ANGELA MERKEL CALLS MULTICULTURALISM POLICIES A SHAM WHICH ACTUALLY ENCOURAGES TERRORISM

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ANGELA MERKEL CALLS MULTICULTURALISM POLICIES A SHAM WHICH ACTUALLY ENCOURAGES TERRORISM:

GERMANY'S CHANCELLOR VOWS TO REDUCE NUMBER REFUGEES ENTERING HER COUNTRY.

~ Multiculturalism is a sham, says Angela Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy has attracted praise from all over the world. 

Time magazine and the Financial Times newspaper recently named her Person of the Year, and delegates applauded her for so long at her party's convention on Monday that she had to stop them.

The speech that followed, however, may have surprised supporters of her policies: "Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a ‘life lie,’ ” or a sham, she said, before adding that Germany may be reaching its limits in terms of accepting more refugees. "The challenge is immense," she said. "We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably."

Although those remarks may seem uncharacteristic of Merkel, she probably would insist that she was not contradicting herself. In fact, she was only repeating a sentiment she first voiced several years ago when she said multiculturalism in Germany had "utterly failed."

"Of course the tendency had been to say, 'Let's adopt the multicultural concept and live happily side by side, and be happy to be living with each other.' But this concept has failed, and failed utterly," she said in 2010.

Repeating those ideas on Monday was meant to calm her supporters who have grown increasingly weary of the influx of refugees. Newcomers, Merkel stressed, should assimilate to German values and culture, and respect the country's laws.

Merkel emphasized that despite her commitment to limit the influx of refugees, she was standing by her decision to open the borders earlier this fall. “It is a historical test for Europe,” she said, adding that other countries in Europe should accept more refugees to take some of the burden off Germany.

Refugees in need should be helped, she said, but she also suggested that not everyone who has come to Germany fulfilled those criteria. German authorities are expected to ramp up deportations in the coming months.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that multiculturalism in Germany remains "a lie," telling immigrants to "obey our laws, values and traditions." Her comments came as part of a speech on Dec. 14, in Karlsruhe, a city dominated by Europe's refugee crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy has attracted praise from all over the world. Time magazine and the Financial Times newspaper recently named her Person of the Year, and delegates applauded her for so long at her party's convention on Monday that she had to stop them.

The speech that followed, however, may have surprised supporters of her policies: "Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a ‘life lie,’ ” or a sham, she said, before adding that Germany may be reaching its limits in terms of accepting more refugees. "The challenge is immense," she said. "We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably."

Although those remarks may seem uncharacteristic of Merkel, she probably would insist that she was not contradicting herself. In fact, she was only repeating a sentiment she first voiced several years ago when she said multiculturalism in Germany had "utterly failed."

"Of course the tendency had been to say, 'Let's adopt the multicultural concept and live happily side by side, and be happy to be living with each other.' But this concept has failed, and failed utterly," she said in 2010.

Repeating those ideas on Monday was meant to calm her supporters who have grown increasingly weary of the influx of refugees. Newcomers, Merkel stressed, should assimilate to German values and culture, and respect the country's laws.

Merkel emphasized that despite her commitment to limit the influx of refugees, she was standing by her decision to open the borders earlier this fall. “It is a historical test for Europe,” she said, adding that other countries in Europe should accept more refugees to take some of the burden off Germany.

Refugees in need should be helped, she said, but she also suggested that not everyone who has come to Germany fulfilled those criteria. German authorities are expected to ramp up deportations in the coming months.

Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, overwhelmingly approved of her refugee policy, with only two out of about 1,000 delegates voting against a resolution in support of it.

Merkel's comments may also reflect a particular understanding of assimilation. Many Germans expect immigrants to quickly learn the German language and to contribute to their communities and work life.

Multiculturalism usually has a positive connotation, but to Merkel it symbolizes the emergence of isolated societies within Germany — and ultimately a failure of assimilating immigrants. 

Her policy toward the issue is supposed to avoid the creation of suburbs such as the areas around Paris, for instance, where young immigrants are isolated from the rest of society.

However, her speech comes at a sensitive time. Germany has opened its borders to approximately 1 million refugees this year, many of whom are still being accommodated in makeshift housing. Fights have broken out in multiple reception centers, raising fears about the country's ability to deal with the influx.

Local disputes have caused tensions in national politics as well. 

Last year, Germany's influential Christian Social Union party proposed that everyone in Germany should be required to speak German "in public and in private with their families." The public backlash forced the party to retract the draft resolution.

