Schröder and Bush on First Name Basis

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said in an interview broadcast late Monday that he gets on well with US President George W. Bush, despite a period of hostility over the US-led war on Iraq. "I get along with him personally in discussions," Schröder told the "Beckmann" program on ARD public television. "I have no personal difficulties with him and I hope, also, that he has none with me. When we meet we call each other by our first names," he said. "Naturally we have different opinions from time to time... that's the way everybody is, including politicians." Schröder angered Bush in 2002 by vehemently opposing the war on Iraq during election campaigning in Germany, and their relations only recently began to thaw. (AFP)