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Blair helps mend U.S.-German ties
LONDON, England -- Gerhard Schroeder's two-hour meeting with his British counterpart is being seen as an effort by the German chancellor to ease tensions with Washington over Iraq. Traditionally a chancellor's first post-election trip has been to Paris. But French President Jacques Chirac was seen as supporting conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber, and Schroeder could certainly use UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's help to repair relations with the White House. Schroeder won re-election on Sunday in part because of his criticism of a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq. But that stance -- coupled with alleged comments by a government minister comparing U.S. President George W. Bush to Hitler -- left German-American relations "poisoned," White House officials said. Iraq was on the agenda at Schroeder and Blair's Tuesday evening meeting, which came just hours after Blair released his government's dossier on the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's programme of weapons of mass destruction. Schroeder's meeting at 10 Downing Street for a "post-election exchange of opinion" also touched on European Union issues, German and British officials said.
But it's the two leaders' opinions on Iraq that were being most closely watched. Although Blair is Bush's closest ally in the campaign against Iraq, just days prior to the German election the British leader supported Schroeder's right to express a different view. Blair and Schroeder are two of the remaining centre-left leaders in Europe. France, Italy, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have all shifted to the right in the past year and a half. Downing Street officials described the meeting -- a private dinner without advisers present -- as "very warm and informal." They confirmed that the leaders discussed Iraq as well as Afghanistan and EU matters but declined to release more details. The meeting could be a first step toward bringing Blair and Schroeder's views on Iraq more closely together. If Saddam fails to cooperate fully with U.N. weapons inspectors, or can be shown without question to be an increasing threat, Schroeder might be convinced to support increased pressure on Iraq, diplomats have suggested. He might even be persuaded to back a military strike if the U.N. Security Council approves a new resolution calling for such action. "The German position must move in this direction or they will be completely isolated," Frank Umbach, an analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told Reuters. "They will attempt to get closer to a joint European position." The German ambassador to London, Thomas Matussek, said Schroeder's views would not prevent any joint action to rid the world of threats from weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. "Tony Blair said two days ago 'There may well be differences of opinion but I have no doubt that in the end we will all act closely, jointly linked,'" Matussek told the BBC. "I think this is what is going to happen if you look at the broad picture, and that is the international fight against terrorism. We share the same strategic objective -- to free the world from weapons of mass destruction and terrorism." Steven Sokol, deputy director of the Aspen Institute think tank in Berlin, said, "Some people say they wouldn't be surprised if there isn't new evidence to justify attacking Iraq that the chancellor's position would change." Ben Bradshaw, a former junior minister in the British Foreign Office, predicted the Downing Street meeting would help Schroeder repair the damage with Washington. "I'm sure that problems that arose between America and Germany in the election campaign can be rapidly overcome. Tony Blair can play a role there but I think that Gerhard Schroeder wants the same thing," Bradshaw told Berlin's Inforadio. Britain's Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon said Wednesday: "It's important that we make an effort to bridge this gap." German officials also expressed confidence that both sides would work to heal the rift. "There will be a normalization and both sides will contribute to it, because the tone on both sides was not particularly friendly," said Gernot Erler, a senior lawmaker for Schroeder's Social Democratic Party. Erler accused the Bush administration Tuesday of "doing everything to support the opposition in the German election campaign" in hopes that Schroeder's conservative challenger would win. "It was hardly in line with international customs how clearly the Americans took sides," Erler said. "Above all, both sides must change their tone." Karsten Voigt, the Foreign Ministry's coordinator for U.S.-German relations, agreed that both governments would have to work to repair the irritations. "Election campaigns are always a bad time for rational discussions on foreign policy," Voigt said. Those strained ties already may be improving. Although U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld echoed comments by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that relations between the two countries had been "poisoned," he denied snubbing the German defence minister at a NATO meeting this week in Warsaw. Rumsfeld acknowledged that he left a late-evening session just before his German counterpart spoke, but said it was not intended to cause affront. He noted that German Defense Minister Peter Struck was not present during part of an afternoon meeting. "Does it mean I was snubbing somebody? No," Rumsfeld told a news conference. Asked what Germany could do to improve U.S. ties, he said: "We have a saying in America: If you're in a hole, stop digging." "I'm not sure I should have said that," Rumsfeld said. "Let's pretend I didn't say that." On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was more upbeat. "Germany is one of our closest friends. And differences and difficulties will arise in any relationship from time to time, but the strength of the relationship between the United States and Germany will remain and, I expect, will thrive and grow," Powell told the Russian newspaper Izvestia. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has called Powell in an effort to repair the relationship. "We have to go back to normal business with our most important ally, the United States, and with France -- the most important outside of Europe and the most important ally inside," Fischer told The New York Times. Fischer is expected to travel to Washington in the next 10 days, U.S. officials said. Schroeder and Bush have until late November before they meet again at a NATO summit in Prague. Gerhard Handke of the BGA foreign trade association urged Schroeder to work fast to rebuild the U.S.-Germany relationship. "Many of our members are reporting that their (U.S.) business partners are irritated and enraged," he told the Focus Money business weekly. Another sign that Schroeder is moving quickly to build bridges with Washington: Germany has offered to help take charge of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. Along with the Netherlands, Germany would take over from Turkey when its mandate ends at the end of 2002, German Defence Minister Peter Struck said. The offer would likely commit Germany to providing more troops to the mission, freeing up U.S. and British troops for any action in Iraq. Meeting with NATO defence ministers in Warsaw, Poland, Struck expressed hope that his offer would be welcomed in Washington. "This also is a special contribution. We accept additional responsibility and hope that the U.S. administration will honour this," he said. "I think we'll return to a very normal working relation. Slowly but surely." Copyright 2002 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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