Bush In Germany For Talks

Fresh from unity meetings with European leaders, President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met on Wednesday to thrash out post-Iraq differences, from disputes over NATO's future to coaxing Iran to end its program to develop nuclear fuel.

Although Mr. Bush has reached a broad peace with European leaders alienated by the Iraq war, he has lingering issues with Schroeder, who greeted the president at the airport in nearby Frankfurt where he began Wednesday's nine-hour visit to Germany.

Many Germans have issues with Mr. Bush. Hundreds of protesters across Germany demonstrated against U.S. policy Tuesday, carrying signs saying "Not welcome, Mr. Bush" and "No Bush, No War."

About 400 people marched peacefully to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin with posters accusing the United States of terrorism and calling on the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq.

About 200 to 300 protesters turned out in both Mainz and Wiesbaden, cities Mr. Bush is visiting Wednesday.

Anti-Bush protests in Hamburg and Kassel also drew several hundred people each.

"It remains the case that we will send no German soldiers to Iraq," Schroeder told the German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung, in advance of the Bush visit. "President Bush knows our position. He accepts and respects it."

Schroeder has also proposed a modified role for NATO and wants to offer Iran financial incentives for dropping its nuclear program. The Bush administration has frowned on both suggestions.

But as the leader of Europe's largest economy, Schroeder has considerable leverage in international forums.

Another area of disagreement is a 15-year-old arms embargo on China that Europe wants to end. President Bush said lifting the embargo, imposed after the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy activists, "would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan, and that's of concern."

But French President Jacques Chirac and Schroeder said the ban should go.

"It will happen," Schroeder said.

Snow dusted the ground in Frankfurt where Air Force One landed. The president and the German chancellor, who were welcomed by 10 American and 10 German troops who served in Afghanistan, are meeting nearby in a castle in the ancient Rhine River town of Mainz.

Security for the Bush visit is so tight that nearly every street in downtown Mainz was closed to traffic and barricaded and there were very few people on the streets other than police.

While in Germany, Mr. Bush will take time to visit a museum displaying the world's first printing presses, meet with young German entrepreneurs and address U.S. troops at nearby Wiesbaden Air Base.

Mainz is the hometown of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush are visiting the Gutenberg Museum to view the world's first printing presses and a Gutenberg Bible dating back to the year 1455.

From Germany, President Bush flies on to Slovakia, for a Thursday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Europe and America have reconnected," European Commission President Jose Barroso declared after President Bush's meeting Tuesday with European leaders in Brussels.

Mr. Bush attended back-to-back meetings of NATO and the European Union.

Both President Bush and Schroeder have declared their relations have warmed from a low point in 2003.

Germany has refused to send peacekeepers or instructors to Iraq. And, along with Chirac, it has resisted a wider role for NATO there.

However, Germany has offered $652,000 for NATO's Iraq mission and is training Iraqi specialists in the United Arab Emirates.

Schroeder has urged the United States to more actively engage with Germany, France and Britain in talks to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. But he also wants to offer Iran an incentive to do so, such as membership in the World Trade Organization.

President Bush says he backs European diplomacy but isn't prepared to reward Iran as long as it sponsors terrorist groups in Israel such as Hezbollah.

A recent opinion poll showed that 70 percent of Germans believe Bush is planning military action against Iran to stop any nuclear weapons program, and he gave mixed signals about U.S. intentions.

"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous," the president told reporters in Brussels, with a slight smile. "Having said that, all options are on the table." He made a similar statement last week, saying a president never says never about military action.

Schroeder recently created a stir when he proposed that security talks between the United States and the European Union replace NATO as the main forum for trans-Atlantic strategic dialogue. He called for a high-level panel to review how NATO operates.

President Bush and NATO officials have rejected the idea, saying the alliance is working well and should not be weakened.

"NATO was set up for security matters. The EU is set up as a way to make Europe function better," Bush said. Both "are both part of an important dialogue with Europe."

Chirac backed Schroeder. "As the German federal chancellor has said, we have to keep taking account of changes on the European continent," the French president told Tuesday's NATO meeting.

Germany is seeking a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. President Bush has said he has not yet taken a position on the matter but "I am open to suggestions."