Welcome back to the real world, Germany!
Posted on 11/03/2004 11:06:25 AM PST by Pyro7480
German Leader Seeks New Start From Bush
By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer
BERLIN - Germany's interior minister said it was time to put aside differences with the United States over Iraq look to the future as President Bush won a second term, but another senior official reiterated Wednesday that German troops will not join the coalition there.
Ties between the two countries were strained by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's vehement opposition to last year's U.S.-led war in Iraq, although the two governments since have moved to repair relations.
"America is a very important partner, if not the most important one — and that's how it will continue to be," Interior Minister Otto Schily said.
Schily said he had "excellent" cooperation in recent years with the Bush administration and noted that relations between Schroeder and Bush also have "clearly improved."
"We had differences over Iraq, but we're not looking back now — we're looking to the future," he said.
His comments came in the hours before Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry called Bush to concede after a long, tense night of vote counting.
Germany has offered to help rebuild Iraq and is helping train the new Iraqi police and military. But "the German military will not be sent to Iraq, independently of who becomes president in the United States," Karsten Voigt, the foreign ministry's top official for relations with Washington, said on ARD television.
"I hope that a re-elected President Bush would use the chance offered by his re-election for a new beginning in European-American and German-American relations," Voigt said, adding that the U.S. leader would do well to "approach the Europeans ... and say, 'Let us sit down and talk about where we have common interests.'
"That is necessary on the Middle East, it is necessary and possible in fighting terrorism and in the question of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, but it is also needed in the question of AIDS, climate protection and other issues."
Schroeder refused immediate comment on the election.
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also pledged close cooperation with the United States.
"I have said that we will continue to cooperate positively," Fischer said. "In international politics, we face difficult challenges that cannot be mastered without close cooperation between Europe — including our country — and the United States."
But a view held by many left-of-center European politicians surfaced in comments by a lawmaker in Schroeder's governing party, who called Bush "a fundamentalist" and said he was "worsening polarization in the world."
"America is counting on strength and power because it views itself as the chosen country," Social Democrat Michael Mueller said.
Dialogue was needed with the United States to restore its "common sense," he said.
It's time to clean out the trash, starting with the UN and Kofi Annan, followed by the corrupt French, and the rest of the world who oppose us at every step while smiling and declaring themselves to be our allies.
They've got their knee pads on now! LOL. They knew that should Bush be re-elected he will keep his promise to move the troops out of Germany! Ha!
Long distance,
directory assistance,
area code 212;
hang on
this is Mr Rhythm and Blues;
he said hello
and put me on hold,
to say the least
the cat was cold;
he said
"Don't call us, now we'll call you"!
MV
Common sense to these guys is gay marriage, a 30 hour workweek, socialized medicine, abortion on demand, and appeasement to terrorists
Nein!
"Common sense to these guys is gay marriage, a 30 hour workweek, socialized medicine, abortion on demand, and appeasement to terrorists"
Yes a Utopian society with a 10.7 percent unemployment rate. Can't wait til we shutdown some of our bases over there.
Now America is a "most important" partner? What happened to France, Belgium, Russia, China, Cuba, etc.? How predictible!
Yo Col. Klink, take it and shovensee it upensee your butensee. It ist kaput.
Germany shouldn't even have a military. They had two chances before and blew em both!
"America is counting on strength and power because it views itself as the chosen country," Social Democrat Michael Mueller said."
Uh, no. Germany, following France, does.
Too late to jump on the bandwagon, boys.
improved from chilly to non-existant?!
How to do this?
1. Throw out the incompetent Schroeder government.
2. Work to have NATO call for support troops in Iraq.
3. Use the NATO call as an excuse to send SUPPORT troops, thereby signaling a change of heart.
The real message behind the story:
EUROPE to AMERICA: "America, you have proven your strength, resolve and steadfastness, we now understand your moral compass is on course, and we - who expected you to appease us, and work to make things go our way - that you know who you are, and where you are going. We really do respect you, and jealously despise and resent you for exposing our cowardice, irelevance and moral decline. We hate loving you! Aufiedersehn!"
Welcome back to the real world, Germany!
We should bomb Dresden again just for the heck of it. With us or against us, m-fs!!
""I hope that a re-elected President Bush would use the chance offered by his re-election for a new beginning in European-American and German-American relations," Voigt said, adding that the U.S. leader would do well to "approach the Europeans ... and say, 'Let us sit down and talk about where we have common interests.'"
Tell you what: Sit by the phone and wait for that call.
Yeah - 'cos if we had wanted a new beginning with y'all European troglydites we would have elected Francois Kerree
But we don't and we didn't - get it?
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