Reports Expose America's 'Secret War' in Germany (Tagesschau, Germany)
"According to a joint TV NDR-SüddeutscheZeitung investigation, the United States,
in the fight against terrorism, organized kidnapping and torture in Germany.
U.S. security forces, in the process, arrested suspects at German airports. According
to the investigation, U.S. agents interrogated asylum-seekers and gathered
information that may have played a role in determining drone targets. A secret
torture prison was constructed at a CIA base in Frankfurt am Main."
According
to a joint TV NDR-SüddeutscheZeitung investigation
[The Secret War: Germany and the Role of
America], the United States, in the fight against terrorism, organized kidnapping
and torture in Germany. U.S. security forces, and in the process, arrested suspects
at German airports. According to the investigation, U.S. agents interrogated
asylum-seekers and gathered information that may have played a role in determining
drone targets. A secret torture prison was constructed at a CIA base in
Frankfurt am Main.
After
the two-year joint NDR-SZ investigation, the authors
conclude that Germany has long been a part of the U.S. security architecture. A
U.S. intelligence firm that has worked closely with the National Security
Agency (NSA) and planned the kidnapping and air transportation of suspects for
the CIA, to this day, receives millions of dollars in contracts from the German
government.
Based
on research conducted in Stuttgart and the U.S. base at Ramstein,
drones were sent to kill suspected terrorists and civilians in Africa and the
Middle East. "The decision about when, how and where such operations are arranged,
is made in Stuttgart," journalist John Goetz is convinced.
At
the end of May, the NDR
and the SZ
reported that the U.S. manages its drone attacks, which are questionable under
international law, from its military bases in Germany. In June, President
Barack Obama promised that Germany would not be used as a launching pad for U.S.
drone attacks in Africa.
Since
the attacks of September 11, 2001, with the help of combat drones, the U.S. has
pressed its fight against terrorism in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Yemen, and Somalia.
Denial from the
U.S. Embassy
The
U.S. embassy denied the key assertions of these reports. The SZ article was "full of half-truths,
speculation and innuendo," said the Embassy. The United States categorically
"does not engage in kidnapping and torture, and does not condone or
support the resort to such illegal activities by any nation." The message didn’t
include a more detailed explanation.
The
Embassy went on: "outrageous claims" like these in the SZ "are not
helpful to the German-American relationship and to our shared global agenda."
[Editor's
Note: This is the entire rebuttal from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin:
Press Office, U.S.
Embassy Berlin
November 15,
2013
U.S. Embassy
Statement on “Secret War” Allegations
The article in
today's SueddeutscherZeitung,
‘The Secret War: Germany and the Role of America,’ is full of half-truths,
speculation, and innuendo.For many
decades there have indeed been military facilities in Germany for our mutual
security under Status of Forces Agreements, but the fact that they are closed
to the public in no way implies that illegal activities are being organized
there.Although we do not comment on
specifics, as a matter of policy the United States does not engage in
kidnapping and torture, and does not condone or support the resort to such
illegal activities by any nation.Germany is one of the closest allies and partners of the United States,
cooperating in areas ranging from counter-terrorism to international economic
sustainability.Outrageous claims like
those raised in this article are not helpful to the German-American
relationship and to our shared global agenda.]
Awaiting the Federal
Government
The
Federal Government reacted cautiously to the publications. Government spokesman
Steffen Seibert said some of the issues had already been "the subject of parliamentary
publications and referrals." Should "new approaches, new facts, new
aspects" appear as a result of the investigation, the Federal Government would
take them seriously, Seibert stressed.
Starting
on November 15, John Goetz and a team of reporters from Panorama, data
journalists and SZ
reporters will publish the findings of their multi-year investigation.
Highlights of their reporting on the "Secret War" will be broadcast
on the Das Erste channel on November 28.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
"We
want to disseminate the revelations in quick succession," said the head of
the Investigation and ResearchDepartment
at SZ, Hans
Leyendecker. The programs Panorama and Beckmann
deal with the investigation into the U.S. military and intelligence community. Then
author Jeremy Scahill's documentary Dirty Wars will be broadcast. Also on
Friday, the book Secret War by Goetz
and Christian Fuchs, who have visited these secret command centers, will go on
sale.
The
findings are based on interviews with informants from the United States and U.S.
research databases. "Retired U.S. security people are very
talkative," said Goetz. He recently accompanied Greens Bundestag Member Hans-Christian
Stroebele to a meeting with intelligence whistleblower
Edward Snowden.
