US President George W. Bush took a drubbing in the German media this week, but a handful of establishment figures and newspapers say the criticism wasn't entirely fair. After all, they argue, if the US hadn't gone to war, Berlin and Brussels might still be dealing with Saddam and the Taliban.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President George W. Bush take a stroll in the gardens at Meseberg Palace, the German government's guesthouse north of Berlin.
The paper was reacting to comments such as "memory of Bush will darken America's image in the world for years to come," as the country's other leading daily, the Süddeutsche Zeitung put it. There was even Bush-bashing from within the ranks of Chancellor Angela Merkel's own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, whose foreign policy spokesman, Eckart von Klaeden, remarked: "I won't miss George W. Bush." More
