Powell expresses 'outrage' to German FM over reported Bush-Hitler comments

Agence France-Presse | September 20, 2002

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell called his German counterpart Joschka Fischer on Friday to express Washington's "outrage" over reported comments, now denied, by a senior German minister that compared President George W. Bush's methods to those of Adolf Hitler.

"The secretary called Foreign Minister Fischer this morning to express outrage with the statements that were reported," deputy State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

He did not elaborate on the conversation and declined to comment on German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin's denial that she had said Bush's tactics on Iraq were similar to Hitler's.

A senior US official told AFP that Washington had "said all we intend to" on the matter, noting that White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had twice described Daeubler-Gmelin's reported remarks as "outrageous and inexplicable."

Earlier Friday in Berlin, Daeubler-Gmelin denied having made the comments, reported by a German regional newspaper on Thursday, and said she would never try to harm German-US relations.

Grilled by reporters for more than an hour, the visibly shaken minister admitted using the words "Adolf" and "Nazi" but said the newspaper had misquoted her.

Daeubler-Gmelin said she had used the words in a discussion about using war as a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from domestic problems, but that she clearly explained after the remark that she had not intended to compare Bush with a "criminal."

The Schwaebisches Tagblatt daily reported that Daeubler-Gmelin had made the remarks during a weekend meeting with metalworkers and quoted her as saying that "Bush wants to divert attention from domestic political problems" onto Iraq.

"It's a method that is sometimes favored. Hitler also did that," the paper quoted her as saying.

Despite her later denials, the widely reported comments cast a pall over US-German relations already at a low ebb over Berlin's refusal to join an attack on Iraq.

The reported remarks also led to charges that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was exploiting anti-American sentiment to push his re-election campaign just days ahead of Sunday's vote.

[ChicagoRepublican]

I'm starting to like the new more "in your face" Powell.

[spokeshave]

Good cop carries a big stick and can wield it with effect

[scooby321]

Boycott German Products will scare them SO badly

We need agressively to call All German Companies that Sell Here and SAY NO MORE

[Live free or die]

Boycott German Products will scare them SO badly

I remember when I was stationed in Kuwait and I needed a coffee pot. All they had at the PX were European appliances so I bought a $20 Braun thinking it would be great for the 4 months I was there.

I shoulda known something was wrong when I took it out of the box and it was yellow (who's ever heard of a yellow coffee pot?!)

Anyway, this thing was a piece of schei$$! You could only turn it off by unplugging it, the filter basket had to physically rest on the caraffe instead of having its own little niche and you had to take it off whenever you wanted a cup!I tell you I'm never gonna buy nothin' German no more!

[cp124]

Tell them what you really think

http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch/info/missions/embassy/embassy.html

[The Great Satan]

It's time we started "isolating" Schroeder.

[eclectic]

Don't forget: half of Germany are commies, unreformed

[jws3sticks]

During the speach, Secretrary Powell introducts his lovely Goddaughter.

[McGavin999]

LOL, guess we'll just have to take your word for it :o)