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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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December 17th,
2008 - German Spy Revelations Put Steinmeier on the Defensive |
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German Spy Revelations Put
Steinmeier on the Defensive By John Goetz, Marcel Rosenbach & Holger Stark Der Spiegel December 17, 2008 With revelations continuing to
pour in about the importance of German intelligence during the US invasion of
Iraq, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is on the defensive. On
Wednesday, General Tommy Franks added his praise for the German spies in
Baghdad. German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is not having a good week. And on Thursday, it
promises to get even worse. Steinmeier is scheduled to appear before a
parliamentary committee currently investigating the extent to which German
intelligence agents assisted the US military during the 2003 invasion of
Iraq. Steinmeier has consistently suggested that German agents in Baghdad
prior to "Operation Iraqi Freedom" were given instructions that
"precluded active support of combat operations." But a weekend report in
SPIEGEL, citing interviews with 20 current or former US military officers,
indicates that those instructions may not have been followed. Many of the
military men say that information from the German agents was important and
highly valued - and that it also played a role in the planning of some parts
of the invasion. As a result of the weekend report, Steinmeier's questioners
on Thursday have said they intend to question the foreign minister much more
aggressively. In the meantime, yet more
details have emerged that could create additional pressure for Steinmeier,
including comments by General Tommy Franks, who led "Operation Iraqi
Freedom." "It would be a huge
mistake to underestimate the value of information provided by the
Germans," Franks told SPIEGEL. "These guys were invaluable." The "guys" Franks
refers to are two agents from Germany's Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the
country's foreign intelligence agency, who were stationed in Baghdad in the
run up to the US-led invasion in March 2003. Details of the German spy
mission began to leak out in 2006. It didn't take long for a low-level
political scandal to begin simmering in Berlin. The German government in
power when the Iraq War began was officially opposed to the invasion. Indeed,
then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder won re-election in 2002 partially as a
result of his strident, anti-war position. The existence of a German spy
mission in Baghdad casts doubt on the sincerity of the Schröder position. Which puts Steinmeier in an
especially tough spot. Back in 2002, he was Chancellor Schröder's chief of
staff and was also the chancellery's go-between with the BND. If anyone in
the cabinet knew exactly what German agents in Iraq were up to, it was
Steinmeier. Next year, he will be running against incumbent Angela Merkel as
chancellor candidate with the Social Democrats. Should it be proven that
Steinmeier has been less than forthright about the BND contribution to the
Iraq invasion, it could seriously harm his credibility going into the 2009
campaign. Accounts given to SPIEGEL by
current and former US military personnel seem to indicate that the German
role prior to the Iraq invasion was much greater than has so far been
admitted by those then in power in Berlin. "It is rewriting history to
deny that the BND helped us in US military and combat operations during the
war," Marc Garlasco, head of the High Value Targeting section at the
Pentagon during the Iraq War, told SPIEGEL. "German (human intelligence)
was far more robust and ever present than any of the garbage we got from CIA
sources. The Germans were reliable, professional military people." Tough Questions As a result of the US
military comments, conservatives in Germany have adopted a much more
aggressive tone this week. Norbert Röttgen, a senior member of Merkel's
Christian Democrats (CDU), said that Steinmeier's credibility was at stake.
He said that CDU members of the investigative committee will pose tough
questions to the foreign minister on Thursday. The Christian Social Union, the
Bavarian sister party to the CDU, was more aggressive. Party General
Secretary Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg said "the incriminating evidence is
so great that Steinmeier must … provide a forthright clarification. The BND
affair hangs like a millstone around Steinmeier's neck." Other parties are also
critical of Steinmeier. Max Stadler, who is a member of the investigative
committee for the business friendly Free Democrats, says that the evidence
already presented shows that Germany "played an active role in the Iraq
War." Green Party member Hans-Christian Ströbele has called Steinmeier's
claim that the spy mission was a humanitarian one "absolute
nonsense." (The Green Party was the junior partner in Schröder's
governing coalition; then Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is from the Greens
and will also provide testimony to the investigative committee.) Steinmeier's Social
Democrats are on the defensive. Michael Hartmann, the lead SPD member on the
investigative committee, has called the US military quotes cited in SPIEGEL
"crass military blather." Another leading SPD member, Thomas
Oppermann, said that comments by General James Marks, who told SPIEGEL that
the German agents were "heroes" and that they had helped save
American lives, came from a "manipulated interview." Important Information for Tactical Planning It will likely end up being
a difficult position to maintain. Marks was in charge of pre-invasion
reconnaissance in Iraq and told SPIEGEL that the information provided by the
German agents was "invaluable" and that it was "detailed and
reliable." The CIA also had agents in Iraq. But, said Marks, "we
trusted the Germans more than we trusted the CIA." The information from the two
German agents in Baghdad was delivered directly to BND headquarters in Pullach,
located just outside of Munich. From there some of it was sent on to the US
military. The German reports were often toned down or reworded. But a number
of military personnel working on pre-war planning and logistics recalled
knowing of the reports and being familiar with their content. Marks told SPIEGEL that the
information from the reports also played a role in tactical decisions made by
the US military. He says that German reports about the possibility that
Iraqis were planning to destroy oil wells were critical in the US decision to
move up the date of the invasion. He also said that information from the
German agents regarding the strategies being employed by Iraqi forces to
defend airports in the country led to the US cancelling a planned paratrooper
attack on Baghdad's main airport. "Anyone who claims that
(the German) reports did not play a role for combat operations is living on
another planet," says Colonel Carol Stewart, who was a member of the
intelligence team under General Franks. So far, the parliamentary
investigative committee, which began in 2006 following initial - and
inaccurate - indications that German agents had provided the US with bomb
coordinates, has only questioned German politicians and officials in
connection with the BND mission. Now, it seems likely that invitations will
be extended overseas. Should those invitations be
accepted, 2009 might prove to be a difficult year for Steinmeier. External link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,597119,00.html |