US Bases in Germany will be closed

Die Welt am Sonntag | 12-13-2003 | Americanbychoice

[americanbychoice]

Minister of Defense, Peter Struck has announced the closing of military bases and a decrease of American Soldiers in Germany. Their State Departement, Defence Ministry and American representatives are building a "Work group", announced Struck to Die Welt am Sonntag. After that,the American Secretary of Defense and Congress will decide in the Spring.

[litany_of_lies]

Note #140 and try to not to gloat for too long.

[gatorbait]

Your understanding of Viet Nam is strongly invluenced by leftist propaganda.

He does not want to understand anything.

[CGVet58]

hello,

to your #140 & 141, believe it or not, I don't gloat - arete's foolishness is plain enough for everyone to see... and if that still isn't as plain as the nose on his face, he takes special pains to proclaim it loudly.

(does that sound like a gloat that isn't a gloat??? sorry... /sarcasm)

ok, enough gloating. I agree 110% with your closing comment on the former... how enormously liberating it is to have modern-day alternative communications media that allows the 67% of America still in ownership of their common senses to recognize and refute the leftist drivel for what it is.

Onward to Victory....

CGVet58

[Prodigal Son]

If you tell me how, I'll do it gladly.

No problem. When you post an article, you are presented with various fields for you to fill out (or cut and paste as most people do). These include

• Title of Thread
• Topics
• Keywords
• Author
• Date Published
• Source
• Source URL
• Body of Thread
• Body of Comment

Under "Source" you would type or paste in the name of the periodical you are taking the info from or if it is a vanity you might insert "Vanity" there.

In the "Source Link" you simply cut the address out of the address window on your browser (of the actual article, not the home page) and paste that address in that field.

Then when you post, the FR software will automatically make the "Source" link to the actual article you took the info from.

Also, as far as I know, we don't have a civil suit with die Welt. You can post the entire article from there. I found the link after a bit of digging on my own- no problem. But I couldn't open the story without registering which was why I had asked for the story to be posted here in its entirety. Longjack goes to the trouble of translating the articles himself sometimes for other freepers. I find this to be a bit of a bother myself unless the article is fairly short. Most freepers are happy enough with a babelfish translation if a translation is required.

For me, the thing about including the source link and entire article is for media accuracy and research value. I use Free Republic very often as a research tool. The NYTs for example makes you pay for their archived articles, as does The Times in the UK. It is very useful for research purposes to have the entire article posted here on this website so 6 months from now one can go back and see exactly what the newspaper or reporter (important if you are trying to demonstrate bias by one particular writer) had to say without having to drop twenty bucks to do so. Also, the articles tend to "go missing" after a while from a lot of sources. Pure propaganda from the Wash Post or Reuters gets flushed down the memory hole and if the article is only excerpted here then there is no proof other than one's own memory, which doesn't count for squat on the internet. This diminishes the mission of a grass roots political movement like Free Republic, imo.

[myself6]

Your replies are shallow regergitations of the socialist media hippies blatherings. Socialist sound bites dont work here, so why bother posting if this is all you got?

[arete]

Most of this site is about posting to the lowest common denominator.

Richard W.

[myself6]

If thats the way you feel, then head on back to the peak of "enlightenment" over at DU. I am certain they would appreciate your shallowness of thought.

[anotherGerman]

Yeah, so much of a joke that it took the entire world to beat German militarism and cost millions of lifes.

How one can make stupid jokes about this is beyond me.

[mtbopfuyn]

This time last year I would have said it's about time but I dunno now. We need to have as many bases in that part of the world as we can get. We basically fightning or perhaps delaying WWIII.

[Conservative4Ever]

I vote for new American bases in Poland.

Me too!

Me Three!!

Red

[anotherGerman]

the Germans, frogs and Russians were up to their elbows selling weapons and technology to Hussain who was a barbarious murderer

Provide some EVIDENCE to your hilarious claims. Come on big mouth, show me the evidence!

[Exodus22]

Perhaps they will bring them home to guard OUR borders? Just wishful thinking I'm sure...

[Temple Owl]

What happened to the base at Echterdingen? I was there in the '50s.

[Beck_isright]

"Yeah, so much of a joke that it took the entire world to beat German militarism and cost millions of lifes."

Yeah, it is a joke. You shouldn't start something you can't finish. Either win and be humble in victory, or lose and STFU.

"How one can make stupid jokes about this is beyond me."

What stupid joke? We protected West Germany at U.S. taxpayer expense for over 40 years. We are rewarded when we are attacked by terrorists with Naziesque socialist nutcakes who run Germany making comments like "we deserved it." Screw you and your pos nation. We'll be fine without you and your cars, beer and anything else you commie butt kissing Frog lovers make.

