BERLIN - Gerhard Schroeder hit back on Tuesday at claims by former U.S. president George W. Bush in his newly released memoirs that the German ex-chancellor had broken his word over support for an invasion of Iraq. "Former American president Bush is not telling the truth," Schroeder said in a statement. Bush said in his memoirs that he told Schroeder in an Oval Office meeting in January 2002 he was determined to make diplomacy work but cautioned that while the military option was Washington's last choice, he would use it if necessary. "What is true of Afghanistan is true of Iraq," Bush quotes Schroeder as saying. "Nations that sponsor terror must face consequences. If you make it fast and make it decisive, I will be with you."

But, Shroeder claims, Bush left out an important caveat in his published recollection.

Schroeder confirmed on Tuesday that he had told Bush that he would "stand reliably on the side of the U.S." if it was confirmed that Iraq was sheltering those responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks. "But this link, as it became clear during 2002, was false and contrived. This goes for reasons (for the invasion) given by Bush and (vice president Dick) Cheney too. "As we know today, the Bush administration's reasons for the Iraq war were based on lies."

Unlike Tony Blair, Schroeder refused to be Bush's poodle, and thus saved his country from considerable grief.

George W. is not the only Bush who seems to have it in for Gerhard Schroeder. In her memoir Spoken from the Heart, Laura Bush seemed to blame Schroeder for forcing her husband to invade Iraq:

"I have often wondered if Jacques Chirac of France or Gerhard Schröder of Germany could have done more to prevent the Iraq war, if one of them could have persuaded Saddam to go into exile, if they could have conveyed that the United States was not bluffing."

Laura thus absolves her husband of any responsibility for launching an unnecessary and immoral war.

UPDATE: Thanks for recommending! I'll never forget when Schroeder's foreign secretary - Joschka Fischer - stood up to Rumsfeld as he was blustering about WMDs and said "Excuse me, but I am not convinced!"