HOME > BREAKING NEWS > STORY Get News by Email Print This Article Email This Article Bush fury over Hitler comparison From correspondents in Washington September 20, 2002 THE White House has slammed an "outrageous and inexplicable" comment by the German Justice Minister likening US President George W. Bush's political methods to those used by Adolf Hitler. Herta Daeubler-Gmelin has since repudiated her remarks. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "This statement by the justice minister is outrageous and is inexplicable." Another senior US official said: "The president was very angered by these comments and (national security adviser Condoleezza) Rice took this very personally as well. "We have made our views known to the German government both here and in Berlin." The official, who asked not to be named, called the comments an "ad hominem attack on the president of the United States, a close ally and friend of Germany". The German minister hit out at Bush in comments to metalworkers during a campaign stop for her Social Democrats ahead of Sunday's general election. "Bush wants to divert attention from domestic political problems. It's a method that is sometimes favoured. Hitler also did that," she said, according to a report by the Schwaebisches Tagblatt newspaper. The paper reported that Daeubler-Gmelin, who is a lawyer by profession, later said: "I never put Bush and Hitler on the same level." She released a statement in an effort to control any damage caused by the daily's report. "I am surprised by this article because it is erroneous and inflammatory to imply that I compared a man who was democratically elected, the American President George W Bush, and the Nazi era," it said. "I have always said to what point such a comparison would be unacceptable and false. That was, by the way, implicit in this confused article that some are now using for political ends." The conservative opposition, which is neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats in the polls, has called for her resignation. Agence France-Presse [Our friends cannot be with us while fighting an election]