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Schroeder to Build Bridges to Washington Via Blair
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
By Emma Thomasson
Reuters

Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Russian newspaper Izvestia: "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."

BERLIN -- Reuters
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday in his first foreign visit since winning re-election as he seeks to calm a row with Washington over Iraq.

In another move to build bridges, Defense Minister Peter Struck said Germany and the Netherlands had offered to take command of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan when Turkey's mandate expires at the end of the year.

Germany would probably be expected to provide more troops for the operation, relieving pressure on U.S. and British forces -- the likely leaders of any attack on Iraq. Struck told reporters at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Warsaw the offer should help ease tensions between Berlin and Washington.

Despite the move, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric in the election campaign tainted ties, was still expected to snub his German counterpart by refusing direct talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting.

Schroeder, whose strident opposition to a U.S. strike on Iraq helped him win a second term on Sunday, was due in London on Tuesday evening in what could be a first step toward narrowing European differences on the looming threat of war.

New chancellors traditionally make their first post-election visit to Paris, but Schroeder has had strained relations with French President Jacques Chirac, who was widely seen as favoring his conservative challenger, Edmund Stoiber.

Blair, President Bush's closest ally in the campaign against Baghdad, reached out to Schroeder just before the election, stressing his right to divergent views on Iraq.

* PATCHING UP TIES
* DWINDLING GROUP
(More: The Ledger-Enquirer News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Gerhard Handke of the BGA foreign trade association urged Schroeder's government to rebuild relations fast. "Many of our members are reporting that their (U.S.) business partners are irritated and enraged," he told the Focus Money business weekly.

Let’s all pretend to be surprised,
Dan