Photo (Courtesy) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6659860/Afghanistan-German-general-fired-over-air-strike-that-killed-civilians.htmlPosted: Friday , Nov 27, 2009 at 0925 hrs
Berlin:
Germany's top general and a senior defence ministry official resigned on Friday over allegations of a cover up of the NATO air strike on two fuel trucks in northern Afghanistan last September in which a number of civilians were killed.
The head of the German Armed Forces General Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the State Secretary in the Defence Ministry Mr Peter Wichert resigned on Friday for failing to properly pass on information to political leaders about a September air strike in Kundus.
The German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who disclosed their resignation in the Bundestag during a debate on extending Germany's military mission in Afghanistan, told the house that Gen Schneiderhan and Wichert withheld information on the air strike.
They took responsibility for not presenting to him a secret report on the civilian casualties in the air attack since he took office four weeks ago and were "relieved of their duties on their own request", he said.
Their resignation comes after the mass-circulation newspaper Bild reported in today's edition that on the basis of an investigation by the German Military Police and videos which were kept top secret until now, the ministry had information from the very beginning that details about the air attack, including civilian casualties were being held back.
The NATO air strike on two fuel trucks hijacked by the Taliban on September 4 was ordered by col Georg Klein, commander of the German contingent to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
The Military Police had documented when the information about civilian victims in the air attack was conveyed by the German regional command in northern Afghanistan to the German Armed Forces' operational centre in Potsdam.
Germany's top general and a senior defence ministry official resigned on Friday over allegations of a cover up of the NATO air strike on two fuel trucks in northern Afghanistan last September in which a number of civilians were killed.
The head of the German Armed Forces General Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the State Secretary in the Defence Ministry Mr Peter Wichert resigned on Friday for failing to properly pass on information to political leaders about a September air strike in Kundus.
The German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who disclosed their resignation in the Bundestag during a debate on extending Germany's military mission in Afghanistan, told the house that Gen Schneiderhan and Wichert withheld information on the air strike.
They took responsibility for not presenting to him a secret report on the civilian casualties in the air attack since he took office four weeks ago and were "relieved of their duties on their own request", he said.
The head of the German Armed Forces General Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the State Secretary in the Defence Ministry Mr Peter Wichert resigned on Friday for failing to properly pass on information to political leaders about a September air strike in Kundus.
The German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who disclosed their resignation in the Bundestag during a debate on extending Germany's military mission in Afghanistan, told the house that Gen Schneiderhan and Wichert withheld information on the air strike.
They took responsibility for not presenting to him a secret report on the civilian casualties in the air attack since he took office four weeks ago and were "relieved of their duties on their own request", he said.
Their resignation comes after the mass-circulation newspaper Bild reported in today's edition that on the basis of an investigation by the German Military Police and videos which were kept top secret until now, the ministry had information from the very beginning that details about the air attack, including civilian casualties were being held back.
The NATO air strike on two fuel trucks hijacked by the Taliban on September 4 was ordered by col Georg Klein, commander of the German contingent to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
The Military Police had documented when the information about civilian victims in the air attack was conveyed by the German regional command in northern Afghanistan to the German Armed Forces' operational centre in Potsdam.
Germany's top general and a senior defence ministry official resigned on Friday over allegations of a cover up of the NATO air strike on two fuel trucks in northern Afghanistan last September in which a number of civilians were killed.
The head of the German Armed Forces General Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the State Secretary in the Defence Ministry Mr Peter Wichert resigned on Friday for failing to properly pass on information to political leaders about a September air strike in Kundus.
The German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who disclosed their resignation in the Bundestag during a debate on extending Germany's military mission in Afghanistan, told the house that Gen Schneiderhan and Wichert withheld information on the air strike.
They took responsibility for not presenting to him a secret report on the civilian casualties in the air attack since he took office four weeks ago and were "relieved of their duties on their own request", he said.
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P.S. Does the cross in the picture above look familiar?
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