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10, 20 Years After Unification, Germany Back At War
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rwro-@yahoo.com
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Nov 07, 2009 07:44 PST
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http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4868657,00.html
Deutsche Welle
November 7, 2009
Debate on Germany's status in Afghanistan opens up
-"We can't have our soldiers hampered by legal doubts, especially when they are forced to make decisions under extreme time pressure."
-A court in the eastern state of Saxony has passed the Klein case on to Germany's top federal prosecution office, which will examine whether it is a matter for international law or German law.
For this to be determined the federal prosecutor must establish whether Germany's participation in the NATO ISAF mission constitutes an "armed conflict."
The head of the German military alliance, Colonel Ulrich Kirsch, told the mass-circulated Bild Zeitung that the German operation in Afghanistan constituted war.
-Under the German constitution, it is illegal for the country to enter a war, except for purposes of defense....It was only a decade ago that German troops participated in their first foreign combat mission since the end of WWII. [The war against Yugoslavia.]
Germany's defense minister has called for clarification of Germany's status in Afghanistan, after a contoversial airstrike ordered by a German commander raised the question of whether the country is at war.
German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that legal security must be established for all German Bundeswehr soldiers - in particular those taking part in complicated missions like Germany's participation in the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
"We can't have our soldiers hampered by legal doubts, especially when they are forced to make decisions under extreme time pressure," Guttenberg said.
Guttenberg's comments came after he voiced his support of a controversial airstrike ordered by a German commander in Afghanistan in September.
Guttenberg backed the decision of Colonel Georg Klein to launch an air attack on two fuel tankers that had been hijacked by Taliban militants near a German military base in northern Afghanistan.
According to a NATO report, up to 142 people, including several civilians that had gathered around the tankers to siphon fuel after they had stalled, were killed in the strike.
Guttenberg acknowledged that civilians were killed in the attack and also that "some procedural errors" were committed. Nonetheless, he put his full support behind Colonel Klein's decision, calling it "militarily appropriate."
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Bigger issue at hand
The debates caused by the September airstrike have brought up the more large-scale question of whether Germany is technically at war in Afghanistan.
A court in the eastern state of Saxony has passed the Klein case on to Germany's top federal prosecution office, which will examine whether it is a matter for international law or German law.
For this to be determined the federal prosecutor must establish whether Germany's participation in the NATO ISAF mission constitutes an "armed conflict."
The head of the German military alliance, Colonel Ulrich Kirsch, told the mass-circulated Bild Zeitung that the German operation in Afghanistan constituted war.
"The justice ministry has stated explicitly what we are dealing with in Afghanistan: a non-international armed conflict. This is a war."
Former Bundeswehr General Harald Kujat went further, warning of "catastrophic consequences" should Germany pursue its investigations of the airstrike and impose penalties on Colonel Klein.
"Every soldier and officer would think twice about assuming any responsibility under such conditions," he told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau.
Under the German constitution, it is illegal for the country to enter a war, except for purposes of defense. Over sixty years following the Nazi era, Germans remain highly skeptical of military operations. It was only a decade ago that German troops participated in their first foreign combat mission since the end of WWII.
Opinion polls show a majority of Germans oppose the engagement in Afghanistan and want the over 4,000 troops there to come home.
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