The Shadow Lashes Back at Germany

The Shadow can appreciate the right of free speech -- especially concerning environmental issues. But he also believes that there is a time and a place to make known a certain point of view.

I reported to you yesterday events that were happening in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina coming ashore in the Gulf Coast region of the United States earlier this week. As could be expected, supportive calls have come from all around the world, including Pope Benedict XVI who has offered prayers for the victims and rescue workers.

But Germany, and in particular one German government official, used the tragedy to put the U.S. into shame.

Germany's Environmental Minister, Jurgen Trittin, a member of the Green Party, in an article in the Frankfurter Rundschau, stated in so many words that, if President Bush had signed the Kyoto Protocol and adhered to it, events like Katrina would not have happened.

"Greenhouse gases have to be radically reduced and it has to happen worldwide. . . . The Bush government rejects international climate protection goals by insisting that imposing them would negatively impact the American economy. The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina and because of neglected environmental policies," the minister wrote.

The left-leaning paper Die Tageszeitung also delivered a harsh criticism using Katrina as a backdrop: "Hurricane Katrina has delivered terrible photos. . . . Scientists are quite calmly saying that we will see this kind of thing more often. . . . climate change, human-caused and irreversible. But a change of policy is not in the cards. Politics is trapped between voters and industry lobbyists. And of course, there is the killer argument: Protecting the environment impedes economic growth."

Americans, as you would expect, reacted fiercely to this when it was reported. But Trittin's spokesperson, Michael Schroeren, today stated that he "can't understand . . . at all" why Americans would be upset at this statement.

The Shadow can understand the German's governments frustration with the United States over its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol. And it has every right to press the U.S. government on the issue.

But, this is a poorly timed criticism. Now is not the time to tell the U.S. "I told you so!" People in the Gulf Coast are suffering and for the Social Democrats to use this event as a way of getting their politics across is just purely insensitive.

The government of Germany should apologize to the American people for making such an insensitive and ill-timed comment at this time.