Is This Feud Really Necessary?

There's nothing quite like a spat between old friends. German chancellor Gerhard Schröeder, who heads a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, narrowly won re-election last week. But he badly damaged relations with the U.S. during a campaign in which he forcefully opposed a war in Iraq—and his justice minister (since fired) reportedly compared Bush's tactics to Hitler's. The Bushies were furious, and embarked on a post-election campaign of calculated snubs of Schröeder and his deputies. The odd thing is that, for all the Administration's display of pique, the German election turned out about as well as Washington could have hoped....