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http://www.nola.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0544_BC_NATO-Germany&&news&newsflash-international [We'll always have Belgrade....] U.S. defense secretary says he did not intend to snub German minister at defense summit By DANICA KIRKA The Associated Press 9/25/02 9:57 AM -The incident Tuesday came only hours after Struck said Germany and the Netherlands would be willing take over the International Security Assistance Force in the Afghan capital when Turkey's mandate runs out at the end of the year. The move was meant to help ease the rift. "I think we'll return to a very normal working relation," Struck said Tuesday. "Slowly but surely." "I expect an improvement in relations," he said. WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld got up and left the room just before his German counterpart spoke during informal talks in Poland -- a move he insisted Wednesday was not meant as a snub to his German counterpart. The rift between the United States and Germany -- two longtime NATO allies -- has raised concerns about unity within the 53-year-old alliance, which is struggling to determine its future in the post-Cold War world. Rumsfeld acknowledged that he left one of Tuesday's late-evening sessions early, but said it was not intended to cause affront. He noted, however, that Defense Minister Peter Struck was not present during part of the meeting in the afternoon. "Does it mean I was snubbing somebody? No," he said at a news conference. "And for people to waste their time chasing that rabbit and then only to run it down and find they got the wrong rabbit, I think that's a shame." Struck missed some of the session Tuesday so he could attend a meeting of his Social Democratic Party in Berlin on the formation of the new German government. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder vigorously opposed war with Iraq during his recent re-election campaign. But when a minister reportedly compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler for threatening war to distract from domestic problems, the White House responded with outrage. The minister won't be included in Schroeder's new government. The mood carried over to this week's informal meeting of defense ministers in Warsaw. At the start of the talks, Rumsfeld suggested the campaign "had the effect of poisoning" U.S.-German relations -- a view that did not appear to change at the end of the session. "It's not for me to give advice to other countries," Rumsfeld said. "We have a saying in America, if you're in a hole, stop digging." "I'm not sure I should have said that," Rumsfeld said. "Can we pretend I didn't say that?" Germans and Americans share strong ties that date back to the post-World War II era. The U.S.-back Marshall Plan helped Germany and much of Europe to rebuild after the conflict and a U.S. airlift sustained West Berlin after the Soviet blockade. Fellow allies want the rift repaired. "It's important that we make an effort to bridge this gap," Britain's Defense Secretary Geoffrey Hoon told reporters on Wednesday. The incident Tuesday came only hours after Struck said Germany and the Netherlands would be willing take over the International Security Assistance Force in the Afghan capital when Turkey's mandate runs out at the end of the year. The move was meant to help ease the rift. "I think we'll return to a very normal working relation," Struck said Tuesday. "Slowly but surely." Struck stood by the German position that a political solution has priority over a military one in Iraq -- and expressed hope that the U.S. rift would be healed. "I expect an improvement in relations," he said. ����� __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
