[11th_VA]

"three tanks, two wheeled vehicles and about 30 soldiers" is considerably more combat power than Germany ever offered to support our efforts in Iraq.

ROFLOL !!! - Great line. !

[Dutchgirl]

Hooray for Bell! bttt.

[dennisw]

bttttttttttttttttt

[Joe Miner]

Bump

Couldn't find an update on what happened, anyone?

[BigKahuna]

The Germans and the French are both cheese-eating surrender monkeys!!

[DSBull]

While I would agree that the German army at one time was a force to be reckoned with, however; their Government stinks. I find it interesting that they only seem to become militaristic only when Antisenimisim is high enough and only when delusions of world domination are sufficiently high enough.

There was a comic,whose name eludes me, who had a great line concerning the Germans and their steadfast opposition to the Iraq war. That it was because the Iraq war was not on a Grand enough Scale for the Germans.

[mewzilla]

Sitzpinklers.

[longjack]

German Ping.

longjack

[Billthedrill]

Well, "three tanks, two wheeled vehicles and about 30 soldiers" is considerably more combat power than Germany ever offered to support our efforts in Iraq.

Oh, man, is that gonna leave a mark. ROTFLMAO!

Diplomats and politicians can afford smooth, candy-coated, disingenuous phraseology. Soldiers can afford bluntness. That's why the two camps are irreconcilable and ought to remain so.

[longjack]

These are all bright, dedicated, people. They don't deserve the sort of lackluster political leadership with which they have had to contend of late and I do not hold them responsible for Schroeder's or Lieutenant General Buergener's little fit of pique.

A quick German lesson....this is called Klartext

as in.... Herr Peters redet Klartext.

longjack

[matchwood]

According to an op-ed in this month's AEI magazine, within 20 years Holland will be over 50% Muslim. Between 20 to 50 years, Germany and France will also be over 50% Muslim.

Perhaps by 2060 our grandkids will be fighting Islamic terrorists in Western Europe. Not an optimistic future.

[daybreakcoming]

The German army has discovered that more and more of its rank-and-file soldiers are unable to keep up the pace because they are too fat, according to next Monday's issue of magazine Der Spiegel.

The army believes it risks being lumbered with a generation of under-performing heavyweights due to the dramatic overall rise in obesity in the country, the magazine says.

Armed Forces doctor Admiral Karsten Ocker has told Der Spiegal he feared Germany could be on course to becoming "an XXL nation".

[OESY]

For those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting or working with him, Ralph Peters is a rare bird - a first rate soldier, accomplished linguist, brilliant analyst and theorist, and one hell of a great writer - of commentary, political/military affairs, and fiction. I would be hard put to determine in which of those fields he is most accomplished for he's marvelously skilled in all.

Peters is also very fond of Germany - he lived there for years, speaks the language like a native, and reads German literature in the original language. Of course this may be why his remarks sting so badly. He's no dilettante. Few Americans know Germany and German culture as well as Ralph Peters.

However, for those who have read in columns, these sentiments will come as a complete surprise. During the Afghan and Iraq wars, Peters demonstrated complete incompetence in analyzing the key success factors, ranging from strategy to weapons to hi-tech equipment to psyops. Both campaigns were brilliant successes, and both were labeled “quagmires” by Peters right up until final victories were achieved, as he parroted the antiwar crowd.

Peters sole reason for prominence derives from his frequent anti-German, anti-Rumsfeld and, more recently, anti-Bush (and anti-French) tirades published and promoted by the German-hating neo-conservatives running the New York Post. Note The Post never fails to miss an opportunity to criticize the major weapons suppliers to Saddam's Iraq: Russia and China.

Bottom-line, you have the utter absurdity of a lieutenant colonel allied with Gen. McCaffrey against the Pentagon lecturing the military leaders of Europe who he despises on the policies of the Pentagon which he despises. Whoever selected this Class-A Minor Leaguer (“Big Time,” as Dick Cheney would say) to speak at any exhibition richly deserves condemnation for a lack of judgment and a lack of smarts.

[ApesForEvolution]

Soon it will be time to liberate Europe again...

[Looking4Truth]

The article barely scratches the surface of just how much the LNs (Local Nationals) are scamming us for. The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) provides them with huge pay for comparatively low-skilled positions and there are 'works councils' (unions?) that decide grievances and such.

They get the EU six-week vacations, all German holidays and of course all American holidays. They get full retirement just like GS, NAF, and military personnel. They file grievances at the drop of a hat.

I've heard (but can't verify) that in most cases if you fire one, you have to pay their retirement.