German army officers rebel against Afghanistan policy

[Skybird]

Open letter to the German Bundestag:
http://www.darmstaedter-signal.de/ak...fghanistan.php

Reports on a German Ltn-Colonel (and other officers) rebelling against the German Tornado mission in Afghanistan:
http://www.welt.de/politik/article76...egen_Jung.html
http://www.welt.de/politik/article76..._Offizier.html

First officers of the armed forces of Germany are rebelling against the decision of the government to send recce tornados to Afghanistan. they have quite more support from both active and retired officers than is obvious at first glance. Some of them are organized in an organisation named Darmstädter Signal, which has it's roots in the debate about the stationing of Pershing-IIs in the 80s. No matter what one may think about past protests, this time they make some very valid remarks that raise serious questions why the German Tornados are going.

A Lieutenant Colonel has protested and asked his superiors to free him from any further duties that are related to support the combat Tornado mission of the Germans in Afganistan (which he separates in understanding and meaning from the reconsturction mission). His request was allowed today after very short consideration. It seems the ministry wants to avoid this to raise too much notice by medias.

But the Lieutenant Colonel is not the first standing up against German policies, nor does he stop here. He also accuses the ministre of defense to intentionally and knowingly misinform both the army and the publicabout the nature of the mission, which necessarily is not just a recce mission, but due to it's active support of ground battles being planned on the basis of recconaissance is a combat mission. By that, the Ltn Colonel accuses Mr. Jung, in my opinion the most incompetent German defense ministre ever with the exception of Rudolf Sharping, of nothing else but lying.

Analysis:

The Recce Tornados were described in German medias to be unable to provide digital live-feed of what their cameras are seeing, that means they have no digital link to ground control, so they must fly back, land, and the picture material they shot must be processed. However, if they photograph a group of hostile men in the desert, these men will have cleared the area 5-15 minutes later. This limits the Tornado's value very much to photographing immobile installations of the enmy, of which the Taleban do not run too many, I think. Live satellite coverage by the US military could do not only the same, but an even better job than the Tornados when it comes to simultaneous recce of the battlefield during the time of combat. Means: if the Tornados would not be sent to Afghnaistan, it would not be any loss for anyone. In other words: their mission is symbolic only.

But as I have argued in my separate Afghanistan essay some months ago, the German concept of "immunizing" Afghnaistan civil society to Taleban in special and radicls in general by putting priority of civil support and rebuilding vital communal structures has worked best of all different national strategies ISAF members are trying in Afghanistan. The Americna concept of driving the Taleban out, then forgetting Afghnaistan and focus on Iraq, has worked worst. As a result, the Taleban were given the chance to reorganize, and the lacking perspectives for Afghan young people sends many of them into their open arms. This could only have been prevented if the civil society in Afgjhnaistan would have supported more substantially , so that the success would have convinced young people that there is a place for them in Afghnaistan's future.

Mood has slowly turned even against the Germans, and the process is reported by German soldiers to have rapidly accelerated in the last months. The ongoping fighting and the many deaths of cilvilians caused by US and British troops makes more and more Afghans wonder if they really are so much better off in resisting the Taleban and form an "alliance" with the Western armies.

While NATO has immense problems to even put together a small task force of 38000 or so, young Afghans switch sides by the tens of thousands (if not more) each year. Less than one quarter of each year of Afghnaistan's youngster (Jahrgang) finds jobs or a perspective that allows them and their families to exist. The others - are fruitful ground for radicals, extremists, separatists, and Taleban. Go figure who has the greater personnel pool in this conflict. Or the longer breath.

In last autumn, there was this international intrigue to force the Germans into more substantial participating in the killing, as it was bluntly put by Canadian, US and British politicans. It did not work, and the majority, the clear majority of NATO members stood behind the German position. but now the government sends Tornaos onto a combat mission that nobody really needs. The request for the planes was raised from Washington, and after heavy American pressure by NATO, too. It seems, finally with some delay they nevertheless got their will.

What is this will? Simply this: the American strategy (or absence of any)has not worked, and currently it looses the whole Afghanistan mission (the enemy will win this war by simply rejecting peace to NATO). It was a terrible mistake, a typical Bush mistake, to reduce the importance of Afghanistan immediately after 2001/2002 in preparation for Bush's major obsession, Iraq. All the attention that went i nto Iraq - should have been given to Afghanistan. The very different approach on Afghanistan by the Germans, in contrast, worked obviously much better. But now the Germans get pushed into sharing the responsebility for a loosing American strategy, although they did not commit actions to it. As a nice side-effect, the gains of the German engagement are already degraded and are in danger to get completely nullified, too. For both the Federal Republic as well as the German work in Afghnaistan will suffer from the growing participation of the nGermans in the "killing". Or does anyone believe that the Taleban do not take note of it? Some days ago, the government received a video that experts rate to be very similiar in structure and design than messages the Spanish received before the Madrid bombing.

