After the fact the Germans ALWAYS do the same thing. They bad mouth the legitimacy, the find every accident or mistake, they create arguments of ethical and intellectual superiority based on their “inaction.”
Just wait a while, soon they will focus in on their new version of some Abu Gharib story, some story about alleged vast untapped oil reserves in Somalia or a pipeline we want to build through Afghanistan......since this makes them feel good about themselves for having done nothing, once again.
Three points:
1. The Germans always choose the path of lowest risk and cost when it comes to national security or supporting their allies, trading partners, etc. You didn't see the Germans volunteer anything when North Korea attacked South Korea on two occasions, did you? This was even the case in the Cold War when their own rear was threatened and they as a percent of GDP were spending less than nearly all other NATO members. They are near worthless in Afghanistan, as they are off the shore of Lebanon........ They do as little as possible, from as far away and as late as they can get away with. They actively politically jockey to ensure they are in more stable and safe areas and they try to take more supporting type roles and vehemently resist being part of any real combat operations.
2. Without US “leadership” the Europeans aren't capable of managing their own way out of a wet paper bag. They will talk a big game, as with Iran since 2005 (Where they went into secret double dare probationary negotiations after threatening and the Iranians blowing them off, lol). Even in their own back yard, the Balkans they were essentially impotent. If the US doesn't lead it, it ain't happening because they lack the political resolve and willingness to take the damage like the US was (pre Obama). The only exception to this was ironically a Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt with his Mogadishu GSG9 operation which had it gone wrong would have ended his political career. They lack the strategic capabilities in logistics, force projection and mass. They lack the C2 at the higher levels, our national level intel collection capabilities and the don't have the ability to really work in a high threat environment because they have a piecemeal doctrine (usually borrowed from us albeit they never admit it, slightly modify it and call it their own) that lacks the capabilities to really be effective and minimize casualties to oneself because they lack certain specialized hardware and capabilities. If Obama acts like a typical Euro Bureaucrat hiding behind committee decisions and supra national institutions to avoid a black eye, there will be no leadership and consensus.
3. They are a nihilist society (by definition: highly secular, i.e. Godless, low national self identity, with a broken family unit where you have 1.38 child per woman and emasculated) and because of this, even if their own countrymen are blown up in a La Belle Disko, they care about it little today because life is about oneself and today. There is no principal behind their actions and while they will ALWAYS spin it as if we're the simpletons with ulterior motives and executing the war in a horrible fashion (That's the Schadenfreude and Heuschelei to self rationalize) in reality there is no concept of liberty, justice, freedom, democracy, that is driving their foreign or domestic policies. As the Germans said it best themselves when existentially threatened by the Warsaw Pact, “Lieber Rot wie Tot!” (Rather red than dead). Not even their own freedom and republic is worth fighting for to many of them! It is in reality “they” who are driven purely by business interests, over look injustices of the past for some economic gain. Profiteer from the self imposed trade restrictions of others....etc. Germany was indeed bragging that they were one of Saddam's largest trading partners, as they are with Iran today and yes, they have no trade restrictions with Cuba, Venezuela......... German society didn't learn to fight evil in WWII, they took from it that fighting itself is evil and because they are a nihilist society, nothing is worth fighting for anyhow. The best pop culture analogy would be that they are like the Ferengi on Star Trek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferengi
The clock is ticking........ We asked them to do something and they don't want to, so now we will hear about some horrible atrocity, cover up, ulterior motive, failure here/there/where ever........