Bush Tactics Similar to those of Adolf Hitler

AP 19sep02

WASHINGTON –– As tensions rise between the United States and Germany over differences on Iraq policy, the White House on Thursday called a German government minister's comparison of President Bush to Adolf Hitler "outrageous and inexplicable."

Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin told a small group of labor union members on Wednesday that Bush was going after Iraq to divert attention from domestic problems. "That's a popular method. Even Hitler did that," the German newspaper, Schwaebisches Tagblatt, quoted her as saying.

The minister called the report misleading but did not deny the remarks. Opposition conservatives vying to defeat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats in Sunday's parliamentary elections called for her resignation.

With the balloting approaching, Schroeder has offered repeated and outspoken opposition to Bush's drive for action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein, creating discord between the two allies.

Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer sought to downplay the impact on the relationship between the countries, but reacted strongly to the minister's remarks.

"The United States and Germany have a very long and valuable relationship, and relations between the people of the United States and Germany are very important to Americans," Fleischer said. "But this statement by the justice minister is outrageous and inexplicable."

Meanwhile, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., warned that "America bashing" by Schroeder is damaging U.S.-German relations.

He said that if Schroeder wins re-election and does not show a more constructive attitude toward dealing with Iraq, "then the U.S. Congress must seriously consider moving U.S. forces out of Germany and stationing them on the territory of other NATO allies who do support the United States and who do wish to be relevant to the alliance in the 21st century."

Helms, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is not seeking re-election this fall.

Hitler Comparison Causes Storm Ahead of German Poll 

REUTERS 20sep02

BERLIN - Allegations that a German government minister had likened the U.S. president's methods to Hitler's whipped up a last-minute storm on Friday ahead of a Sunday election that pollsters said was too close to call.

It was not clear how the reported comments by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's justice minister, which angered Washington, would influence the outcome of a campaign already shaken up by charges of disloyalty to one of Germany's closest allies.

Two last-minute polls showed the Social Democratic chancellor clinging to the thinnest of leads, although it was far from certain the SPD and their junior coalition partners, the Greens, would win enough votes to stay in power.

A Forsa institute poll for RTL television found Schroeder's SPD would win between 38.5 and 39.5 percent, down from 40 percent a week ago. Challenger Edmund Stoiber's conservatives stood on 37-38 percent, down from 38 percent. A rival projection by the Allensbach institute showed the SPD reversing a slight deficit to taking a slim 37.5 percent to 37.0 percent lead over the conservatives.

The polls seemed to confirm expectations that the election would be among the closest in post-war history, and gave little indication whether Germany would be governed next by the same center-left coalition, a center-right one under Stoiber, or even an alliance between both major parties.

HITLER COMPARISON

The race for control of Europe's largest economy took a surprising last-minute turn when Schroeder's justice minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, came under attack for allegedly likening President Bush's methods to Hitler's.

Newspapers gave front-page coverage to her reported comments at a rally saying Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq was a way of diverting attention from domestic issues that Hitler had used.

The reports caused consternation in Washington, already concerned about German opposition to a prospective U.S.-led war in Iraq. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer called the comments ``outrageous.''

Daeubler-Gmelin said she had not made the remark, and Schroeder said he was glad to hear this. Government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye said Schroeder believed the minister, who was to hold a news conference later on Friday.

``The chancellor has made clear that anyone who draws such idiotic comparisons has no place in his cabinet,'' Heye said.

Daeubler-Gmelin called the U.S. ambassador to say she had been misrepresented, but Stoiber urged Schroeder to fire her.

Any mention of Nazis in German politics courts controversy. Earlier this month Schroeder demanded an apology after his predecessor, Helmut Kohl, was reported to have said the SPD's parliamentary president was ``the worst...since Hermann Goering.''

SCHROEDER POPULARITY RISES

It was unclear how the latest row would affect the vote.

Iraq has dominated debate in the election run-in, preventing Stoiber turning the focus back to domestic issues like the economy, seen as his Schroeder's weakness.

Stoiber has already accused Schroeder of damaging U.S.-German relations by flatly opposing German involvement in any war in Iraq, but Schroeder's line has touched a nerve in a nation scarred by two world wars.

A separate poll on Friday by Emnid found Schroeder's already high personal popularity had risen again. Fifty-six percent said they would vote for Schroeder if they could cast their ballots directly for a chancellor candidate, up six from a week ago.

Thirty percent said they would vote for Stoiber, down three.

Forsa's latest projection for the smaller parties only added to furious speculation over the make-up of the next government.

