US, Germany still on thin ice

2002-09-25 17:19

Berlin/Warsaw - United States secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld has denied that he snubbed Germany, but directed some of his blunt, homespun wisdom at Berlin:

"We have a saying in America: If you're in a hole stop digging," said Rumsfeld, answering a reporter's question about what Germany could do to improve its chilled relations with Washington.

Rumsfeld paused, then added: "Maybe I shouldn't have said that", in remarks made after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defence ministers met in Warsaw.

Rumsfeld denied he had snubbed German defence minister Peter Struck by refusing a private meeting and pointed out that Struck had not taken part in an American presentation at the meeting on Tuesday.

This, noted Rumsfeld, was because Struck had important other business attend to.

"There was no snubbing by anybody at this entire meeting that I saw," he said.

The US was not giving any consideration to withdrawing some of the 70 000 American troops stationed in Germany as had been suggested by some members of the US congress, said Rumsfeld.

Berlin and Washington have been in a war of words about German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's strong opposition to an Iraq war in the run-up to elections which he narrowly won on Sunday.

Justice minister resigns

White House officials were furious about comments allegedly made by Germany's justice minister comparing US President George W Bush's methods to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and saying Bush should be in jail for insider trading from his time as a Texas businessman.

The minister, Herta Dauebler-Gmelin, denied making the remarks, but announced her resignation on Monday.

Restoring US-German relations will not be easy.

Schroeder made his first trip after re-election to London on Tuesday for urgent talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about getting ties with the Bush administration back on an even keel.

Blair's Iraq dossier had not changed the anti-war views in Berlin, said Schroeder's spokesperson Uwe-Karsten Heye.

Rumsfeld emphasised that views in America on what had been said in Germany "remain quite strong" and that the whole affair would have to play itself out during the coming weeks and months.

The US government did not send a traditional message of congratulations to Schroeder on his election victory, but White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said the Bush administration would respect the new government as it would any democratically elected government. - Sapa-DPA

- SAPA