Rumsfeld asks Germany to mend divide

WARSAW, Poland -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested Wednesday that it was up to Germany to repair damage to American-German relations.\n"We do have a saying in America: If you're in a hole, stop digging," Rumsfeld told a news conference at the close of two days of NATO meetings clouded by tensions between the two allies.\nAs if realizing he had just suggested the Germans were making the situation worse, Rumsfeld quickly added, "I'm not sure I should have said that. Let's pretend I never said that."\nBush administration officials were particularly angered by what they saw as an anti-American tone to the recent German parliamentary election campaign in which a government minister was reported to have likened President Bush's tactics to those of Adolf Hitler.\nRumsfeld did not meet with Peter Struck, his German counterpart, during the Warsaw meetings. He told reporters that Struck skipped a briefing Tuesday at which Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin gave a detailed review of Iraq's illicit weapons programs and its alleged ties to al Qaeda and other terror groups.\nOther alliance officials said Rumsfeld left a Tuesday ministerial dinner before Struck spoke, but Rumsfeld denied he had intentionally snubbed the German.\n"There was no snubbing that I saw in the entire meeting by anybody," he said, adding after a pause, as if for emphasis, "that was visible."\nStruck told German television station n-tv on Wednesday that he reiterated Germany's regrets over the Hitler remarks to Rumsfeld during a brief conversation at a reception given by the president of Poland.\n"We weren't avoiding each other," Struck said. But their paths did not cross again, Struck said, because of "urgent scheduling reasons."\nBush, asked Wednesday if he could forgive and forget, put up his palm as if to say, "Stop." Sarcastically, he told the reporter being ushered from the Oval Office, "I'm sorry. I should have called on you if I'd have known that was the question."\nAt a separate news conference Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson acknowledged the problems between Berlin and Washington but said he had no intention of trying to referee.\n"The alliance has to stick together," he said.\nAfter Wednesday's session, Rumsfeld flew back to Washington.\nRussian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov joined Wednesday's talks, which focused on the global fight against terrorism and other international problems, including the former Soviet republic of Georgia, which Russia accuses of harboring Chechen terrorists responsible for attacks on Russian territory.\nThe meeting was held under a partnership agreement signed between Russia and the 19-nation military alliance in May. NATO officials say the agreement has worked better than expected in improving defense ties between the former foes.\nThe United States is seeking support from Russia for a new, tougher United Nations resolution to back up U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq, but Moscow's line on the issue has been unclear.\nLike many NATO allies, Russia opposes any unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq.\nRumsfeld said he did not ask allies for military contributions to a potential U.S. attack on Iraq, because President Bush has not yet decided whether to use force to achieve his goal of deposing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.\nIn Tuesday's session, the NATO allies gave broad support to Rumsfeld's plan for a new 21,000-strong allied strike force of land, sea and air units able to deploy quickly to hot spots. Rumsfeld wants this force to be able to operate beyond NATO's borders, but France and some others want it limited to European operations.\n"There was a warm welcome for the proposal," Robertson said Tuesday. "We have to sharpen our ability to field forces quickly and effectively."\nNATO is preparing a raft of reforms to be adopted by its leaders at a summit in late November in the Czech capital, Prague.