in france and germany, the willingness to break openly with washington on this issue was particularly noticeable from the outset. the u.s. administration noted and was angered by the use of populist anti-war rhetoric made by then german chancellor gerhard schroeder in his bid for re-election in september 2002. it was the first sign of a new atmosphere of mutual impatience and exasperation between the united states and certain countries in western europe. united states secretary of defense donald rumsfeld's much-quoted comments made at this time differentiating between "old europe", (france and germany) and "new europe", (countries of central europe), who were more sympathetic to america's stance on iraq, confirmed the attitude of mutual suspicion emerging between the u.s. administration and the french and german governments.