Schröder's Literary Aspirations

Schröder proposed the idea during a TV talk show on Germany's n-tv channel Saturday evening, but added that he wasn't in a hurry to switch jobs. He suggested to work "much, much later" on the book about U.S. President George W. Bush, the United States and the Iraq war with Swedish bestselling crime novelist Henning Mankell, who was also a guest on the program.

Mankell (photo), whose books are extremely popular in Germany, seemed to consider the offer seriously. He said he'd be interested in "figuring out what discussions went on that caused this war under which we all are now suffering," he said, adding that the story clearly had all the elements of a thriller. "I don't believe that the entire Bush administration agreed on this immediately."

Schröder's last encounter with a crime novelist was less pleasant: In April, he got a temporary injunction against the publication of a book about the assassination of a German chancellor, arguing that the man depicted on the book's cover resembled him.