President Bush Calls Germany “Closest Ally” on Trip to Mainz

RAY SUAREZ:

On the surface, the atmosphere was friendly as President Bush made a one day visit to Europe's most populous and richest country. The president and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were all smiles before their joint press conference, where they played down past differences, like those over the war in Iraq.

CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER (Translated):

Now, nobody wants to conceal that we had different opinions about these things in the past. But that is the past, as I just said. And now, our joint interest is that we come to a stable, democratic Iraq.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH:

In order for Europe to be a strong, viable partner, Germany must be strong and viable, as well. And in order for us to have good relations with Europe, we must have good relations with Germany. And that is why this trip is an important trip for my country and for me.

RAY SUAREZ:

But few Germans saw the president up close today. His motorcade traveled through mostly empty streets in the town of Mainz, near Frankfurt. Residents were told to stay home and not try to get a look at the American leader because security was so tight.

Protesters defied that order. This is a country where polls have shown strong sentiment against Mr. Bush and his policies. It was a far cry from previous presidential visits to Germany, from John Kennedy…

JOHN F. KENNEDY:

As a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

RAY SUAREZ:

…To Ronald Reagan…

RONALD REAGAN (1987):

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this walls.

RAY SUAREZ:

…And Bill Clinton, when thousands filled plazas and lined streets to express thanks for America's nurturing of West German democracy after the Hitler dictatorship, for U.S. Military support in the Cold War and for taking the diplomatic lead in promoting unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

A key turning point away from this historic alliance: The reelection campaign of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 2002. With polls showing him running behind on domestic issues, he turned the election into a referendum on his pledge to oppose an American military campaign in Iraq. That stance hardened in early 2003 as the war approached.

Schroeder joined French President Jacques Chirac to lead the fight in the United Nations and other diplomatic arenas against President Bush and Britain's Tony Blair. In recent months, Schroeder and his government have been trying to repair the breach. There was, for example, the warm reception accorded to Secretary of State Condoleezza rice two weeks ago.

But just last week, Schroeder proposed a major review of transatlantic relations and said NATO was: "…no longer the primary venue where transatlantic partners discuss and coordinate strategies." And one of Germany's most prominent commentators, Josef Joffe of the Die Zeit newspaper raised attention in Washington and elsewhere in a column talking of the new ambitions in German policy, more closely allied to France than to America.

Joffe wrote:

"The Franco-German 'axis' will continue to oppose the American behemoth and it will seek to recruit other players such as China and Russia into the neo-containment game. These are the ways of international politics when power is so grievously unbalanced in favor of a single giant."

Sixty years after the end of World War II, the U.S. still has tens of thousands of troops stationed in Germany. President Bush today thanked soldiers stationed at the Army's Wiesbaden Air Base for their service.