Posted on 08/15/2006 3:37:01 PM PDT by Pokey78
GERMANY was poised yesterday to shatter its most enduring postwar taboo by sending troops into the cauldron of Lebanon, where they risk coming into direct conflict with Israelis.
As troops from France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and other donor nations prepared to deploy in southern Lebanon, Germany’s late decision to participate ranked as its most delicate foreign policy move since it was held to account for the Holocaust in 1945. Since then, it has been unthinkable that Germany would put itself in a combat situation in which its soldiers could shoot at Jews.
The decision to deploy troops to join the 15,000-strong Unifil peacekeeping force was made by Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, in consultation with three Cabinet ministers. They agreed to take on such a big and unaccustomed role in their first venture into the Middle East because of the difficulties of recruiting enough well-trained and properly equipped peacekeepers for the mission.
“We have to do this, not in spite of the Holocaust but because of it,” Werner Sonne, a leading commentator, said on German state television. “If German troops guard Israel’s borders, they are they to protect Jewish lives. Frankly, there has never been a better reason to bring in soldiers in German uniform.”
Frau Merkel seems ready to send some 3,000 troops, of whom about 1,000 will be Pioneers with heavy earth-moving equipment to help to rebuild airports and harbours. The navy, already in the eastern Mediterranean on the operation “Active Endeavour”, would be strengthened with frigates to patrol the coast of Lebanon.
The German Air Force is being put on stand-by to fly reconnaissance missions from Cyprus and the German Border Service could be put on patrol along the LebaneseSyrian border to stop the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah. German soldiers could find themselves drawn into a firefight in any of these theatres.
France will command the force with lead elements arriving in the coming days. The French appear ready to send 5,000 soldiers, Italy 3,000 soldiers and Turkey a further 1,500. German diplomats say that one priority is to convince other Muslim countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, to commit troops as well.
Unifil is supposed to patrol the rugged region of southern Lebanon from the Israeli border north to the Litani river, an area dominated by Hezbollah. The peacekeepers intend to offer support to 15,000 troops from the Lebanese Army.
The biggest challenge facing the soldiers is upholding the commitment by the UN to “disarm” Hezbollah and return the region to Lebanese Government control. If the ceasefire breaks down and tit-for-tat attacks resume, peacekeepers will have to use force against the Israeli military or Hezbollah fighters, or do nothing.
Germany has been encouraged to send a big contingent by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, a sign that the Holocaust taboo is beginning to crumble. Yet some German observers believe that a degree of calculation lies behind the Israeli enthusiasm. In a fast-moving exchange of fire, German soldiers might give the Israelis the benefit of the doubt.
A foretaste of the problems facing Germany in its new Middle Eastern role came yesterday when Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, called off a visit to Damascus after President Assad, of Syria, described Israel as “the enemy”.
# Jerusalem The head of the Israeli Armed Forces was under pressure last night to resign after reports that he had sold his share portfolio three hours after the Hezbollah kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 that led to the war in Lebanon. Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz denied any impropriety. The daily newspaper Maariv said that he sold shares worth 120,000 shekels (£14,600). Share prices in Israel fell by about 12 per cent and now stand slightly below prewar levels. (Reuters)
You have absolutely no idea about Germany or this issue do you?
No, I guess not. I just seem to remember a couple of little bruhahas you guys decidedto start last century.
Why don't you explain it to me mein fuhrer?
Dear Germans: Do I really need to explain why this is such a bad idea? Put a modern German army next to Israel and they will blow your a$$ off the map if you so much as twitch their direction. They are freakin kidding when they said "Never Again" and some of those people manning the guns had grandparent generation relatives in your gas chambers. The key word here is grandparents generation. Germany has gone through one of the most thorough and respectable vetting of its history than any country in history has ever done. Naturally this is appropriate, but compared to any other country, the willingness of sincerity of Germany to take responsibility for its actions, to teach its children of their responsibility to make sure these things never happen again, and the complete transition from a militaristic society to a knee-jerk peacenik society is unmatched anywhere.
