Meetings Planned to Ease German-US Tensions

Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer announced he plans to travel to Washington soon to thaw the diplomatic ice that has frozen US-German relations since his boss's election rhetoric.

Fischer, who was congratulated on his government's re-election by US counterpart Colin Powell this week, said he wants to make it to Washington at the "earliest possible moment."

The visit will give Fischer an opportunity to explain 'the German position,' against a US military invasion of Iraq and smooth things over in advance of the NATO expansion meeting in Prague in November.

Fischer has already spoken out on the importance of good relations with the United States. In an interview with public broadcaster ZDF in Germany on September 23, Fischer called the German-American relationship resilient and called attention to the positive foundations of that relationship.

Possible meeting at November summit in Prague

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who angered the Bush adminstration, when he said Germany would not be a part of any US "adventures" in Iraq - with or without a mandate - will also begin repairing the damage done. Government spokesman Uwe Karsten-Heye said Schröder did not rule out a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders while attending the NATO summit in Prague in November.

The summit will be the first time that the two leaders see each other since Bush stopped in Berlin for a quick visit on his way to Moscow this Summer.

Should they meet, the Chancellor will be able to reiterate in person the apology he sent to Bush after the president's methods were compared with Adolf Hitler's by the German justice minister.

The imminent meeting already has the potential to be a tense affair. The summit aims to address further measures aimed at strengthening NATO's capabilites for fighting terrorism and dealing with the emergence of new threats. It is difficult to imagine that a certain country in the Middle East will not make it onto the agenda.

Steps taken this week to warm relations

After a stand-off lasting weeks, relations between Germany and the United States have begun to move slowly in the direction of reconciliation. With the election over, Schröder and his ministers are preparing to rebuild bridges between the two countries that were so publicly damaged during his Social Democrat (SPD) campaign.

In a two-pronged diplomatic effort, Schröder this week traveled to London to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United States' closest ally, while Peter Struck, the German defense minister, offered that Germany could take command of international security forces in Afghanistan at a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Poland

Schroeder's trip to London was the first step on a longer diplomatic journey toward normalising relations with the United States, one of Germany's closest allies.

So far President Bush has dismissed Schroeder's overtures and waived protocol by not sending the standard congratulations on the chancellor's re-election.

The two allies, whose friendship deepened as Germany sat on the front lines in the Cold War, have split over Bush's doctrine that allies "are either with us or with the enemy" in the war on terrorism - which extends to Iraq. Schroeder, however, has a more nuanced view.

While remaining adamant that Germany is committed to the war on terrorism - and pointing out that with 10,000 soldiers committed to international missions, Germany is second only to the United States - Schroeder says a war on Iraq is a mistake that would alienate moderate Arab states.