Compared to 2010, when Merkel first voiced her criticism of multiculturalism, there was little reaction Monday. The applause following her speech lasted nine minutes and again had to be interrupted by Merkel. "Thanks, but we have work to do," she said.

Credits:  Daily Mail, Reuters, Washington Post, The Independent, YouTube

Merkel & Obama Want Qaddafi Out! Pledge Future Partnership

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Today During A Press Conference Held At The White House, Pres. Obama & His Guest Of Honor German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Called For Libyan President Moammar Qaddafi's Resignation.

Both Leaders Also Assured European Financial Market Experts & Other World Leaders That The Business Partnership Between The U.S. & Germany Remains Strong.

Pres. Obama Also Stated Optimistically "He Was Not Worried About The American Economy Experiencing A Double-Dip Recession".




Merkel backs Libya mission, joins Obama in call for Gadhafi to leave

German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday in saying Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must step down, expressing support for the NATO military mission even though her country abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote that authorized it.

At a joint news conference at the White House, Merkel said Germany's participation in NATO operations shows its support for the Libya mission. She also noted that Germany has increased resources to the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan to free other countries to contribute to the Libya mission.

"It is our joint will that this NATO mission is successful," Merkel said of the Libya operation, adding that what happens in North Africa affects Europe. "Those are our immediate neighbors, and we have a choice. Either this works out well, or we have an enormous refugee problem. and so it's not only out of charity ... there's not only a moral obligation, but we have also a vested interest in seeing to it that this continent, this region comes on its feet."

Obama and Merkel also said they oppose unilateral actions by players in the Middle East peace process, including a push for a U.N. General Assembly vote on an independent Palestinian state. And Obama warned of possible new sanctions against Iran if an upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency report cites continued non-compliance involving the nation's nuclear energy program.



Both played down any major differences in how they think their countries and the international community should deal with continuing economic challenges.

On the United States, Obama said he isn't concerned about a possible double-dip recession, but added he is concerned that the nation's economic recovery is not creating jobs more quickly. Merkel diplomatically said she has confidence that the United States will deal with its economic issues.

The news conference included some minor unscripted moments, such as Merkel stumbling as the pair walked to the microphones and later shutting off her cell phone when it rang while Obama was speaking.

The two leaders were meeting for the 10th time as part of Merkel's official visit to Washington that includes a state dinner Tuesday night where she will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Obama and Merkel emphasized the cooperative and vital relationship between their countries, with Obama paying special tribute to the German chancellor.

In addition to their 10 meetings, he said, the two communicate regularly by phone and video conference.

"There's hardly any global issue where we don't consult one another," Obama said, adding, "I trust her."

Merkel received an official welcome to the White House earlier Tuesday in a ceremony marked by pomp and circumstance, a major honor for an ally who at times has differed on key issues from her American counterparts.




During talks on Tuesday morning, the two leaders discussed a range of economic and security topics, including the turmoil in the Middle East and the shaky global economy.

At the news conference afterward, Obama said the situation in Europe -- where Greece and some other countries face mounting debt crises that threaten to drag down the global economy -- involves "tough" politics.

"You recall how difficult it was for us to make investments in our own auto industry or to make sure that we didn't have a financial meltdown here," the president said. "Well, imagine if you're having to make those same decisions with 27 other countries with respect to somebody else's economic problems."

He expressed confidence that "Germany's leadership, along with other key actors in Europe, will help us arrive at a path for Greece to return to growth, for this debt to become more manageable. but it's going to require some patience and some time." He pledged full U.S. cooperation, including working through international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

"We think it would be disastrous for us to see an uncontrolled spiral and default in Europe, because that could trigger a whole range of other events," Obama said. "And I think Angela shares that same view. and so we're going to have to work through this issue methodically, and we will be supportive in any ways that we can to make sure that all of the best ideas are brought to bear on the problem."

In welcoming Merkel earlier, Obama said the German-U.S. alliance "at its core is a partnership between two peoples."

"The story of Germany and our alliance in the 20th century shows what's possible in the 21st," Obama said. "Wars can end, adversaries can become allies, walls can come down. At long last, nations can be whole and can be free."

Obama also referenced his unique status as America's first African-American president, as well as Merkel's as Germany's first female chancellor.

