RUMSFELD LOOKS TO TURN PAGE
By Richard Whittle, Dallas Morning News

** Defense chief focuses on building ties with European nations **

Knight Ridder
February 12, 2005

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10886830.htm

MUNICH -- A self-described "new" Donald Rumsfeld came back to the "old Europe" he once derided on Saturday seeking to add momentum to a U.S. charm offensive that Europeans are greeting with wary applause.

In a conciliatory speech and a question-and-answer session at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual gathering of high-level defense officials and experts from around the world, the U.S. defense secretary:

--Lauded modest new European pledges of more help in Iraq.

--Told the Europeans, "Unity need not be a uniformity of tactics or of views but rather a union of purpose."

--And in a rare display of self-deprecation, joked about the slap he took at France and Germany in 2003, when he dismissed them as "the Old Europe" for opposing the use of military force in Iraq.

"Oh, that was 'Old Rumsfeld,'" he quipped, drawing laughter from an audience that included U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and defense ministers from nearly every major nation.

He also played down the administration's differences with Europe on how to get Iran to give up its alleged quest for nuclear weapons. Britain, France and Germany have been trying to negotiate with the Iranians while U.S. officials have advocated threatening sanctions.

Mr. Rumsfeld's appearance followed a visit to Europe last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and preceded by a week a planned European tour by President Bush aimed at reviving trans-Atlantic cooperation after 2 ½ years of friction over Iraq.

Dr. Rice's meetings with officials including German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac drew widespread praise from European officials and the press.

Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said her visit was "the best week we've had in trans-Atlantic relations for 2 1/2 years."

U.S. officials see the Europeans as ready to improve relations for two reasons. First, Mr. Bush's re-election means they have no choice but to deal with him. Second, the enthusiasm of Iraqi voters in Jan. 30 elections that insurgents tried to disrupt demonstrated substantial support for the U.S. goal of creating a stable democracy there.

"Two things have changed: our elections and the Iraqi elections," said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Rumsfeld's speech to the Munich conference contrasted sharply with his appearance at the event before the Iraq war in 2003, when he and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer exchanged harsh words.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., a member of a U.S. congressional delegation to the conference led by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said she "liked and appreciated everything that 'new Rumsfeld' said."

"His appearance two years ago was a very painful situation as I sat and listened to it," she recalled.

This weekend, Mr. Rumsfeld came to Munich from Iraq, which he visited Friday after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Nice, France.

In Nice, he won new promises from Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Canada to help equip Iraqi security forces.

U.S. officials have failed to persuade those nations or Germany to send troops to Iraq, though Germany is training Iraqi police in the United Arab Emirates, and other NATO nations are training Iraqi security forces in Iraq.

Mr. Rumsfeld initially had declined the Munich invitation, partly because of an attempt by a New York-based human rights group to have him indicted for the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq under a sweeping German law against international war crimes.

He changed his schedule after Germany's chief federal prosecutor rejected the group's complaint late this week.

Ignoring past administration vows to go it alone when necessary in the war on terror, Mr. Rumsfeld told the conference: "We know that our collective security depends on our cooperation and mutual respect and understanding."

"By now it must be clear that one nation cannot defeat these extremists alone," he added in another sharp change from the administration's past attitude.

He praised the contributions of Germany and other NATO members in Afghanistan, where 8,500 allied troops perform peacekeeping duties while a U.S. force of 18,000 battles Islamic extremists. He also noted German and French cooperation in arresting terrorists.

Mr. Rumsfeld, who was U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Nixon administration, said alliance members had "always been able to resolve even the toughest issues. And I submit that that's because there's so much that unites us: common values, shared histories and an abiding faith in democracy."

Both current and former officials attending the conference praised the tone he struck.

"He's a very smart man," said Richard Holbrooke, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Bill Clinton and a top adviser to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in last year's election.

"He knows when to 'make nice,' and that's what he did today," Mr. Holbrooke said. "And it was the right thing to do."

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said, "I think he understands that the elections in Iraq created a new opportunity to re-engage, and the joke about the 'old Rumsfeld' was, I think, more than a joke," he said.

"It was his way of saying, 'Let's start over.' "

Europeans, however, remain skeptical of the Bush administration's new style, and some signals at the conference were negative.

Mr. Schroeder caught a cold and was unable to attend the meeting, but Defense Minister Peter Struck read a speech on his behalf in which the chancellor declared that NATO was "no longer the primary venue where trans-Atlantic partners discuss and coordinate strategies."

Responding to a question from the audience about Mr. Schroeder's speech, Mr. Rumsfeld declared flatly, "The place to discuss trans-Atlantic issues clearly is in NATO."

Pierre Lellouche, a member of the French national assembly from Mr. Chirac's party, said Mr. Rumsfeld "was bloody good" in his remarks. But Mr. Lellouche said he saw only a change in the tone and not the substance of U.S. foreign policy.

"Condi came to Paris, and she succeeded in changing the climate," Mr. Lellouche said. "But they expect us to follow the line" in trying to "change the status quo in the Middle East."

"The French, of course, and the Europeans are not at all on that line," Mr. Lellouche said, noting that foreign policy specialists in his country believe that democratizing the Middle East -- Mr. Bush's state goal -- is an impossibility.

A senior European diplomat from another country, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Bush administration may have "changed the atmosphere, but we shouldn't fool ourselves that that means a change of policy."

"We'll have to see."