US denies offering Rumsfeld's job to Berlin envoy

BERLIN -- The US Embassy in Berlin denied a German magazine report yesterday that Ambassador Dan Coats was offered the job of secretary of defense if Donald H. Rumsfeld resigns over his handling of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

Focus magazine reported that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice had made the offer to Coats during a recent trip to Berlin. Coats had been a leading candidate for the job in 2000 before Rumsfeld was picked. Coats is a former Republican senator from Indiana.

A US Embassy spokesman in Berlin denied the report. "As far as we know, he's planning to be here in Berlin until after the [November] election," the spokesman said.

According to Focus, Rice asked Coats, 61, if he were prepared in principle to take the job leading the Pentagon and Coats replied that he was available.