Bush courts German help for continuing war on terrorism

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, May 22, 2002

By Tom Raum

Associated Press

BERLIN – President Bush called Iraq’s Saddam Hussein a threat to all civilization who must be confronted by all means available. Still, Bush assured the leader of Germany on Thursday, “I have no war plans on my desk.”

Bush also issued a warning to Moscow in advance of traveling there later Thursday, urging President Vladimir Putin to cease Russia’s nuclear assistance to Iran.

“If you arm Iran, you’re liable to have the weapons pointed at you,” Bush said he would tell Putin when they meet on Friday to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty. He also planned to express U.S. worries that Iran may someday be capable of arming deadly missiles.

“That’s going to be a problem for all of us, including Russia,” Bush said.

Speaking before the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, Bush described the new arms deal with Russia as the most dramatic of its kind. “Old arms agreements sought to manage hostility and to maintain a balance of terror. This new agreement recognizes that Russia and the West are no longer enemies,” he said.

The president was courting German leaders for widening the war after Afghanistan. But a more aggressive U.S. stance has been greeted by skepticism among many European leaders and helped trigger street demonstrations in Berlin.

For his part, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder deflected questions on whether he would support a U.S. led military operation to topple Saddam, saying he didn’t have to express his views since Bush told him there were no such plans under active consideration.

“There are no concrete military plans for attacks on Iraq, so no reason for me to speculate,” said Schroeder, who has opposed a U.S.-led war with Iraq.

At the Bundestag, Bush made the case for a more aggressive war against terrorism, saying the threat “cannot be appeased, and it cannot be ignored.” Bush drew some jeers from those who opposed a wider anti-terror campaign, but he was loudly applauded when he saluted “a Europe that is whole, and free and at peace for its first time in history.”

At the news conference, Bush said he told Schroeder he wishes to use every means available to deal with Saddam.

“He knows my position and the world knows my position about Saddam Hussein. He’s a dangerous man,” Bush said. “It’s dangerous to think of a scenario in which a country like Iraq would team up with an al-Qaida-type organization. … It’s a threat to civilization itself.”

But in a nod to German skepticism of his hard line on Iraq, Bush said Germany has “shouldered a significant burden” in the overall fight against terrorism, “and we’re very grateful for that.”

Bush also appealed for Germany’s help in exerting diplomatic pressure on Iraq to keep Saddam from developing destructive weapons – a threat he said is likely.

“I know some would play like they’re not real. I’m telling you they’re real,” Bush said of the threats. He said he advocates action against Iraq because “I don’t want to be in a position where we look back and they say, ‘Why didn’t they lead? Where were they when it came to our basic freedom?’ “

Thousands of protesters massed the day before to oppose any widening of the anti-terrorism campaign as Bush began his first visit to Germany.

Bush greeted U.S. Embassy workers at a breakfast reception at his hotel in downtown Berlin, then was received by Schroeder at Bellevue Palace, the official presidential residence.

“Herr Schroeder, I believe it is,” Bush said as he and Schroeder shook hands in bright sunshine on the palace’s cobblestone courtyard. Then, he and German President Johannes Rau reviewed troops in gray-white-and-blue uniforms while a military band played the U.S. and German national anthems.

Secretary of State Colin Powell had said in advance that Bush would not avoid the subject of Iraq in his talks with Schroeder. But chances of significant headway were dashed when German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping suggested Thursday that Germany did not have the resources to participate in any such operation against Saddam.

“There is no military planning for Iraq, even if this country presents a real problem for international security,” Scharping told German television. “We have no room for a new engagement.”

Schroeder has tried to position himself as a staunch anti-terrorism ally without embracing tough action against Iraq. In a German TV interview, he said Iraq was a threat, “and that’s why we are together exerting pressure so that Saddam Hussein lets international observers into the country.”

While overwhelmingly supportive right after the terror attacks, European allies have expressed increasing skepticism lately over expanding the war, particularly if it involves seeking to overthrow Saddam.

Some 20,000 anti-war demonstrators took to the streets as Bush arrived in Berlin late Wednesday. And while the protests were mostly peaceful, violence broke out among groups of hooded youths and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

An American flag was burned, and demonstrators pelted police in riot gear with bottles and stones. Police said 58 people were arrested.

The demonstrators were kept far away from Bush and his entourage by multiple barricades and some 10,000 police officers, the largest police operation in Berlin since World War II.

Bush stayed in a downtown hotel near the Brandenburg Gate, a few yards east of where the Berlin Wall once divided the city into communist-ruled East Berlin and the democratic West.

Bush is on a seven-day, four-nation trip. Besides Germany and Russia, he will visit France and Italy.

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