BUNDESWEHR ABROAD; Don’t Shoot, We’re German!

August 10, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

The German flags on every Bundeswehr vehicle in Afghanistan have a clear message for locals: We're not the ones dropping the bombs.

By Eric Chauvistré
www.spiegel.de

Germany’s Bundeswehr army is being transformed into an international intervention force. Advocates are more convinced than ever that objectives can be achieved by force. It is high time for a forthright debate, but is it welcome?

It is October 16, 2008 — a perfectly normal day in Afghanistan. Once the day’s missions are completed, a US Air Force officer summarizes the successes in a brief report entitled “Oct. 16 airpower summary.” Nothing is secret: A-10 Thunderbolts fired at “enemy fighters … attacking coalition forces with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades near Kabul.” In the vicinity of Lashkar Gah in Helmand, “coalition aircraft” dropped a guided bomb onto “enemy fighters firing upon friendly forces with small arms.” US Navy Super Hornets dropped “a GBU-12 and GBU-38s onto a compound containing enemies of Afghanistan.” Additional A-10 and F-15F fighter jets conducted a “show of force to deter enemy activities near Kabul.” US Navy F/A-18Es and “coalition aircraft” are deployed for the same purpose in the vicinity of Lashkar Gah.

The very next day, the report is made available to all interested parties, not only German federal ministers and members of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, but journalists and the general public as well. Everyone can have a precise idea of the scale of the attacks. The air raids documented in these US airpower summaries are part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) activities in Afghanistan, and they are routine.

October 16, 2008, is also a perfectly normal day in Germany. The Bundestag is due to meet in Berlin with the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan once again on the agenda. Members of parliament will vote on a motion submitted by the government to extend Germany’s participation in NATO-led ISAF, an operation that has been going on since late 2001. The mandate is up for renewal for the ninth time, and there are plans to beef up the force. At the end of the session, the representatives will give the government permission to send 1,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan as part of ISAF, bringing the total number of German troops to 4,500. Read full article…