The German government is one of Israel's staunchest allies and strongest supporters. This is the case in word and deed.
Lastly, the entire debate in Germany is about whether or not it would be appropriate for German soldiers to be stationed near Israel for the exact reason you cited: namely the historical precedent. It is a tremendous moral dilemma for Germany despite the fact that they clearly recognize the need to be of assistance both to Israel and the civilized world in helping to establish peace.
Your comments prove that your knowledge of Germany history stops at 1945. Primarily, I would suspect this is a result of ignorance rather than malice, which is why I chose to respond
Agreed ... unlike Japan. As far as knowledge of Germany, granted I do not have a lot insomuch that I have not really been bothered to learn it with the exception of it's role in the Cold War (father was stationed there flying gunships along the W/E German border). He liked Germans, but also noted that some of them still cannot give up anti semitism. He did say the beer was good and most of the people were decent.
The post above was as much a warning to Germans that cannot seem to let go of anti semitism as it was a bad attempt at humor.
Anyway, here's to hoping that everything will work out in the end. Fair enough?
Absolutely fair.
To be honest, with the exception of the 4-5% who will always be neo-nazis, I have never experienced any anti-semitism in Germany whatsoever. And certainly nothing directly to me.
And although I don't wear a yamulka, my name readily identifies me as Jewish. That much said I am also fairly large and muscular.
It is indeed a problem for German millitary to be involved into such a operation. The thing is that it would probably part of the mandate to protect Lebanese civillians (as well as those of Israel) from armed hostillities. This is the reason why the UN peace troop will be no direct "ally" of Israel but a neutral power between Israel and Libanon. Therefore UN troops could be engaged into a conflict with Israeli troops in case of their retaliation for possible terror acts of the Hezzies.
We contemporary Germans stick to the conditions and the words of the treaties we sign. Since we are no "Dutchbatters" (if you remember the Dutch troops that betrayed the civillians they should protect from their Serbian enemies), it is better to stay out a conflict were we a no neutral force. Germany understands itself as a ally of Israel. Since it is completely UNTHINKABLE that German forces have armed hostilities with the troops of Israel my prediction is, that the majority of the German parliament, the German Bundestag, will be against any participation with land based combat troops.
It will be thinkable to help both Israel and Lebanon with armed Federal Policemen (German police was always very effective in such cases) to control the border of Syria and with the deployment of German frigates to check the maritime traffic of Lebanon to chop the weapon deliveries to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria. A direct deployment of German forces between Israels boarder and the Litani river is rather unlikely.
Besides - I heared in German media that it will be difficult to get those 15.000 men togehter, since most nations do simply lip service and want to keep out of this conflict, although the nessecary resources would be availabe in Europe. We will see more tonight when the conference of those nations, who will deploy the troops, will be over. Maybe we undergo a positive surprise.
:-)
You will find 4-5% of scum everywhere in the world's population. Even in Israel. The thing is that there this idiotic fraction tends to another madness.
Sonne strikes me as incredibly naive. There is nothing positive that German troops can contribute in Lebanon that would not be spun against them by the world press. While it might be the right thing to do, they would be better off continuing to use their military resources in Afghanistan and in training Iraqi police where the needs are more critical and potentially more rewarding.
Deployment to Lebanon would also not be good for the German national psychic. One only has to look at their heroic successes in Kosovo that were downplayed by the media or the world condemnation of their efforts to rein in Scientology abuses. It led German prosecutors to take less aggressive stands against al-Qaida agents operating in Germany before 9/11.
Germans are still far too sensitive to criticism for this mission. They still need time to mature as a democracy with a foreign policy that allows a "normal" pursuit of key national interests.
I completely disagree with your post. While I find the hint on the Holocaust rather ridiculous, I think that a participation in the Lebanon mission is our obligation as Israel´s best friend in Europe.
Also, I don´t see how the US (not world) condemnation of our fight against Scientology or the Kosovo mission is related to this current affair.
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