AOL NEWS …Schroeder’s aides also supported the former German chancellor’s version of events. Dieter Kastrup, Schroeder’s top foreign policy official, who was also at the 2002 Oval Office meeting, told The Daily Telegraph, “In no way did Schroeder express anything that could be understood by Bush as a charter to start a war against Iraq with German assistance.”
Other German officials have also recalled their assessment of Bush during the lead-up to the Iraq war.
“We noticed that the intellectual reach of the president of the most important nation at the time was exceptionally low,” Uwe-Karsten Heye, who was Schroeder’s spokesman at the time, told German news channel N24, according to the Telegraph. “For this reason, it was difficult to communicate with him. He had no idea what was happening in the world. He was so fixated on being a Texan. I think he knew every longhorn in Texas.”… (more)