"It's obvious that neither of us looks exactly like the leaders who preceded us," he said. "The fact that we can stand here today as president of the United States and chancellor of a united Germany is a testament to the progress and freedom that is possible in our world."

Merkel praised America's role in the Cold War, noting that "when Germany and Europe were divided by the war and barbed wire, America consistently stood on the side of freedom."

"This we shall never forget," she said. "Europe and Germany have no better partner than America."

Washington and Berlin, however, have been at odds in recent months over the NATO-led war in Libya, among other things. Germany abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote establishing a no-fly zone over the North African country.

In April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared in a speech in Germany that "the world did not wait for another Srebrenica in a place called Benghazi," referring to the site of a Bosnian massacre and the Libyan rebel stronghold that was under siege by forces loyal to Gadhafi.

On the economic front, Germany continues to expand its trade surplus with record exports, causing critics to complain it should boost domestic consumption to ease the imbalance as part of global efforts to quicken recovery from the recession.

Merkel advocates tough austerity measures for European Union colleagues, and recently decided to close all of Germany's nuclear power plants in coming years in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that caused reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Obama, facing a tough political fight over Republican demands to shrink the government to reduce the federal deficit and national debt, calls for continued investment in education, infrastructure and clean energy while cutting wasteful spending and raising taxes on people with the highest incomes.

His administration proposes a broad energy policy that increases domestic oil production as well as nuclear power while pushing to develop solar and wind energy production to compete in a growing global market.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney noted Monday that because Merkel is a head of government, rather than a head of state, her trip has been labeled an official visit rather than a state visit. But Tuesday night's gathering, he stressed, will be a state dinner.


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Angela Merkel Slams Muslim Extremists & Multi-Culturalism

David Frum's Commentary: Germany's Merkel Is Right -- Multi-Culturalism Has Failed


The Germans, for obvious reasons, prefer their politicians dull. The current German chancellor, Angela Merkel, more than meets local expectations. So on the rare occasion when Merkel says something vivid, something important must be going on.

It is.

Speaking in Potsdam on Saturday, Chancellor Merkel told a gathering of young Christian Democrats that Multi-Culturalism has failed.

That might seem to be saying the obvious.

Item: December 20, 2007. Two young men are smoking on a Munich subway train, where smoking is prohibited. A fellow passenger, a 76-year-old pensioner, asks them to stop. What happened next was captured on surveillance cameras. The young men call the old man a "s--- German" and savagely beat and kick him, fracturing his skull. Other passengers on the train failed to intervene. One of the attackers was a Greek immigrant, 17. The other, 20, was born in Germany of Turkish parents.

The Munich train story captured the attention of the country, symbolizing an apparent deterioration of public order driven by multicultural immigration.

After the attack, Hesse governor Roland Koch asked:: "How much are we prepared to take from a small proportion of violent youths, who frequently have a foreign background?"

There are more than 15 million people living in Germany who were either born outside Germany or whose parents were born outside Germany. That amounts to almost 20 percent of the population.

This immigrant population is disproportionately connected to almost all of the social problems of modern Germany. Yet the problem that has transfixed the country is, very understandably, the problem of crime.

In Berlin, young men of immigrant stock are three times as likely to commit a crime as young men of German background, reports Germany's state broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. In a September interview, Chancellor Merkel endorsed claims that religious young men of Muslim origin were more likely to commit acts of violence than other young Germans.

These crimes seem increasingly the work of criminal gangs of immigrant origin that organize resistance to police authority in what the German media -- with tabloid exaggeration -- increasingly call "No Go areas." Violent assaults upon police officers jumped 60 percent between 2005 and 2009, according to the German newspaper Bild.

Less spectacular -- but as important to ordinary people's feelings of security -- is the perceived deterioration of public order: declining schools, rising welfare rolls and foiled terrorist attacks.

Because of very low birth rates among old-stock Germans, the proportion of foreign-born is highest among those younger than 20s. In the poor Berlin neighborhood of Wedding, three out of four students and at least half the parents lived on unemployment benefits and welfare, even before the global economic crisis. In 2005, The New York Times interviewed a teacher in a Wedding high school:

"In Wedding, [Evelyn] Rühle says, immigrant children today speak poorer German and have less contact with German culture than when she started teaching 20 years ago. Many Muslim students ... go to Koran classes outside of school and speak only Turkish or Arabic at home. Meanwhile, the growth of digital television has made a host of Turkish- and Arabic-language channels available, intensifying language problems and nurturing identities that are informed more by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the war in Iraq than by the local German environment."

