Bush-Hitler Comparison Colors German Campaign Close

20/09/2002| IslamWeb

An alleged remark by Germany's justice minister likening President Bush's methods to Hitler's threatened to hurt Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Friday two days before a cliffhanger election. Newspapers gave front-page coverage to Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin's alleged remarks at a campaign rally saying Bush's saber-rattling on Iraq was a way of diverting attention from domestic issues that Hitler had also used.

Daeubler-Gmelin denied making the remark.

With polls showing Schroeder just a whisker in front of conservative challenger Edmund Stoiber, even a small flap so close to the September 22 vote could make an impact.

The prospect of a U.S.-led war on Iraq has already colored the election debate. Stoiber has accused Schroeder of damaging U.S.-German relations by flatly opposing German involvement in any war, but Schroeder's stance has been popular with voters.

Newspaper editorials and opposition parties demanded Daeubler-Gmelin's resignation and Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer expressed outrage.

"A cabinet member who makes such comparisons and does not apologize should be fired, if not from the chancellor, then by voters," read the editorial in Bild, Germany's biggest-selling newspaper.

SENATE OUTRAGE

U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said that "the German chancellor has damaged German relations with the United States in ways that cannot be easily repaired."

He added Congress should consider withdrawing U.S. forces from their bases in Germany if Schroeder wins re-election and Germany fails to join a "constructive" dialogue on Iraq.

Schroeder said he doubted Daeubler-Gmelin had made the remark, quoted by the regional Schwaebisches Tagblatt newspaper, but added there would be no place in his cabinet for somebody who made such a comparison.

With just two days left to the election, Stoiber has failed this week to turn the focus away from Iraq and back to domestic issues like immigration and the economy, generally seen as his strength given his success in managing his wealthy home state.

Aware that Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric is proving a vote winner, Stoiber toughened his own stance Thursday.

In a television interview, he raised the possibility that, if elected, he might bar U.S. forces from using their German bases if Bush decided on an attack without U.N. backing.

BEER OR BLUSHES?

Stoiber, premier of the wealthy state of Bavaria, was due to hold a final evening rally in Berlin Friday before heading back to his state capital to Munich Saturday.

But the occasion, the opening of the Oktoberfest beer and folklore festival, may not be the welcome photo-opportunity it seems as Stoiber has been keen to hide his southern roots to avoid turning off northern voters.

Schroeder was heading to Germany's industrial left-wing heartland for an evening rally in Dortmund, where Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, who won a third term for his Social Democrats last weekend, was due to make a guest appearance.

"We have a good position down the home stretch," Schroeder told a rally Thursday. "The signs are pointing toward a victory. But nothing has been won yet and we have to keep working hard all the way to Sunday and beyond."

With the vote so close, the standing of smaller parties is crucial. Schroeder wants to continue his alliance with the Greens while Stoiber, if he wins, will almost certainly renew a coalition with the tax-cutting Free Democrats (FDP).

But much depends on whether the Party of Democratic Socialism, heirs to the East German communist party that built the Berlin Wall, squeezes back into parliament. If it does, the two big parties could be forced into a grand coalition with each other.

PHOTO CAPTION

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (L) hugs a supporter during a campaign rally in his birthplace of Talle, near Hanover, September 19, 2002. Germany's election campaign reaches its crescendo on Sept. 20 with Schroeder and challenger Edmund Stoiber making last bids for votes in a close race that is souring U.S. relations. (Arnd Wiegmann/Re