Message of it all: you either do it the American way, or you don't do anything in any way at all. The Tornados are just meant to be a beginning, they lead the way for German combat troops as well. The US wants German combat troops participating in the killing, and this most incompetent, dilletantic government of idiots here in Germany allows it to happen. The balance between military action and reconstruction will shift dramatically towards the first.

And exactly by this, NATO will loose in Afghanistan, I have no more doubt (as I still had in last autumn), for it does not bring Afghnaistan's people on our side, but raises them against us, and brings them into alliances with the enemy.

The match is decided. I know some call my conclusions early, but I also was accused of being early concerning predicting failure in Iraq. Not to mobilise all ressources available for reconstructing Afghnaistan'S civil society - so that it was sufficiently immunized against extremism before the Taleban would have come back - was the one single move that have lost us the match, beyond repair. For that the taleban may have been driven out, but were not defeated and would try to come back one should, one must have known back then. There is no excuse except total failure in knowledge about that place for not having known about this back then.

I have not enough words of disgust to express what i think of both the German and the American governments. Both are completely "zum Kotzen."

The German resistance from autumn last year - has been successfully nullified. At stake now are all results of civil reconstruction the Germans have achieved. I have no illusions about their fate. As a consequence, I demand the beginning of the complete and swift withdrawl of the Germans from Afghanistan. If Washington wants to do Afghanistan it's own way as illustrated in the last five years, then it should do it with it's own people at risk, not with ours.

Excerpts from that open letter (authors are active and retired BW officers, means: military experts and insiders)

Es handelt sich unzweideutig um einen Kampfeinsatz, denn jede militärische Aufklärung ist Teil des Kampfes der verbundenen Waffen, am Boden wie in der Luft.

Die bewusst irreführende Behauptung, es handele sich nur „um abbildende Aufklärung und Überwachung aus der Luft sowie Auswertung“ soll bei Ihnen und in der deutschen Öffentlichkeit verdrängen, dass die zur Kampfvorbereitung und -führung besonders geeigneten Recce-Tornados (wie im Luftkrieg gegen Jugoslawien) unmittelbar am Kampfgeschehen am Boden beteiligt sind. Das von den Recce-Tornados gelieferte Bildmaterial wird, wenn immer möglich, unverzüglich und direkt zur Bekämpfung des Gegners, der Taliban, durch Bodentruppen oder nachfolgende Kampfjets der Verbündeten für den Kampfeinsatz genutzt.
Wenn diese unmittelbare Kampfunterstützung durch deutsche Recce-Tornados nicht vorgesehen wäre, dann könnten die dort kämpfenden Verbände auf die vorhandene raumgestützte US-Sattelitenaufklärung allein zurückgreifen. Offensichtlich aber handelt es sich um den Versuch, Deutschland in die Verantwortung für eine gescheiterte Kriegführung gegen die Taliban hineinzuziehen.

Natürlich werden die Taliban und ihre Verbündeten die deutschen Recce-Tornados als Feindmaschinen bewerten und ihrerseits versuchen, sie mit Boden-Luft-Raketen zu vernichten. Zwangsläufig werden die deutschen Tornadobesatzungen den sie bedrohenden Feind mit ihren Bordwaffen auszuschalten versuchen.

So werden Deutschland und die deutsche Bundeswehr - besonders auf Druck der USA - immer tiefer in das Kampfgeschehen hineingezogen mit dem Risiko, eher früher als später - und wieder unter dem Druck der betroffenen NATO-Partner - auch am Boden Kampf- und Kampfunterstützungsleistungen, also voll ausgerüstete Bodentruppen, zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Unabhängig von diesen Risiken und ihren Folgen stellen wir als Soldaten die Wirksamkeit der Recce-Tornado-Einsätze in Frage, weil die aufgeklärten Ziele, kleine Kampftrupps und –gruppen, in der Regel wenige Minuten, nachdem sie aufgeklärt wurden, in dem unübersichtlichen, überwiegend zerklüfteten Gelände untergetaucht sind.

