Schroeder's Mein Kampf

Ex-Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder sounds like an American Leftist.

He's out hawking his memoirs and making a fool of himself.

His opinion of President Bush’s expressions of faith sounds remarkably similar to the tripe spewed by the incompetent, failed former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the pathetic, unbalanced, hair-tossing and twisting Maureen Dowd.

BERLIN -- Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose second term was marked by vehement opposition to the war in Iraq, described in an advance copy of his memoirs how he was suspicious of President Bush's constant references to his Christian faith.

In an excerpt of his book, "Decisions: My Life in Politics" published in the German weekly Der Spiegel Saturday, Schroeder discusses the key political choices that marked his seven-year term in office, including the decision to call early elections and his split with Bush over the Iraq war.

"I am anything but anti-American," Schroeder told Spiegel in an interview to accompany the excerpt of the more than 500-page book that goes on sale Thursday.

In it Schroeder, who led the Social Democrats to power in 1998, recalls the tears in his eyes as he watched television footage of people jumping from the burning World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

He knew Germany would have to react.

"It was important to me that Germany fulfill its requirements as an ally" of the U.S., he wrote. "It was also fully clear to me that this could also mean the German army's participation in an American military mission."

GAG!!!

What a load!

Schroeder took every chance he had to undercut the U.S. This guy doesn’t know the meaning of the word "ally."

Several months later, during Bush's 2002 visit to Berlin, Schroeder wrote he was surprised at what he described as Bush's "exceptionally mild" speech to the German parliament.

While meetings with Bush at that time were friendly, Schroeder said he could not reconcile himself with the feeling that religion was the driving force behind many of Bush's political decisions.

"What bothered me, and in a certain way made me suspicious despite the relaxed atmosphere, was again and again in our discussions how much this president described himself as 'God-fearing,'" Schroeder wrote, adding he is a firm believer in the separation of church and state.

There is not a chance that Schroeder would say that he was "suspicious" of a leader that referenced Allah.

I don’t buy Schroeder’s discomfort with Bush’s faith. I think Schroeder is just sucking up to American Leftists. I think he’s trying to get invited to a lib soiree at Barbra Streisand’s mansion.

Schroeder accused some elements in U.S. as being hypocritical when it comes to secularism in government.

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated," Schroeder wrote. "But we fail to recognize that in the USA, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."

I think that the West’s criticism of the role of religion in Islamic states lies mainly in the fact that religion is used to justify oppression, intolerance, and terror. That’s the real issue, not the fact that there is a state religion.

I am disgusted that Schroeder draws even a remote parallel between American Christian fundamentalists and the Islamic fanatics that blow themselves up to kill as many innocent people as possible, hijack civilian airliners and crash them into buildings filled with innocent people, and take innocent people hostage and behead them.

American Christian fundamentalists are doing nothing of the sort.

With all due respect, Schroeder’s remarks are idiotic.

He’s an absolute disgrace, which means he’s on the short list for the Nobel Peace Prize.