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Schroeder: Bush's faith raised suspicion	captainoutrageous	10/22/06
By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 21, 7:06 PM ET BERLIN - 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 Saturday, 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 more than 500-page book that 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 Bush's political decisions. "What bothered me, and in a certain way made me suspicious despite the relaxed atmosphere, was again and again in our discussions how much this president described himself as 'God-fearing,'" Schroeder wrote, adding he is a firm believer in the separation of church and state. Schroeder accused some elements in U.S. as being hypocritical when it comes to secularism in government. "We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated," Schroeder wrote. "But we fail to recognize that in the USA, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."
Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 10/23/06 9:01 am: "We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law,” he says. “But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies." I'm still waiting for my lesson in how to be a good suicide bomber in Sunday school.
Answered By		Answered On
tomder55		10/23/06
He may very well have been uncomfortable with Bush and his references to faith but that is not the reason that Germany did not support the Iraq war. It had much more to do with Germany's trade relations with Saddam that amounted in the area of $350 million annually, and another $1 billion is reportedly sold through third parties even though there were UN imposed sanctions .($1.35 billion in annual trade with Iraq, directly or indirectly.) Saddam Hussein had ordered Iraqi domestic businesses to show preference to German companies as a reward for Germany's "firm positive stand in rejecting the launching of a military attack against Iraq."In 2002, DaimlerChrysler as an example was awarded over $13 million in contracts for German trucks and spare parts. Furthermre Germany was owed billions by Iraq in foreign debt and was interested in keeping Saddam in power for no other reason than to insure Iraq makes good on the debt.

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