Die politisch getrennten Ziele des Wiederaufbaus Afghanistans und die Bekämpfung regierungsfeindlicher Organisationen und Gruppen, auf die die Bundesregierung bisher zu Recht Wert gelegt hat, sind bereits so weit vermischt, so dass sich schon jetzt die Sicherheitslage in Kabul wie auch im Einsatzgebiet der Bundeswehr im Norden drastisch verschlechtert hat. Viele unserer in Afghanistan eingesetzten Kameraden haben inzwischen große Zweifel, ob ihr derzeitiger riskanter Einsatz für Afghanistan Frieden bringen kann. Alles spricht dafür anzunehmen, dass die Fortsetzung der bisherigen Politik kriegsähnliche Krisen und Kampfsituationen, und die damit verbundenen Menschenopfer auf allen Seiten, wie im Irak so auch in Afghanistan, hervorbringt.

Die Zukunftsperspektiven für die Mehrzahl der Bevölkerung Afghanistans haben sich zunehmend verschlechtert, deshalb bekommen die Gegner der Zentralregierung in Kabul und deren ausländische Unterstützer immer mehr Zulauf. Die einzige Chance, diese Entwicklung vielleicht noch zu stoppen und zurückzudrehen besteht darin, eine „Groß-Offensive des zivilen Aufbaus und der Entwicklungsförderung für Afghanistan“ unverzüglich zu beginnen, damit die Menschen im Land wieder Hoffnung in die Zukunft haben!

[Happy Times]

This guy sounds like a wimp. Maybe Sky has more info on him.

'Our Sacrifices Do Not Leave Me Cold'

Wolfgang Schneiderhan, 60, Germany's highest-ranking officer and the inspector general of the German armed forces the Bundeswehr, discusses the risks of Germany's mission in Afghanistan, civilian casualties and accusations that German soldiers are shirking their responsibility

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...496426,00.html

[AntEater]

Oberstleutnant Rose is the name of the guy.
He serves in a administrative position somewhere and likes publicity.
Note that OTL Rose never had to go neither to Afghanistan nor to Iraq, he just likes to be quoted in public.
There's a lot of stuff going wrong in the Bundeswehr and maybe soldiers need to be more open about it, but not that way...
Btw, I share Skybirds opinion that the recent military commitments of Germany are just for show.

[Happy Times]

Originally Posted by AntEater

Oberstleutnant Rose is the name of the guy.
He serves in a administrative position somewhere and likes publicity.
Note that OTL Rose never had to go neither to Afghanistan nor to Iraq, he just likes to be quoted in public.
There's a lot of stuff going wrong in the Bundeswehr and maybe soldiers need to be more open about it, but not that way...
Btw, I share Skybirds opinion that the recent military commitments of Germany are just for show.

I was talking about this Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

[Skybird]

"Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr" is a post that is too close to politics as if I would held that office in high esteem.

If I want to listen to a soldier's opinion on things concerning the Bundeswehr, I prefer the speaker of the "Bundeswehrverband", Colonel Gertz. When he opens his mouth it is worth to listen. That may be the reason why it is said about him that politicians somewhat avoid him - he usually is right on target, doesn't hide his views, and does not make foul compromises to keep a discussion "politically correct". He's cool, and reminds me a bit of a Vulcan.

My views on Afghanistan and the maze NATO is running there I think are clear by now, so I must not comment on what the Generalinspekteur politically most correctly is saying. Needless to say we wouldn't agree on too much anyway.

[AntEater]

Originally Posted by Happy Times

I was talking about this Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

The guy with the open letter is Rose.
Scheiderhan is the inspector general, a full general, not a Lt. Colonel.

[Smaragdadler]

One has to understand, that leading politicians & millitary leaders of BRD are standing leagaly 'with their backs to the wall'- faceing a Reich-execution commando. That's no joke - but a possible (but 'still' unlikley) truth: -> http://www.planet-unity.eu/Musik/Zentrifugal-220707.mp3
(German Language - free alternative internet radio)
The massage may be 'ultra-extreme right wing' - but that was in the GDR also every massage about 'Wiedervereinigung'.
I have seen a Regime fall before in my live...
(Not taking sides...yet)
I 'know' that they 'know' it, I'm just not shure, how much 'shure' they are of their doing...
But what I 'know' is, that the 'knowing 'of this, is important to judge their foreign-policy. And they 'know' it too...

'They' know, that 'they' must win this "war on terror"...
What is 'defended' in Afghanistan is not 'Germany', but the BRD...

(Gedankliche Planspiele outside the box)

Edit: uptdated heretical link