A high-tech economy offers few opportunities for the poorly educated, with the result that immigrants and their children increasingly find themselves dependent on public assistance.

In the United States, immigrants are less likely than the native-born to collect welfare or other social benefits. In Europe, immigrants are radically more likely than the native-born to collect welfare and social benefits, with Third World immigrants collecting the most of all. That's the findings of a 2005 study by researchers at Prague's Charles University.

European voters have absorbed these uncomfortable data into a suspicious view of newcomer intentions: According to a recent study by the Friedrich Ebert think tank, 34.3 percent of Germans believe that migrants come to Germany primarily to receive welfare benefits.

Merkel's Potsdam speech did not cite those social problems.

In Germany, the problems created by immigration literally go without saying, and those who do try to talk about them rapidly find themselves ejected from public life. Thilo Sarrazin, a governor of the Bundesbank (and it's worth mentioning, a member of the left-of-center Social Democratic party) was pressured to resign his post in September after publishing a book arguing the failure of Germany's absorption of immigrants.

Yet in the words of Sigmund Freud, the repressed always return.

Even if Germany and the other European Union countries can prevent the immigration population from growing -- and that is a very uncertain if -- they must find ways to deal with integrating the immigrant population already present, both first- and second- generation.

It's safe to say that no country in Europe is succeeding at that all-important job.

Two weeks ago, I visited the British city of Birmingham.

In 2005, the city had been torn by riots that erupted about 50 yards from the lawyer's office in which I met with four community activists. The riots were sparked when a rumor spread through the neighborhood's Afro-Caribbean population that some Asian youths had gang-raped a black girl. That rumor proved false, but only after blacks and Asians had fought two days of street battles that left two people dead.

I asked these local leaders how things had changed since 2005. The answer: not very much at all.

The authorities had responded to the riots by infusing more money into the community and by intensifying police patrols.

But the mutual suspicions between groups had not been allayed. Problems of integration remained. One of the four activists I met was obviously uncomfortable speaking English, even though born and raised in the United Kingdom. One said to me very poignantly: "The British don't know who they are, so they can't teach us how to adapt."

On the other hand, it's not so clear how much the newcomers want to adapt. The man who spoke poor English had spent his entire life inside an Islamic school system, memorizing the Quran in Arabic. Hard to see how that form of knowledge would equip anyone for life in a modern technological society.

Chancellor Merkel's Potsdam speech raised the question: Could more be done to accelerate immigrant adaptation? Unfortunately the speech offered few answers.

Quietly, some Europeans are wondering whether Europe -- by stumbling into an American-style immigration policy -- has willy-nilly forced itself to follow other American policies as well:

-- Tougher law enforcement and longer prison sentences to fight crime.

-- A less generous welfare state that compels migrants to work rather than collect benefits paid for by the native-born.

-- A stronger assertion of national identity -- and a more emphatic demand that newcomers adapt to the existing society.

These days, many American conservatives are warning that the United States is going the way of Europe. But maybe the real story is the reverse: Is it Europe that will soon be imitating the United States?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Frum.


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Pope XVI Apologizes To Sex Abuse Victims, Mistrust Lingers

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Catholic Sex Abuse Victims Still Angry Despite Pope's Apology



Pope Benedict XVI's unprecedented letter to Ireland apologizing for chronic child abuse within the Catholic Church failed Saturday to calm the anger of many victims, who accused the Vatican of ducking its own responsibility in promoting a worldwide culture of cover-up.

Benedict's message — the product of weeks of consultation with Irish bishops, who read it aloud at Masses across this predominantly Catholic nation — rebuked Ireland's church leaders for "grave errors of judgment" in failing to observe the church's secretive canon laws.

The pope, who himself stands accused of approving the transfer of an accused priest for treatment rather than informing German police during his 1977-82 term as Munich archbishop, suggested that child-abusing priests could have been expelled quickly had Irish bishops applied the church's own laws correctly. He pledged a church inspection of unspecified dioceses and orders in Ireland to ensure their child-protection policies were effective.

He also appealed to priests still harboring sins of child molestation to confess.

"Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy," he wrote.

But Benedict offered no endorsement of three official Irish investigations that found the church leadership to blame for the scale and longevity of abuse heaped on Irish children throughout the 20th century.

The Vatican refused to cooperate with those 2001-09 probes into the Dublin Archdiocese, the rural Ferns diocese and Ireland's defunct network of workhouse-style dormitory schools for the Irish poor.

