GERMANY: Iraq war role exposed

Tania Roth

On January 13, the ARD public television's magazine Panorama and the national newspaper Die Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SD) broke the news that in 2003, two agents of the German secret service (BND) stayed in Iraq and worked as informants for the US military secret service. Until then, the German population believed that Germany was not involved in the invasion of Iraq and that all Germans had left Iraq by the time the US began bombing.

According to the SD and Panorama, a former member of the US department of defence said the BND gave "direct support" in "finding targets" in Iraq. This included, he said, BND agents being asked on April 7, 2003, to collect information on the suspected location of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in a hotel in Mansur, Baghdad. Shortly after they provided reports, a bomb destroyed an area as big as two housing blocks. Hussein was not in the building but at least 12 civilians died. The US informant said the German-supplied information was "very important for the bombardment on that day".

Germany's new foreign affairs minister, the Social Democrats' (SPD) Frank-Walter Steinmeier was head of Germany's intelligence services in 2003, and denies involvement in providing bombing targets to the US forces. The SPD and Greens coalition were re-elected in 2002 on the basis of their alleged strong stand against any involvement in the war on Iraq.

From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.

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From GLW issue 653