - I'd say it confused bin Laden and it seems to be confusing Saddam as well. It may be just me, but I get the strong impression that part of this confusion led the confused to conclude that we'd whine about 3000 murdered people for a few days and then back to business as usual. After a year they still don't get it, and they find it annoying that we seem to be taking this more seriously than they are. Bush isn't Clinton, and Afghanistan isn't Vietnam - neither is Iraq - and the precepts of the middle third of the previous century are as outmoded and archaic as buggy whips.
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