Germany's Doubts About Afghanistan Grow After Revelations About Air Strike

[chill_wind]

Germany's Doubts About Afghanistan Grow After Revelations About Air Strike
TIME/Cnn
By Henning Hoff Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

It was a great scoop. "Did Minister Jung conceal the truth?" Germany's mass-circulation tabloid Bild demanded to know Thursday in a story focused on the country's employment minister Franz Josef Jung and what details he knew and when, in his former job as defense minister, about the controversial air strike, calle

The strikes, by two U.S. fighter jets, killed some 142 Afghans near the northern city of Kunduz and continue to reverberate in Berlin. Called in by Colonel Georg Klein, then ISAF commander of the German-run Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) base in Kunduz, the operation was a rare moment of combat for Germany's armed forces, which mostly concentrate on rebuilding projects rather than chasing down Taliban fighters. Jung, who switched office last month following Germany's elections, initially claimed that only "Taliban terrorists" had been killed. But on Sept. 7 he conceded that there may have been some civilian casualties. (The number of civilians killed is now estimated to be up to 40.) According to Bild, however, the Bundeswehr (as Germany's Federal Defense Force is called) leadership and the ministry had known of civilian victims early on. Those reports were withheld from prosecutors, and also, apparently, from Jung's successor as defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.

(snipping -- see full article)

The revelations come at a critical time. President Obama is due to reveal his new Afghanistan strategy in the next few days. If, as suspected, the U.S. deploys additional troops it's also likely to repeat calls for its allies to do likewise. But in Germany, where the Afghanistan mission is deeply unpopular, this incident and the alleged cover-up have raised fresh doubts about whether Germany should be there at all. Reflecting the mood, zu Guttenberg urged parliament to start "thinking the Afghanistan mission from its end," making the case for better-defined goals and an exit strategy. "There is a need for more clarity on how, and under which circumstances, the mission can end," he told the Bundestag.

The uproar in parliament and in the media overshadowed a visit to Berlin by the General Secretary of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was in town to make the case for increased efforts by European allies in Afghanistan. Chancellor Angela Merkel, at a press conference with Rasmussen, criticized the handling of the affair, saying: "If we want trust, we also have to have full transparency." Rasmussen pleaded that it was of the "utmost importance that an American announcement of an increased troop number in Afghanistan is followed by additional troop contributions from other allies." But that's likely to fall on deaf ears for now. The draft bill to extend Germany's deployment includes a provision to keep troops at their present level of no more than 4500 — the third largest contingent after the United States and Britain — but does not allow for increased numbers. (Read: "Much Work Ahead for German Chancellor Merkel.")

With headlines crying "lies" and the defense ministry badly damaged, many expect the affair to reinforce German opposition to the Afghanistan deployment, which is the most substantial deployment since the end of World War II, and is taking on the character of a fighting mission. Some see the affair as a chance for Germany's government, and the Western alliance more broadly, to have a real debate about strategic goals in the Hindu Kush. "Zu Guttenberg is likely to emerge strengthened from this", Volker Perthes, the head of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told TIME. "He is talking straight, which is appreciated by the German public."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943206,00.html?xid=rss-world-yahoo

(bold emphasis mine)

[Better Today]

1. I guess I just don't get the outrage over some of this stuff. It seems obvious

to me that in a gathering of 142 people some there might be civilians. Just thinking about gatherings here of 142 people. If at a homestead there would be other family members that might not actually be involved in the gathering. If a more club-ish or public venue there would be servers of some sort at the very minimum.

I gather that no one should have lied about it, but unfortunately when a place is targeted, as opposed to a person or persons, there is going to be collateral damage.

If people really want only those intentionally and determinedly involved to be harmed, then we need to create a war colliseum and find a way to force all conflict to happen within it. Pipe dream. OR Stop making wars. Oh, Another pipe dream.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Hopefully, the Germans will withdraw their cannon-fodder from a war that's not theirs. K&R

[chill_wind]

4. It sounds like they are not happy.

There have been 3 high-profile resignations over the cover-ups, lies and politics.


Canadian Officials have been in the news quite recently too, wresting with issues around Afghan prison treatment ethics and abuses. During the Bush Regime, we would have been following events like these with great interest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8829156

[chill_wind]

3. Unrec'd. Must.Keep.Stories.Doubts.Other World Events. Quiet.

BAD Duer.

German Minister Resigns Over Afghan Airstrike


Published: November 27, 2009

BERLIN — A German cabinet official resigned Friday, saying he accepted “political responsibility” for accusations that the military withheld information about an airstrike in Afghanistan in September that killed civilians as well as insurgents.

Franz Josef Jung, former German Defense Minister and current Labor Minister announced his resignation at a new conference on Friday.

The announcement by the official, Franz Josef Jung, 60, who was defense minister at the time of the airstrike, added to the disquiet in political and military circles here after the resignations of two other high-profile figures in the Berlin defense establishment on Thursday are trying to increase support for the mission in Afghanistan even as the security situation deteriorates.

(see story)

Mr. Jung’s resignation came a day after Germany’s top military officer, Gen. Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and one of Mr. Jung’s top deputies while he was defense minister, State Secretary Peter Wichert, were forced to step down. The men submitted their resignations after a German newspaper reported that information about civilian casualties had been withheld from Parliament and from prosecutors in connection with the airstrike, which took place near Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on Sept. 4.

(...)

This is a difficult moment for Chancellor Angela Merkel and for the NATO allies, who are trying to increase support for the mission in Afghanistan even as the security situation deteriorates.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/world/europe/28germany.html

[Overseas]

5. K&R. Glad to see the opposition.

Unfortunately, collateral damage (aka killing of civilians) includes a lot more than the "just 40 or so" civilians killed. The collateral includes lots of new enemies of the USA among the friends and families of the forcibly deceased (aka murdered).

[chill_wind]

6. kick for visibility.