Its combined figures gave the current SPD-Green coalition 45-47 percent and a potential conservative-liberal alliance 44-46.

A result on Sunday along those lines would focus attention on the fate of the ex-communist Party of Democratic Socialism.

With the two camps so closely matched, if the PDS gets the five percent it needs to squeeze back into parliament, it may have enough seats to prevent either of them securing a majority.

Both have already dismissed the idea of governing with PDS support, so they might be forced to join forces in a ``grand coalition,'' seen only once in German post-war history.

German Minister Denies Hitler - Bush Comparison 

REUTERS 20sep02

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin on Friday denied a report that she had compared President Bush's methods to those of Adolf Hitler.

The report in a regional daily led the German news two days before a general election and caused consternation in the United States -- already concerned about German opposition to a prospective U.S.-led war in Iraq. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer called the comments ``outrageous.''

Daeubler-Gmelin told reporters that, in a debate with union members, she had talked about the public discussion within the United States about how foreign policy measures could distract from domestic problems. ``I then said that we have known this debate since 'Adolf Nazi','' she said.

She said she had seen that people in the group appeared to have misunderstood this, and that she had then insisted that no comparison or connection could be made between Hitler and Bush, a democratically elected leader.

The regional daily Schwaebisches Tagblatt reported that Daeubler-Gmelin had told the pre-election gathering that Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq was a way of diverting attention from domestic issues, a method that Hitler had also used.

Bush - Hitler Comparison Colors German Vote Run-In 

REUTERS 20sep02

BERLIN - Allegations that Germany's justice minister had likened the U.S. president's methods to Hitler's threatened on Friday to hurt Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder two days before a neck-and-neck election.

Newspapers gave front-page coverage to Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin's reported comments at a campaign rally saying Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq was a way of diverting attention from domestic issues that Hitler had also used.

Latest polls show the Social Democrat Schroeder just a whisker in front of the conservative Edmund Stoiber, and give little indication whether Germany will be governed next by the same center-left coalition, a center-right one under Stoiber, or even an alliance between both major parties.

It was unclear who might gain from the latest controversy.

Stoiber has already accused Schroeder of damaging U.S.-German relations by flatly opposing German involvement in any war in Iraq, but Schroeder's line has appealed to voters.

``The election is very close and voters have shown themselves to be very fluid...However, we haven't found any prevailing anti-American sentiment, particularly after September 11,'' said Richard Hilmer of the pollster Infratest Dimap.

ANTI-WAR, ANTI-AMERICAN?

Daeubler-Gmelin said she had not made the remark, and Schroeder said he was glad to hear this.

Any mention of Nazis in German politics courts controversy. This month Schroeder demanded an apology after his predecessor, Helmut Kohl, was reported to have said the SPD's parliamentary president was ``the worst...since Hermann Goering.''

Editorials and opposition parties demanded Daeubler-Gmelin's resignation and Ari Fleischer, spokesman for President Bush, calling her reported comment ``outrageous.''

``A cabinet member who makes such comparisons and does not apologize should be fired, if not by the chancellor, then by voters,'' read the editorial in the conservative-leaning top-selling newspaper Bild.

U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said that ``the German chancellor has damaged German relations with the United States in ways that cannot be easily repaired.''

SPD General-Secretary Franz Muentefering accused Washington of reacting hastily, and a Justice Ministry spokesman said Daeubler-Gmelin had called U.S. ambassador Daniel Coats to assure him that she had been misrepresented.

Iraq has dominated debate in the election run-in, preventing Stoiber turning the focus back to domestic issues like the economy, seen as his Schroeder's weakness.

Aware that Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric is proving a vote winner, Stoiber toughened his own stance on Thursday.

In a television interview, he raised the possibility of barring U.S. forces from using German bases if Bush decided on an attack without U.N. backing. On Friday, a spokesman said he had been referring only to Germany's own bases, not to U.S. bases in Germany -- whose use is governed by standing agreement.

BEER OR BLUSHES?

Stoiber, premier of Bavaria, was due to hold a final evening rally in Berlin on Friday before heading back to his state capital Munich for the opening of the Oktoberfest on Saturday.

But the occasion may not be the welcome photo-opportunity it seems as Stoiber has been keen to hide his southern roots.

Schroeder was heading to Germany's industrial left-wing heartland for an evening rally in Dortmund, where Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, who won a third term for his Social Democrats last weekend, was due to make a guest appearance.

