Good cop-germany Bad cop USA

Don't trust any of them--all goons-thugs!
German MPs seek more answers on Baghdad agents
18 Jan 2006 15:04:11 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Mark Trevelyan, Security Correspondent

BERLIN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A German spy chief assured members of parliament on Wednesday that his agents had not helped the United States pick out bombing targets during the invasion of Iraq, but he failed to halt demands for an inquiry.

Ernst Uhrlau, head of the BND foreign intelligence agency, told parliament's foreign affairs committee that German intelligence only gave the United States information on civilian sites to avoid in bombing raids, MPs on the committee said.

Media reports that German agents went further, including acting as scouts for a bomb raid aimed at Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, have caused uproar because the German government and public opinion both strongly opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Opposition parties are pressing for a parliamentary inquiry into whether the government of then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder secretly passed on intelligence to help the U.S.-led war while publicly criticising it to win votes -- something members of Schroeder's team have emphatically denied.

"The discussion is not over," said Juergen Trittin, a minister in the Schroeder government and leading member of the Greens, now in opposition, after Uhrlau addressed a closed-door hearing.

"We will continue these investigations," said Rainer Stinner of the liberal opposition FDP.

"It's about clearing up whether the rule of law was breached, how far German authorities may have taken part in that, and to what extent there was a contradiction between official statements of the government and actual conduct during the Iraq war."

Some committee members voiced frustration they had not had time at Wednesday's session to question Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is under strong pressure because he was Schroeder's chief of staff and responsible at the time for overseeing the work of the security services.

Steinmeier has shortened a visit to the Middle East this week to return in time for a full parliamentary debate on the Iraq affair on Friday.

Parliament's intelligence committee, whose proceedings are secret, was due to meet separately on Wednesday to question the two former Baghdad agents at the centre of the affair.

Some opposition MPs have said that even passing on intelligence to the United States on the location of 'non-targets' for bombing, such as hospitals and schools, was an unacceptable German contribution to the war.

"If you specify what can't be shot at, that automatically frees up what can be shot at," Norman Paech of the Left Party told reporters.

The federal prosecutor's office said this week it had received two complaints from members of the public calling for a criminal investigation on the grounds of "preparing a war of aggression". But it said it saw no grounds at this stage for such a probe.