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December 18th,
2008 - German Foreign Minister Denies Helping US Fight Iraq War |
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German Foreign
Minister Denies Helping US Fight Iraq War From Agence France Presse December 18, 2008 Berlin - German Foreign
Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his predecessor Joschka Fischer Thursday
denied that German spies helped the United States military when it invaded
Iraq in 2003. It's "ludicrous,",
Steinmeier told a parliamentary committee investigating press reports
suggesting that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign
intelligence service, assisted the United States in its war effort. "Trying to make out
that this was participation in war is utterly absurd," Steinmeier added. "As far as I know it's
complete rubbish," Fischer, for his part, said earlier before the
committee. Fischer was foreign minister
at the time, while Steinmeier was chief of staff to Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder, who angered Washington by opposing the US-led invasion. Part of Steinmeier's
responsibilities entailed overseeing the activities of the BND which had
infiltrated two men into Iraq shortly before the start of the war. Some of
their reports were passed on the Americans. Parliamentarians now want to
know if the BND overstepped the mark in passing on critical strategic
information, or if Steinmeier and Fischer, a member of the Greens party, were
involved in diplomatic double-dealing. The allegations are all the
more potentially damaging for Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, as he will be
running in September's general elections against current chancellor Angela
Merkel, a conservative. US General Tommy Franks, who
headed the US military invasion of Iraq, was quoted Wednesday by the Spiegel
magazine's online edition as praising the work done by the German spies in
Baghdad. "It would be a huge
mistake to underestimate the value of information provided by the
Germans," Franks said. "These guys were invaluable." Earlier in the week Spiegel
magazine, citing interviews with 20 current or former US military officers,
said the spy reports directly helped the United States plan the war. The BND operatives were sent
in to ensure Berlin got first-hand reports of the situation on the ground and
were given clear instructions that "precluded their active support of
combat operations," according to Steinmeier. Copyright © 2008 AFP. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iZ5DCNdhrTnVpPUr5INyH10rbEDg |