Bush begins tour of Europe in Berlin

BERLIN -- Thousands of anti-war demonstrators opposed to any widening of the U.S.-led war on terrorism converged in central Berlin ahead of George W. Bush's arrival Wednesday on his first visit to Germany as president.\nDespite the presence of more than 10,000 police officers tightly controlling access to Berlin's government center, where Bush will spend the night, meet with German leaders and address the German parliament, a picnic atmosphere prevailed as protesters gathered.\nDemonstrators denouncing the war on terrorism as an "Imperialist crusade," sprawled on former Prussian parade grounds, sunning themselves in shorts and tank tops as temperatures pushed into the 80s. With techno music blasting, protesters and police alike lined up for ice cream.\n"It's no good just saying we're fighting evil. That will just make things worse," said Lilja Sautter, a 20-year-old student.\nPolice blockades prevented anyone from getting within a couple of blocks of the Brandenburg Gate, on the other end of the famed Unter den Linden boulevard, adjacent to the Adlon Hotel where Bush will spend the night and dine with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Berlin's mayor Klaus Wowereit, later Wednesday.\nOn the eve of Bush's visit, tens of thousands of people marched peacefully Tuesday carrying banners such as "Pretzels not bombs" and "War is terror -- Stop the global Bush fire." Police said they were anticipating some 15,000 protesters in Berlin Wednesday, with demonstrations planned simultaneously throughout the country.\nBush will face a skeptical audience as he outlines what German government officials described as a far-reaching counterterrorism plan in a speech to the Bundestag on Thursday -- not only among the German public but some German lawmakers, who aired their misgivings over a possible U.S. military strike against Iraq.\n"Military action against Iraq is not justified as long as it isn't certain that Saddam supports or shelters al-Qaida terrorists," said Peter Struck, the leader in parliament of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats.\nStruck expressed "absolute understanding" for the Bush administration's determination to tackle the roots of terror.\n"But it would be entirely wrong if Bush believed he must finish what his father started in Iraq," Struck told ARD television, in a reference to the 1991 Gulf War.\nWhile urging caution on any extension of U.S. military action to countries such as Iraq, German leaders have positioned Germany as a close ally of the United States in its drive to root out groups supporting international terrorism.\nStill, Germans and other Europeans have become worried about the aggressive U.S. stance toward Iraq, Iran and North Korea -- the triumvirate Bush labeled the "axis of evil" -- as well as a range of other administration policies, notably U.S. decisions to withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change and other international agreements.\nAntje Vollmer, a veteran of Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's Green party and deputy parliament speaker, had a blunt message for Bush, accusing his government of showing a "tendency toward fundamentalism" in foreign policy.\n"I see a major problem: That the Bush administration isn't trying to create stability worldwide through the principle of the rule of law, but is pushing through a near-missionary program against evil -- a program where the only legitimate actor is the United States," Vollmer said in an interview with the newsmagazine Stern.\nOn Iraq, Vollmer said "my great concern is that a brutal, totalitarian regime there could be attacked, setting fire to the whole region as it goes under and trying particularly to pull Israel into the abyss."\nSchroeder has sought to play down such concerns, insisting last weekend that "we have so many common interests -- and we stand for common values -- that occasional differences of opinion take second place"