The investigations, directed by senior Irish judges and lawyers, ruled that Catholic leaders protected the church's reputation from scandal at the expense of children — and began passing their first abuse reports to police in 1996 only after victims began to sue the church.

Nor did Benedict's letter mention recent revelations of abuse cover-ups in a growing list of European nations, particularly his German homeland, where more than 300 claimants this year have alleged abuse in Catholic schools and a choir long run by the pope's brother.

German Archbishop Apologizes

In the latest development, the leader of the German Bishops Conference apologized Saturday for failing to protect children adequately from a pedophile priest in the early 1990s in his diocese of Freiburg. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who was in charge of human resources and staffing at the time, said he should have done more to investigate the priest, who was forced into retirement in 1991 and committed suicide four years later when fresh complaints arose.

Rights campaigners in Ireland and abroad forecast that more victims in more nations will keep coming forward and opening new fronts of criticism, because the pope's promotion of secretive canon laws remains at the heart of an unsolved problem.

"We know this policy of secrecy was worldwide. The more that victims speak out, the more the scandals will spread," said Marie Collins, who was repeatedly raped by a Dublin priest while aged 13 and hospitalized in 1960. Her attacker wasn't removed from the priesthood and imprisoned until 1997.

While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger, now the pope, wrote a 2001 letter instructing bishops worldwide to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep church investigations secret under threat of excommunication. The Vatican insists the secrecy rules serve only to protect the integrity of the church's investigations, and should not be taken to mean the church should not tell police of their members' crimes.

But victims' advocates in Ireland and the United States said the pope again failed to make it clear whether the church considers the secular law a higher priority than canon law when seeking to stop a pedophile priest.

"The letter's underlying goal seems to have been to appease the outrage while keeping the church in control of its incriminating information," said Terry McKiernan, president of a Web-based pressure group, BishopAccountability.org, that chronicles Catholic abuse scandals worldwide.

"He should have demanded that the bishops release all pertinent files and other information about all credibly accused priests. He should have demanded that every complicit official be named publicly and forced to resign," McKiernan said.

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Victims call for Resignations

Irish victims' leaders are seeking the resignations of any bishops who transferred pedophile priests to new parishes rather than report them to police — a demand that, if applied, would likely claim the majority of Ireland's 27 bishops, given their failure to tell police of any crimes until 1996. But the pope has yet to accept even the three-month-old resignations offered by three Irish bishops linked to Dublin Archdiocese cover-ups.

The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope's letter contained no punitive provisions because it was pastoral, not administrative or disciplinary in nature. He said any decisions concerning resignations would be taken by the competent Vatican offices.

Benedict faulted the Irish bishops for failing "sometimes grievously" to apply the church's own laws requiring child-abusing priests to be removed from the priesthood. But he didn't rebuke them for failing to report abuse to police, saying instead they must prevent future abuse and "continue to cooperate with civil authorities."

He also repeated an excuse for the bishops' inaction that has been rejected by the Irish investigations — that they didn't understand the scale or criminality of child abuse until recent years.

"I recognize how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice," Benedict wrote in remarks addressed to the Irish bishops.

Paper Trail

However, the Irish investigators forced the church to hand over its copious files on abuse cases dating back to the 1950s. They unearthed a paper trail confirming the Irish bishops' successful acquisition of group liability insurance in the 1980s, a decade before the deluge of lawsuits. And they found cases where Catholic officials in the 1960s reported school employees to police for abusing children, showing they understood even then it was a crime.

Andrew Madden, a former Dublin altar boy who in 1995 became Ireland's first pedophile-priest victim to go public with a lawsuit against the church, said the pope had missed the whole point of a meaningful apology.

"I don't need the pope to apologize for the child abusers. I, and untold thousands of victims like me, needed the pope to apologize for the church hierarchy's role in choosing to protect the abusers at the expense of children. That's the real scandal, and the pope has been involved in that. He's not an innocent bystander," Madden said.

'Only themselves to blame'

Massgoers arriving Saturday at central Dublin churches and in Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, were greeted with piles of the Pope's letter. Some lauded its readability and frank tone.

"I thought it was lovely. I thought it was very moving, and I hope it brings some help to all the victims," said one Armagh worshipper, Annette O'Hara. "They're the ones we should be praying for."

