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The Week in Germany: Politics

February 25, 2005

First Lady praises U.S.-German partnership

U.S. soldiers and their family members cheered First Lady Laura Bush as she called the Kaiserslautern military community in southern Germany a "testament to the partnership" between Germany and the United States.

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Kaiserslautern, known as "K-town" among many of the 34,000 Americans stationed there, is home to the sprawling Ramstein Air Base, a busy hub supporting U.S. operations in the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

It was there that Mrs. Bush addressed soldiers and their family members on Tuesday after arriving in snow-swept Germany a day before her husband.

She also paid bedside visits to injured military personnel receiving treatment at the nearby U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl and posed for pictures with American high-school students whose parents are serving in the military at a U.S. Army base in Wiesbaden.

At Ramstein, Mrs. Bush thanked Germans for their hearty support of the U.S. troop presence ever since the first GIs arrived in Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War.

"The friendship of so many Germans has helped to make Ramstein a home away from home for so many Americans," Mrs. Bush told an enthusiastic crowd of 1,500.


	Mrs. Bush travelled to Wiesbaden, where she was warmly received by about 300 American high school students at a U.S. Army post. dpa photo

"Germany is a close friend and ally of the United States and our nation and our people are bound by common values and common interests," she added to applause. "Our military alliance protects freedom throughout the world. This successful alliance would not be possible without the incredible men and women of Team Ramstein.

"Team Ramstein is on the front line of the new war of the 21st century, to confront terror and to defeat it," she told the crowd.

Before giving her speech at Ramstein, Mrs. Bush visited wounded servicemembers at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, which has received thousands of troops injured in action in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some 21,800 injured U.S. military personnel — 90% of them from Iraq — have been treated there since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, a hospital spokesperson recently told the Associated Press.

Later, Mrs. Bush travelled to Wiesbaden, where she was warmly received by about 300 American high school students at a U.S. Army post.

"I'm proud of you," Mrs. Bush told the students. "You don't fly jets, or wear uniforms — but as the children of our military, you serve, too. The courage with which you do so is an inspiration to all of us."

Mrs. Bush rejoined her husband on Wednesday in nearby Mainz, where the president held talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Links:

German city gives U.S. wounded the VIP treatment (from the Foreign Office)

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