Condi, Condi does a heckuva job in Berlin

Condi, Condi may be a darling to what we generously call our "press corps" here in the United States.

But David Crossland reports that she didn't go over so well with the new German Chancellor who wanted to improve relations with the United States.  Then Condi, Condi came to town: CIA Flights: Rice Visit Fails to Build Bridges Der Spiegel International 12/07/05.

Crossland reports:

Monday's meeting between the two most powerful women in the world resulted in a diplomatic spat and highlighted a growing rift between Europe and America over whether the end always justifies the means in the war on terror.

Rice's trip was meant to signal a new start for trans-Atlantic ties, but if anything, relations are worse now. Merkel irritated US officials by telling journalists after their meeting that the Washington had admitted making a mistake in the case of Khaled al-Masri, a Lebanese-born German citizen who was abducted by the CIA and claims that he was tortured while held in secret custody.

I've said it before.  And I find occasion to keep saying it.  I just don't know what gave the Bush Republicans the idea that having the Christian Democrats come to power in Germany was going to result in warmer US-German relations.

Condi, Condi has her own credibility gap in Europe, it seems:

Rice's comment that the US does not torture terrorism suspects met with skepticism in Berlin. Karsten Voigt, the German government's coordinator on German-US relations, said: "The question remains whether she means the same thing by torture as we do."

In an apparent response to the European criticism, Rice on Wednesday announced that US personnel would be banned worldwide from subjecting prisoners to cruelty - a shift in policy as that ban has until now applied [by the Bush administration] to interrogations [only] on US soil.

I wonder if Dick Cheney will have her over to his office when she gets back for a proper scolding over that.

But the democratic countries of Europe seem to be full of people who don't accept everything the Bush administration does as right, good and democratic:

For commentators in Germany, the US practice of "extraordinary rendition," or secretly transferring suspects to third countries, including some outside Europe that routinely use torture, reveals how far Europe and the United States have drifted apart since Sept. 11 on how much leeway secret services should have in pursuing terrorists.

"Condoleezza Rice gave the best example of this by adopting what almost seemed like a blackmailing tone in saying that whoever discloses the work of their intelligence services would have to live with a higher threat of terror," stated an editorial in the liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "Rice came to Germany to begin a new era. She has resoundingly failed to do so."

Otto Schily, the former interior minister, defended himself against criticism that he had been insufficienty zealous in opposed the US' rendition practices by declaring how completely he disagrees with the US policies:

Schily also said he knew nothing about CIA secret flights or secret prisons and that the issue had not been raised at joint meetings of the European Union's interior ministers. "We don't even need to talk about the fact that it's totally unacceptable for people here in Europe just to be abducted," Schily said.

He added that he has always been a critic of the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay. "The Americans know me. They also know my clear position: In the war against international terrorism there must be no law-free territories and definitely no torture," said Schily.

These Germans, for some reason, seem to not like the idea that their citizens could just be kidnapped, denied due process and tortured at the whim of the US administration.  Condi, Condi obviously wasn't prepared to deal with such a strange and exotic attitude.