Thursday, March 23, 2006
Arming Iran: Our friends the Germans
I have never understood the loyalty that John Kerry wants us to have toward our "traditional allies," by which he means (in 2004, at least) France and Germany, neither of which have lept to our defense more recently than 220 years ago, in the case of France, or ever in the case of Germany.
France might irritate the typical American more than Germany, but Berlin has done much more to hurt the interests of the United States. It pays ransoms to al Qaeda that will be used to buy weapons to kill Americans and other not-Germans. And now we learn that Germany has been a center for the unlawful sale of arms and strategic materials to Iran. The Deutsche-Welle article contains -- if I may step gingerly -- a bombshell:
Got that? The government of Germany -- or at least a part of it -- has known about a massive arms smuggling scheme in defiance of international law and American policy for at least four years, and largely done nothing about it. Either the Germans were trying to help Iran defy the United States, or they are incompetent. As in really not-keeping-good-records incompetent. As in makes-America's-plan-for-port-security look ingenuous. Sheesh.
France might irritate the typical American more than Germany, but Berlin has done much more to hurt the interests of the United States. It pays ransoms to al Qaeda that will be used to buy weapons to kill Americans and other not-Germans. And now we learn that Germany has been a center for the unlawful sale of arms and strategic materials to Iran. The Deutsche-Welle article contains -- if I may step gingerly -- a bombshell:
Speaking to German public broadcaster ARD on Monday, security experts confirmed that as many as up to 100 dummy firms in Germany are involved in illegally exporting components for missiles and aircraft to Iran.
Johannes Schmalzl, president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the state of Baden-Württemberg, told the program "Report Mainz" that the situation wasn't entirely new.
"We've been devoting time to the topic since 2002," he said. "And we've concluded that an estimated 100 dummy firms in Germany are involved in it."
Schmalzl added that the authorities could hardly keep up with the scale of illegal exports to Iran.
"When I say, 100 dummy firms, you can imagine that when we discover one and the federal prosecutor opens a case against them, we're happy and pat ourselves on the back. But 99 others are still in business," Schmalzl said.
Got that? The government of Germany -- or at least a part of it -- has known about a massive arms smuggling scheme in defiance of international law and American policy for at least four years, and largely done nothing about it. Either the Germans were trying to help Iran defy the United States, or they are incompetent. As in really not-keeping-good-records incompetent. As in makes-America's-plan-for-port-security look ingenuous. Sheesh.
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Mar 23, 10:07:00 AM:
Americans.... think everyone in the world is out to get you, put yourselvs in there shoes and see what happens.
By 
Dawnfire82, at
Thu Mar 23, 08:48:00 PM:
Oh sweet, so we can sell arms, including missile and advanced aircraft technology/parts, to Chechnyans, African militias, Serbians, FARC, and so forth right? It's all in the name of business and free trade after all... who cares who their enemies are or who they want to hurt?
Foreigners... incapable of thinking about the US without applying their own preconceived notions and stereotypes.
