[Peace-discuss] Fw: A Scandal About Afghanistan Shakes Berlin

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Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 4:25 PM
Subject: A Scandal About Afghanistan Shakes Berlin


>A Scandal About Afghanistan Shakes Berlin
> 
> By Victor Grossman
> 
> Berlin
> 
> Like the peaks of the Hindu Kusch dominating much of
> Afghanistan, the war in that unhappy country
> increasingly overshadows the political scenery in
> Germany. Parallels with the situation in the USA are
> unmistakable.
> 
> On December 3rd the Bundestag voted on prolonging the
> use of German troops in Afghanistan for another year.
> But before the delegates crowded to the front of the
> house to put their ballots in the container, they were
> surprised to hear an unusual statement. It came close
> to a confession.
> 
> For three months one event has repeatedly grabbed the
> headlines: the bombing on September 4th of two hijacked
> German fuel trucks in Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan.
> The air attack, ordered by a German colonel, resulted
> in the deaths of 142 people, including women, children
> and many other civilians despite the fact that the
> trucks, stuck in the mud while crossing a river, were
> of no immediate danger to German troops.  American
> pilots suggested flying low over them to frighten
> civilians and the Taliban hijackers away. But no, the
> colonel insisted on bombs - and got them. The fuel
> caused a terrible explosion.
> 
> Army spokespersons, including Franz Josef Jung,
> Minister of Defense, tried to belittle the matter and
> denied any certainty about even a few civilian
> casualties. This was a crucial matter; it was the first
> such case involving German troops in Afghanistan and
> the worst bloodshed caused by Germans in uniform since
> World War Two.
> 
> As more and more facts and videos leaked out about the
> horror in Kunduz and the cover-up, both the army
> inspector-general and a deputy minister were forced to
> resign. The Minister of Defense kept denying any
> knowledge of the full facts but began to look paler and
> paler in public, even though Angela Merkel had demoted
> him to a lesser and less vulnerable job as Minister of
> Labor. But this switch could not save him; he had
> obviously lied in covering up the atrocity and, still
> pouting defiantly, he too was thrown to the wolves.
> 
> One aspect became embarrassingly obvious:  the bombing
> and the early attempts to downplay it were in
> September, only weeks before the national Bundestag
> elections on September 27th. All parties represented in
> the Bundestag had supported military action in
> Afghanistan with a single exception, The Left, the
> common foe of all the others. It had opposed sending
> troops and AWAC planes from the start, insisting that
> the action was not really helping the Afghans or
> gaining increasing security in the world, but was
> rather a way to strengthen German military involvement
> abroad and expand influence generally.
> 
> Since 60 to 70 percent of the German public was also
> opposed to military involvement the four older parties
> agreed tacitly to avoid the whole subject during the
> election campaign. Of course The Left took every chance
> to raise what it saw as a key issue. However, as usual
> it was largely excluded from a fair hearing in the mass
> media. But then along came this brutal affair which
> threatened to upset the whole apple-cart and the
> relative silence was greatly disturbed.
> 
> It is hard to say what direct influence this had on the
> outcome, but both of the two main war advocates, the
> Christian Democrats and, to a far greater extent the
> Social Democrats, lost millions of voters, while The
> Left jumped to 12 percent (more exactly, 11.9 %),
> higher than ever before.
> 
> Now, three months later, this issue still haunts the
> political scene. During a discussion of the bombing in
> November the new Defense Minister, the elegant Bavarian
> noble Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, told the Bundestag
> that the Kunduz bombing had after all been ?an
> appropriate action?, thus justifying the killing. But
> on December 3rd, after more of the truth had emerged
> and pressures from many sides increased, and just
> before the vote on extending the mission, Herr zu
> Guttenberg suddenly decided to change his policy and
> make a confession: in truth, he announced, the bombing
> had been "militarily inappropriate" after all.  He had
> simply not known all the facts when he made the first
> statement, he explained.
> 
> But then, thanks to the International Red Cross, it was
> found that a full report on the tragic results had been
> placed on his desk prior to his earlier statement; he
> must have known the facts and he must have been lying.
> The position of this elegant politician, who some
> viewed as a candidate to follow Merkel, began to
> teeter. Worse yet, some heretic voices raised another
> awful question: how early did Angela Merkel know the
> facts about Kunduz and keep her silence? An all-party
> committee will now investigate the case. Will the
> result be a whitewash? Perhaps luckily for her, Frau
> Merkel is now off in Copenhagen trying to defend her
> reputation as a heroine in the fight against global
> warming. She will probably weather both storms, but may
> get a bit battered in the process.
> 
> Soon after the Defense Minister made his confession,
> the vote was taken on extending the stay of the 4500
> German soldiers in Afghanistan for another year. During
> the debate the Greens and the Social Democrats, now in
> the opposition, lustily joined in attacking Herr zu
> Guttenberg, Frau Merkel and the army brass, pounding
> the lectern in righteous indignation about their
> violation of the truth. They had to choose their angry
> words carefully, however, since both parties had
> supported the war from the start. It had been a Social
> Democratic Defense Minister, Struck, who declared in
> late 2001 that ?Germany?s security is being defended in
> the Hindu Kusch mountains?.  But words are cheap, and
> the time came to make a decision.
> 
> Of course, the two government parties voted en masse
> to prolong the mission; only 3 of the ?Christians? and
> 2 of the Free Democrats had the guts to vote No.
> Eleven Social Democrats were opposed but the majority,
> 121, voted to keep sending troops. The Greens were
> again split, reflecting pressures from their grass
> roots membership: 8 voted to continue the mission, 19
> voted against it, 40 sat firmly on the fence by
> abstaining. Of course all of the 70 delegates from The
> Left, reflecting the wishes of most people in Germany,
> voted No.
> 
> Thus, the government got its majority vote and German
> soldiers will continue to fight, kill and also die in
> dusty north Afghanistan. In January it and other NATO
> members will decide whether to comply with the wishes
> of Nobel-prize President Obama and increase their
> contingents. More details in the Kunduz scandal may
> also be expected; it seems that the elite, super-secret
> German commando force was involved ? or perhaps
> responsible for the Kunduz disaster. And more heads
> could roll before this scandal is replaced by some new
> one.
> 
> I recall the giant meeting with Obama in Berlin during
> his election campaign. His eloquent speech received
> plenty of applause - though some things he said were
> received more thoughtfully, if not coolly. Near where I
> stood, high up on a lantern, unnoticed by the police
> and certainly by the great orator far to the front, and
> in defiance of a ban on posters or banners, there was a
> sign saying ?No Troops for Afghanistan?. It looked a
> bit lonely at the time. The movement to find better
> solutions for that war-torn land has grown since then,
> but needs to grow a lot faster.
> 
> December 12, 2009
> 
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