The White House last night lambasted Herta Däubler-Gmelin, the German justice minister, for describing President Bush's Iraq policy as comparable to the methods of Adolf Hitler.
"Bush wants to divert attention from domestic difficulties," she said. "That is a popular method. Hitler has done that before.'
Ms Däubler-Gmelin's comments are the latest attempt by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats to pick up votes three days before the most closely fought German election in decades.
She played to the anti-war sentiment of many voters but threatened the worst breakdown in relations between Berlin and Washington since the Second World War.
Using unusually blunt language Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush's spokesman, said: "The relations between the people of the United States and the people of Germany are very important to the American people.
"But this statement by the justice minister is outrageous and it is inexplicable." The SPD was accused by the centre-Right of rampant "anti-Americanism" and risking Berlin's relationship with Washington to pick up votes.
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