[Tempest]

WoooHooo!!!!!!

[Bob J]

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[Beck_isright]

" Provide some EVIDENCE to your hilarious claims. Come on big mouth, show me the evidence!"

Mike Burleson: Is Germany Selling Weapons to Iraq?

For the past few months the German media has been reporting secret shipments between Sadaam Hussein and German industries. Now it seems official and the mainstream press has been stangely silent.

By Mike Burleson, 12/31/2002

For the past few months the German media has been reporting secret shipments between Sadaam Hussein and German industries. Now it seems official and the mainstream press has been strangely silent.

The left wing paper Tageszeitung is saying that the 12,000 page dossier which the Iraqi's presented to UN inspectors contains evidence potentially damaging to Germany. According to the paper, eighty companies within the country have had shady dealings with Iraq.

If true, Germany could be Sadaam's leading supplier of weapons. It is well known that since 1975 Iraq had extensive industrial ties with Berlin, including help in building up their armed forces.

As early as 1999, according to the paper, German officials had been notified of arms shipments, but chose to turn a blind eye.

In a comment, the radio station Deutsche Welle says the news could be damaging to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, known as a pacifist. Schröder has taken a bitter stand against any military action against Iraq. This revelation could shed new light on the Chancellor's motives.



Published on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 by the lndependent/UK

Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam

Baghdad's uncensored report to UN names Western companies alleged to have developed its weapons of mass destruction

by Tony Paterson in Berlin

Iraq's 11,000-page report to the UN Security Council lists 150 foreign companies, including some from America, Britain, Germany and France, that supported Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program, a German newspaper said yesterday.

Berlin's left-wing Die Tageszeitung newspaper said it had seen a copy of the original Iraqi dossier which was vetted for sensitive information by US officials before being handed to the five permanent Security Council members two weeks ago. An edited version was passed to the remaining 10 members of the Security Council last night.

British officials said the list of companies appeared to be accurate. Eighty German firms and 24 US companies are reported to have supplied Iraq with equipment and know-how for its weapons programs from 1975 onwards and in some cases support for Baghdad's conventional arms program had continued until last year.

It is not known who leaked the report, but it could have come from Iraq. Baghdad is keen to embarrass the US and its allies by showing the close involvement of US, German, British and French firms in helping Iraq develop its weapons of mass destruction when the country was a bulwark against the much feared spread of Iranian revolutionary fervor to the Arab world.

The list contained the names of long-established German firms such as Siemens as well as US multinationals. With government approval, Siemens exported machines used to eliminate kidney stones which have a "dual use" high precision switch used to detonate nuclear bombs. Ten French companies were also named along with a number of Swiss and Chinese firms. The newspaper said a number of British companies were cited, but did not name them.

"From about 1975 onwards, these companies are shown to have supplied entire complexes, building elements, basic materials and technical know-how for Saddam Hussein's program to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction," the newspaper said. "They also supplied rockets and complete conventional weapons systems," it added.

The five permanent members of the Security Council – the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China – have repeatedly opposed revealing the extent of foreign companies' involvement, although a mass of relevant information was collected by UN weapons inspectors who visited the country between 1991 and 1998. The UN claims that publishing the extent of the companies' involvement in Iraq would jeopardize necessary co-operation with such firms.

German involvement outstripped that of all the other countries put together, the paper said. During the period to 1991, the German authorities permitted weapons cooperation with Iraq and in some cases "actively encouraged" it, according to the newspaper which cited German assistance allegedly given to Iraq for the development of poison gas used in the 1988 massacre of Kurds in northern Iraq. It said that after the massacre America reduced its military cooperation with Iraq but German firms continued their activities until the Gulf War.

Die Tageszeitung quoted sources close to the US Vice President, Dick Cheney, as saying the Bush administration was hoping to prove a German company was continuing to co-operate with the Iraqi regime over the supply of equipment allegedly useful in the construction of weapons of mass destruction.

American weapons experts have recently voiced concern that the German Government has permitted Siemens to sell Baghdad at least eight sophisticated medical machines which contain devices that are vital for nuclear weapons. The machines, known as "lithotripters", use ultrasound to destroy kidney stones in patients. However, each machine contains an electronic switch that can be used as a detonator in an atomic bomb, according to US experts. Iraq was reported to have requested an extra 120 switches as "spare parts" during the initial transaction.

The delivery of the machines was approved by the European Commission and the UN because sanctions against Iraq do not apply to medical equipment. Siemens and the German Government have insisted that the machines, which are being used in northern Iraq under a World Health Organization program, cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.

I could continue to post. But I would prefer to not put up links to all 310,000 results I received. Perhaps you should quit reading the left wing commie propaganda you EU types call "news" and get your heads out of your eurobutts.