But outside a Dublin church, truck driver Tomas O'Reilly said he doubted the pope's sincerity and was unhappy with putting money in the collection plate. "I don't want to be paying the church's legal bills. They've only themselves to blame," he said.

At the Vatican, Lombardi was peppered with questions about why Benedict didn't directly address the German scandal or take the opportunity in the letter to make a more sweeping commentary on the global dimensions of the scandal.

Lombardi said the Irish scandal was unique in its scope, but said the pope's letter could be read to apply to other countries and cases.

"You can't talk about the entire world every time," he said. "It risks becoming banal."


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President Obama Visits Buchenwald Concentration Camp..."I Will Not Forget"

WEIMAR, Germany - (Videos courtesy of Huffington Post and MSNBC)

President Barack Obama toured a World War II concentration camp Friday after prodding the international community to redouble efforts toward separate Israeli and Palestinian states in hopes of resolving a conflict fueled by the Jewish nation's post-Holocaust creation.

"These sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time," Obama said after seeing crematory ovens, barbed-wire fences and guard towers at the Buchenwald camp. "More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished."

Earlier in Dresden, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the U.S. president pressed for progress toward Mideast peace, saying: "The moment is now for us to act."
He added: "The United States can't force peace upon the parties" but America has "at least created the space, the atmosphere, in which talks can restart."

The president also announced he was dispatching special envoy George J. Mitchell to the region next week to follow up on his speech in Cairo a day earlier, in which he called for both Israelis and Palestinians to make concessions in the standoff.

Fresh from visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Obama said that while regional and worldwide powers must help achieve peace, responsibility ultimately falls to Israelis and Palestinians to reach an accord.

He said Israel must live up to commitments it made under the so-called "Road Map" peace outline to stop constructing settlements, adding: "I recognize the very difficult politics in Israel of getting that done." He also said Palestinians must control violence-inciting acts and statements, saying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "has made progress on this issue, but not enough."

Merkel, for her part, promised to cooperate on the long-sought goal. She said the two leaders discussed a time frame for a peace process but did not elaborate.

"With the new American government and the president, there is a truly unique opportunity to revive this peace process or, let us put this very cautiously, this process of negotiations," Merkel said.

Added Obama: "I think the moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises."

While Obama did not address benchmarks, he told international reporters Thursday in Egypt: "I don't want to impose an artificial timeline." He added: "When things stall, everybody knows it ... I want to have a sense of movement and progress."

Touching Friday on an issue that has strained American-German relations, Obama also said he didn't seek any commitments from Germany to take a dozen terrorism suspects when the United States closes its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. German officials have said most should be resettled in America.

Merkel said her country is prepared to "constructively contribute" to U.S. closure efforts and said she was confident of eventually reaching a "common solution" on the prisoners' fate.

The two leaders spoke to reporters after meeting privately at a castle in this east Germany city with bitter wartime memories. Starting on the night of Feb. 13, 1945, first British, then American bombers pounded the defenseless and largely non-strategic architectural gem, igniting a firestorm in which 25,000 people died -- and in so doing, creating an enduring controversy.

Obama did not address the firebombing, and was in Dresden at the invitation of Merkel, who hails from her country's East.

Later, Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. An estimated 56,000 people, including some 11,000 Jews, perished there at the hands of Nazis. The stop was personal. A great-uncle helped liberate a nearby satellite camp, Ohrdruf, in early April 1945, days before other U.S. Army units overran Buchenwald.

Accompanying Obama was Merkel; Elie Wiesel, a 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner, author and Holocaust survivor whose father died of starvation at Buchenwald three months before liberation; and Bertrand Herz, another Buchenwald survivor. Each one laid a long-stemmed white rose at a steel memorial. They were later joined by Volkhard Knigge, head of the Buchenwald memorial.

"To this day, there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened," Obama said. "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

"This place teaches us that we must be ever vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time," Obama added.

It was a pointed message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has expressed doubts that 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis.

"He should make his own visit" to Buchenwald, Obama told NBC in an interview earlier Friday. He added: "I have no patience for people who would deny history."

Separately, the president told reporters: "The international community has an obligation, even when it's inconvenient, to act when genocide is occurring."

After the tour, Obama was flying to Landstuhl medical hospital, also in Germany, for private visits with U.S. troops recovering from wounds sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His day was ending in Paris, with a reunion with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, who planned a brief holiday in the City of Light after Saturday's commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Allies' D-Day invasion in France.

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