By Li Hongmei
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly compared the NSA's spying tactics to those of the 'Stasi,' a ruthless secret police force, during an angry conversation with President Barack Obama.
She also told the US president that America's National Security Agency cannot be trusted because of the volume of material it had allowed to leak to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to the New York Times.
Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi."
The newspaper also reported that Merkel was particularly angry that, based on the disclosures, "the NSA clearly couldn't be trusted with private information, because they let Snowden clean them out."
American officials have refused to extend the "no spying" guarantee beyond Ms. Merkel, telling German officials in private sessions that if the White House agreed to forgo surveillance on German territory, other partners would insist on the same treatment.
In Brussels, the chairman of the US House select committee on intelligence, Mike Rogers, a Republican, said his views on the invitation to Snowden were "not fit to print" and that it was "not a great idea".
Inviting someone "who is wanted in the US and has jeopardised the lives of US soldiers" was beneath the dignity of the European parliament, he said.
The Germans have received assurances that the chancellor's phone was not being monitored and that the US spy agency is not conducting industrial espionage.
However the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said German and US officials were still in the process of negotiating how any final agreement - the details of which could remain secret between both governments - would be formalized.
Germany has for years participated in American counterterrorism operations, especially those tracking suspected Al Qaeda or other terrorist cells inside Germany, but it has refused to provide the United States with information that it believes could help provide targets for drone strikes. Now, officials are reluctant to join in some types of bulk collection of telephone data or preparations for offensive digital strikes against other countries.
