Afghan Mission In Doubt After Lies About Civilian Deaths Force German Minister To Resign
November 27, 2009 BBC World
The future of Germany's mission in Afghanistan was thrown into doubt today after a government minister resigned under growing pressure to admit his involvement in a campaign of misinformation over an air raid in which civilians were killed.
Franz Josef Jung, defence minister at the time, quit as labour minister a day after the army's chief of staff, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, resigned over the incident with the deputy defence minister, Peter Wichert.
Jung said his decision followed "detailed consideration" and that he accepted "political responsibility for the internal information policy" in his ministry.
With an estimated two-thirds of the German public already against involvement, the defence ministry's admission that it effectively lied by initially denying there were civilian casualties when two petrol tankers were bombed in September has left Angela Merkel's recently re-elected centre-right government in a state of uncertainty over how to proceed in the region.
Video footage emerged yesterdayof the botched air raid ordered by the German commander, Colonel Georg Klein, on the basis of a single piece of intelligence from an Afghan informant who was unable to see the vehicles. The video, leaked to the tabloid Bild, possibly in an attempt to influence a parliamentary decision on extending the German troop presence, prompted Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the new defence minister, to admit his ministry had at best withheld information and at worst lied about the deaths. Read more at Guardian
What will it take for the US/WH/Barack to come to the same conclusion?
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Why the hell are we over there anyway? Can ANYONE answer this? Is all of this about apprehending OBL?! OBL can and will be replaced as soon as he is out of the picture. What are we REALLY over there for? To inflate the military justification for another FAT BUDGET? Me thinks the military has WAY TOO MUCH PULL in our government.
"thinks the military has WAY TOO MUCH PULL in our government."
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Er, yeah -- it has been that way since WWII. There is a very strong war party in this country and it crosses the other party lines. Who else has the money to buy that much influence?
I really do despair at how to stop it. About the best that we can do is slow it down slightly.
as well as all the guys who make profit selling sh*t to the War Machine.
That's the bottom line.
I'm pretty sure they probably asked the military some loaded question like: "what do you need to win?" The answer is of course "lots more of everything!"
Wonder what would happen if Obama asked all his military leaders (privately) a more neutral question like "What should we do in Afghanistan?" Maybe a bunch would be like "Get the fuck out, this is stupid and pointless!"
Oil . . The Trans Afghanistan Pipeline
that I like: http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Geopoli...
wanted their oil.
anytime soon that's obvious.
Whatever it is we started =- we'll finish it?
Except we need to understand what we started was an occupation. As soon as we toppled the Taliban we became an occupying power.
So to "finish what we started" we have to leave. That is how all occupations end.
The only question is when.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
though. Taliban is the bad guys. Can't let the bad guys get in the way of spreading "democracy" (McDonalds-Tract Housing-Malls) around the world.
Just keep me up to date folks. We are killing Afghans because some Saudis destroyed an office building in New York right? Okay, that makes sense. Aren't we done liberating Afghanistan yet?
More precisely we are killing Afghans because the Afghan government circa 2001 harbored and actively aided the Saudis responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Attacking Afghanistan was a no-brainer, to the extent that even though Bush really wanted to invade Iraq he took a couple of years off to pretend he was conquering Afghanistan to deal with a security threat before he got to what he was actually planning to do with his term.
The real issue is that we've already neutralized Afghanistan as an HQ for Al Qaeda--in practical terms we've basically neutralized Al Qaeda as a threat to the USA generally. Now we're theoretically preventing the Taliban from retaking control over a bunch of mountains and the people who live on them, in the fear that if they control the mountains they'll take over Pakistan and the nuclear bombs that are stored there. As if they ever even tried to do so, during the solid decade they controlled the entirety of Afghanistan. It's probably a case of the USA making a bunch of waves in some region and then claiming we have to stay so we can keep control over those waves.
In another sense Afghanistan is the opportunity to prove that the imperial mission is possible. It failed in Iraq but maybe it can succeed in this other area, if we try hard enough. Doubtful, but in any case the fantasy is appealing enough to ensnare a triangulating centrist president.
The only problem is in war civilian deaths are unavoidable.
That's why anyone with any sense
Including the military
Don't want to go to war
But if they must
They want to win.
That's why I wish they would retire the term collateral damage.
Whether or not it's right, it's considered a valid form of warfare to attack an enemy's transportation, munition factories, warehouses and rail lines that are usually worked by civilians.
I just wish some of our brass would own up to their mistakes.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I have been following this story in the German news. The people were basicly forced to help the Taliban and some of them were children. This kind of incident is one of the causes of anger and calls for retaliation. At least the German government reacted to the news. Here in the US we just kind of get shrugged shoulders.
This happening in the US? A high ranking Government official actually being called to account for his actions; it's just amazing. I'll bet this hasn't happened in the US since before WWI
We give our liars Medals of Freedom... or put them in charge of our military efforts in Afghanistan...
To use Yoo's own description, this is so "quaint." To resign in an attempt to preserve one's honor. That's so...everyone but us.
Oh Yoo Hoo....
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
If only Americans were as concerned about civilian deaths and government lying.
Yeah especially since this received so much coverage in the US and the public is demanding accountability here just like in Germany.
(that was sarcasm. I don't think I've heard a single mention of this on any American pundit talk show.)
have expected the Germans to be so sensitive to the idea of bombing civilians?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
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