Bush, Schroeder Agree To Disagree
President Bush stuck firmly by his call for a missile defense shield and his opposition to a global-warming pact Thursday, declaring in a meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: "We can disagree and yet still be friends."
Schroeder also remained steadfast. "Nobody should be relieved from his responsibility for climate control," he told reporters at a news conference after the White House meeting.
Schroeder carried a list of concerns to their first face-to-face meeting. He conveyed Europe's dismay over the White House's rejection of the Kyoto global-warming agreement and raised a series of questions about the missile defense system.
The pair met for more than two hours in the White House. They told reporters they found common ground on an array of issues, and politely disagreed on several others. The White House described the session as "extremely cordial."
"The briefers told me that the chancellor is a very straightforward person," Mr. Bush said. "They were right, and for that, I'm grateful, because we were able to get to the point."
"We have different opinions, and we are happy to admit to you that we hold different opinions," Schroeder said through a translator. "We were also happy to admit to one another that we have different positions."
On the missile shield, Mr. Bush said he explained to Schroeder, "We want to develop defenses that are capable of defending ourselves and defenses capable of defending others."
"The true threat of the 21st century is the extremist who can't stand what Germany or America believes in," Mr. Bush said. "They resent our freedoms. They resent our successes. They resent our prosperity."
Schroeder told reporters he still had many questions about the plan. "Is it technologically feasible? Can we truly implement it? Who is going to be covered under the shelter?" Schroeder asked.
Europeans are upset over White House opposition to the Kyoto agreement, negotiated in 1997 to lower levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Many scientists think greenhouse gases are heating up the Earth's atmosphere dangerously. The agreement, never ratified by the United States, specifies that industrial nations must reduce emissions by 2012 to below 1990 levels.
White House officials who attended the session said the leaders' discussion of global warming was polite.
One official said both Mr. Bush and Schroeder knew the other's position on global warming, and "they didn't fight about this." The official said the two sides will work together where they can.
In a joint statement, the two leaders admitted: "We openly note that we differ on the best way to protect the earth's climate."
The president said he explained to Schroeder that a domestic "energy crisis" made it unfeasible to cap power plants' carbon dioxide emissions, which are thought to contribute to global warming. Mr. Bush had promisd during his campaign to limit emissions.
He rejected the notion of a rapid U.S. shift to using cleaner-burning natural gas "in order to be able to conform to a treaty that our own Senate sent a very overwhelming message against and that many other countries haven't signed."
In July 1997, five months before the treaty was completed in Kyoto, Japan, the Senate approved 95-0 a nonbinding resolution urging that the Clinton administration not sign it. The United States signed it anyway.
Schroeder pointed out that Germany will be host to a conference on the Kyoto agreement this summer and said the U.S. government will be asked to explain Mr. Bush's decision there.
On another issue, the United States has expressed misgivings about the European Union's decision to form a rapid reaction corps under a European Security and Defense Policy.
Mr. Bush told Schroeder he supports such a force, "provided it strengthens NATO, not weakens NATO, and provided that it lead to a real increase in European capabilities," the White House official said. Schroeder agreed with that, the official said.
By Scott Lindlaw