Posted on 09/08/2009 2:14:06 PM PDT by greatplains
The German army has been inundated with international criticism for ordering an air strike on two hijacked fuel tankers in Afghanistan. But the governor of Kunduz province where the attack happened has now praised the German forces. "They made the right decision at the right time," Mohammed Omar told SPIEGEL.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Next time the locals run to get free gas from “the Bad Guys”, they may have to pay the ultimate price instead.
THAT my friend is the lesson that everyone should take from this.
Love how Omar calls the Obamites gutless.
I am German and I supported the Afghanistan mission from the beginning. Now, after this airstrike I am not so sure. It’s not that there might have been civil casualties, that happens in war, sad as it is.
It’s more the reaction of the German opposition. They rather believe the Taliban than the High command of the Bundeswehr. Okay, that was quite easy to predict.
But the European allies also bash the German soldiers before it is clear what actually happened.
Tough, but Germany isn’t too popular with many European countries, especially where military operations are concerned,so that was also predictable.
But then, the reaction of the US. To me it seems they like to put the blame on Germany. In the past, they did kill many civilians (accidentally of course, such things happen in war).
Under Obama the US made it their primary goal to avoid civilian casualties. Now, germany may have caused civilian casualties. And the US does everything in their power to make the German soldiers look bad. Communication failure due to language problems, bad response time of German forces (of course no hint at the fact that the first German patrol to investigate the site was forced back by Taliban attacks) and, last but not least, the fact that contrary to usual routine, a reporter was allowed to accompany the UN squad to investigate the incident, recording the at this point unfounded opinions of high ranking US military personnel before the German High command was even informed about the investigation.
If the Obama administration wants Germany to pull out of Afghanistan they are acting exactly the right way.
Even conservative voters who support the mission in Afghanistan don’t like the way the German military is treated after this incident. If the German leftist media puts the soldiers in a bad light that’s one thing. But if the international allies, who blamed germany of doing too little, are now so quick to criticize German soldiers when they actually acted that’s a different matter.
It’s a shame that there is no honest debate in Germany concerning the Afghanistan war. Even the parties who sent our boys there don’t call it a war. They force our troops to follow ridiculous rules of engagement, and if they have to act, they are more likely to be prosecuted rather than supported.
This incident shows that the international community agrees with the sentiments of the German left. They are eager to bash German soldiers who act in a way soldiers should act in dangerous situations. I doubt they would have handled it the same way if it would have been British or Dutch soldiers.
To my great disappointment it seems the Obama adminstration takes the same stance.
For the first time since the beginning of the campaign I agree with the people who demand a withdrawal of the German forces from Afghanistan. Not because I believe the fight can’t be won, or because German soldiers made too many mistakes, but because I realized that our so-called allies don’t support our soldiers to the same extent those soldiers tried to support them.
If the German soldiers have to be the scapegoat for the Obama administration that wants to prove that they mean to play nice, every dead German soldier is one too many.
Get the boys out.
Well said. Complete agreement as well. Nobody here (taking about conservative Germans) understands why the US military takes such an idiotic stance.
The American people stand behind your country for the air strike, the people(at least the majority)aren't behind Bozo(Obama), we don't like his new rules, he**, we weren't that fond of the old ones. No one wants their military to fight a war with their hands tied.
Due to Bozo's new rules of engagement I would just as soon we pulled out guys out also, in fact get all the allies out of Afghanistan.
BTW, the American people also support Honduras despite our communist president who seems to think they should live under a dictator.
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