Yesterday’s meeting between Condoleezza Rice and Angela Merkel was a study in contrasts – and the outcome for the US was disasterous. The subdued chancellor spoke about the rule of law and "playing by the rules", while the combative Secretary of State hammered home the Bush talking points about the "War on Terror" where the end justifies the means. After Rice later denied that the US had "made a mistake" in the illegal abduction and rendition of the German citizen Khaleed Masri it was abundantly clear that the US has abandoned any pretense that it values human rights.
The consensus in the German press is that Rice’s appearance in Berlin was a colossal failure. The Financial Times Deutschland notes that the outcome was exactly the opposite of what had been hoped for by both sides:
Ein harmonisches Treffen sieht anders aus. Die sportlich-agile Rice und die an diesem Tag eher reservierte Merkel können kaum verbergen, dass sie sich ihr erstes längeres Gespräch anders vorgestellt haben. Mühsam suchen sie nach Übereinstimmung. Beide betonen die Bedeutung demokratischer Regeln und ihre Verpflichtung, eigene Gesetze und internationale Verpflichtungen einzuhalten. […]In ganz Europa fragen inzwischen Abgeordnete und Regierungen nach möglichen CIA-Transporten in Folterlager und Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Und ausgerechnet Merkel, von der sich die USA eine enge und eher unkritische Zusammenarbeit erwartet hatten, besteht nun deutlich auf der Einhaltung der Gesetze.
And the Sueddeutsche is even more critical in an editorial by Stefan Konelius:
Rice kam nach Deutschland, um eine neue Ära zu beginnen. Dies ist ihr gründlich misslungen. Die Zeit dafür ist nicht reif, weil es nicht ausreicht für den Start in eine neue Beziehung, wenn lediglich das Personal auf der einen Seite erneuert wird. Ob Otto Schily nun von den Flügen wusste oder nicht: Unrecht bleibt Unrecht, und eine falsche Politik bleibt die falsche Politik. Auf dieser Basis kann das transatlantische Verhältnis nicht neu begründet werden.
But neither did Rice’s failure go unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic. The Boston Globe has harsh words for Rice in an editorial this morning:
Merkel and Rice should be talking about lawful ways to fight terrorists, not rights violations. The Masri case reduces support for the United States in Germany, which ought to be an important ally against terrorists. […]The United States, to be sure, is engaged in a long struggle. It needs to retain the support of nations that share the US commitment to human rights and to gain allies in nations where these rights are violated. ”A decent respect to the opinions of mankind" — in the words of the Declaration of Independence — requires the United States to end the abuses done in the name of the antiterror war
And finally, in an editorial entitled Secretary RIce’s Rendition, the New York TImes mocks her attempt to defend the indefensible:
Ms. Rice said Monday that rendition had been used to lock up some really dangerous bad guys, like Carlos the Jackal and Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But both men were charged in courts, put on trial, convicted and sentenced. That’s what most American think when they hear talk about "bringing the terrorists to justice" – not predawn abductions, blindfolded prisoners on plane rides and years of torture in distant lands without any public reckoning.
With this appearance by Secretary Rice it is now clear to everyone that it was not Gerhard Schroeder that was standing in the way of better relations between Germany and US. Rather it was and is now President Bush and his policies.
