Ex-German leader
questions Bush's faith
By AP from the Home
News Tribune Online, October 23, 2006
BERLIN, Oct. 22 —
Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose second term was marked by vehement
opposition to the war in Iraq, described in an advance copy of his memoirs how
he was suspicious of President Bush's constant references to his Christian
faith.
In an excerpt of his book, "Decisions: My Life in Politics" published in
the German weekly Der Spiegel yesterday, Schroeder discusses the key political
choices that marked his seven-year term in office, including the decision to
call early elections and his split with Bush over the Iraq war.
"I am anything but anti-American," Schroeder told Spiegel in an interview to
accompany the excerpt of the book, which goes on sale Thursday.
In it Schroeder, who led the Social Democrats to power in 1998, recalls the
tears in his eyes as he watched television footage of people jumping from the
burning World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
He knew Germany would have to react.
"It was important to me that Germany fulfill its requirements as an ally" of the
U.S., he wrote. "It was also fully clear to me that this could also mean
the German army's participation in an American military mission."
Several months later, during Bush's 2002 visit to Berlin, Schroeder wrote he was
surprised at what he described as Bush's "exceptionally mild" speech to the
German parliament.
While meetings with Bush at that time were friendly, Schroeder said he could not
reconcile himself with the feeling that religion was the driving force behind
many of the Bush's political decisions.
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