Berlin envoy hints at interest in Rumsfeld's job

The US ambassador to Germany said in a radio interview yesterday that he would "seriously consider" becoming US Defence Secretary if President George W. Bush won re-election and asked him to replace Donald Rumsfeld.

Asked on Bayerischer Rundfunk about speculation he could succeed Mr Rumsfeld if Mr Bush is re-elected next Tuesday, Ambassador Daniel Coats said: "First I will wait for the results of the election and then I will do what my country considers best."

He added: "I have a long-standing interest and experience in defence issues, foreign and security policy. If the opportunity arose to contribute in this area and the President came to me, then I would have to seriously consider it."

Mr Coats was a leading candidate for the Pentagon's top post in 2000 before Mr Rumsfeld was picked.

Back in May, when leading Democrats were demanding Mr Rumsfeld resign over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, Germany's Focus magazine reported that US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had sounded out Mr Coats about taking Mr Rumsfeld's post. The US embassy in Berlin denied the report.

Mr Rumsfeld, a key architect of the US-led war in Iraq, has emerged as one the most polarising figures within the Bush administration and some regard his position as vulnerable if the president wins re-election next week.