In Germany,
Defense Minister Feels Heat Over WikiLeaks
"It was disturbing to find how
little the federal government has informed the Bundestag about the activities
of American Special Forces on German-patrolled territory."
-- Omid Nouripour, spokesman
on security policy for the Green Party
Berlin: [Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor] Guido Westerwelle
was the first to react yesterday on the sidelines of the E.U. Foreign Ministers
meeting in Brussels: "Of course all of this must now be evaluated to see
what if any new findings its presents. The federal government plans to thoroughly
explore the U.S. military documents on Afghanistan, made public by the
investigative Internet service, Wikileaks.
Are German
security interests affected by the explosive documents? Are military secrets
being exposed?And what kind of light
does this secret material shine on the Bundeswehr [German military] deployment?
These are questions that the government has to sort out, and likewise should keep
the Bundestag [parliament] busy as well.
"To do so in a matter of
hours is of course impossible." Westerwelle said, asking for
understanding. After all, no less than 91,000 U.S. documents relating to the
situation in Afghanistan were published Sunday evening. The liberal vice chancellor
[Westerwelle] believes that this has certainly strengthened his position, which
is, "that I never glossed over the circumstances in Afghanistan and always
said it is an extraordinarily serious situation over there." Further
setbacks in the security situation should be expected, the FDP politician warns.
A worsening security
situation, increasing numbers of civilian casualties, secret U.S. death squads -
the first picture that emerges after evaluating the files is dramatic. There is
no apparent evidence of German soldiers being involved in illegal military actions,
but according to the files, about 300 elite soldiers of the U.S. unit "Task
Force 373" have allegedly been stationed in Germany's camp in Masar-i-Sharif
since the summer of 2009, on missions to target and hunt down Taliban fighters.
In Northern Afghanistan where German forces are deployed, the number of battles
and attacks has increased significantly. The documents reveal that German forces
have been caught off guard and were inadequately prepared. Even when these
documents were prepared, the security situation in the Kundus area was "increasingly
fragile and unstable" the analysis revealed.
A spokesperson for the defense
minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) called the publication of these
files "remarkable."
"Nothing
new in terms of news value" is the initial assessment. After all, the Bundestag had been kept continuously informed about "Task
Force 373" missions in our area of deployment. Guttenberg promises a more
open approach by the military.
Posted by
WORLDMEETS.US
The opposition disagrees.
After reading the U.S. documents, "it was disturbing to find how little the
federal government has informed the Bundestag about the activities of American Special
Forces on German-patrolled territory" complained Omid Nouripour, spokesman
on security policy for the Green Party. He demanded "immediate enlightenment"
from the federal government.
Although defense minister
doesn't yet want to evaluate the published documents, he advocates a more open approach
with the public regarding the Bundeswehr's Afghan deployment. In the past, he criticized,
"realities have been blurred."