With the vote so close, the standing of smaller parties is crucial. Schroeder wants to continue his alliance with the Greens while Stoiber, if he wins, will almost certainly renew a coalition with the tax-cutting Free Democrats (FDP).

Yet much depends on whether the Party of Democratic Socialism, heir to the East German communist party, squeezes back into parliament. If it does, the two big parties could be forced into a grand coalition with each other.

German Minister Denies Hitler - Bush Comparison 

REUTERS 20sep02

BERLIN - German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin tried to calm an election-eve transatlantic row on Friday by denying a report that she had compared President Bush's methods to those of Adolf Hitler.

The report in a regional daily led the German news and angered a U.S. administration already upset about center-left Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's voluble -- and highly popular -- opposition to a prospective U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The minister faced questions for over an hour from reporters who seized on what appeared to be not only a breach of a German political taboo but a sharp affront to democratic Germany's long-time ally and guarantor.

The report said Daeubler-Gmelin had told a pre-election gathering that, by threatening to attack Iraq, ``Bush wants to distract attention from his domestic political problems. That's a favorite method. Hitler did that too.''

Bush's spokesman Ari Fleischer on Thursday called the comments ``outrageous.''

The minister told reporters that she wished a tape recording had been made, adding: ``I am amazed at the article. It is absurd and slanderous to connect me to a comparison between a democratically elected politician and Nazi leaders.

``I deeply regret that this has thrown shadows on German-American relations and I am here to clear that up,'' she said. ``I believe this was an evil election maneuver.''

SHADOW ON RELATIONS

She said she had ``great respect'' for Bush and had called U.S. ambassador Daniel Coats to say she had been misrepresented and had not compared the president to Hitler.

But it is not the first time in recent months that Coats has had to address fears of a deterioration in relations between two countries whose alliance rests on decades of Cold War cooperation against Soviet communism.

Schroeder angered Washington by saying he would not lead Germany into a military ``adventure'' against Iraq, calling into question whether it had a plan for what to do with Iraq after it had toppled President Saddam Hussein.

For his part Schroeder -- who put his government on the line last year to win parliament's approval for German troops to join the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan -- has told Washington he is fed up of learning about its ``changes of strategy'' in the press.

Klaus Naumann, former chairman of the military committee of the transatlantic NATO alliance, told Der Tagesspiegel daily:

``I've just come from Washington, and I can tell you that relations are very badly damaged.''

PRE-ELECTION MOOD

Opposition leaders demanded Schroeder sack his minister, but it remains to be seen whether the row will in any way hurt his re-election chances in Sunday's cliffhanger election.

His opposition to a military strike has touched a nerve in a nation scarred by two world wars. Many Germans are also critical of what they see as Bush's isolationism, for instance by rejecting international treaties on justice or the environment.

The daily Schwaebisches Tagblatt, which is based in Daeubler-Gmelin's constituency, admitted to being sympathetic to the minister and to some criticism of Bush.

But it said on its Web site that it had confirmed her comments with several trade unionists who attended the debate.

Editor in chief Christoph Mueller said the reporter had even given her the opportunity to dictate her own version of the comment, which she had approved when it was read back to her:

But he told Reuters she had later gone to see the paper to attempt to withdraw her comments entirely.

Daeubler-Gmelin denied having authorized any quote.

She told reporters that, in a discussion with union members, she had mentioned public debate in the United States about how foreign policy could divert attention from domestic problems: ``I then said that we have known this debate since 'Adolf Nazi'.''

She said she had seen that people in the group appeared to have misunderstood this, and had then insisted that no comparison or connection could or should be made between Hitler and Bush, a democratically elected leader.

German Minister Denies Hitler - Bush Comparison 

REUTERS 20sep02

BERLIN - German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin on Friday denied a report that she had compared President Bush's methods to those of Adolf Hitler.

The report in a regional daily led the German news two days before a general election and caused consternation in the United States -- already concerned about German opposition to a prospective U.S.-led war in Iraq. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer called the comments ``outrageous.''

Daeubler-Gmelin told reporters that, in a debate with union members, she had talked about the public discussion within the United States about how foreign policy measures could distract from domestic problems. ``I then said that we have known this debate since 'Adolf Nazi','' she said.

She said she had seen that people in the group appeared to have misunderstood this, and that she had then insisted that no comparison or connection could be made between Hitler and Bush, a democratically elected leader.

The regional daily Schwaebisches Tagblatt reported that Daeubler-Gmelin had told the pre-election gathering that Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq was a way of diverting attention from domestic issues, a method that Hitler had also used.