European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

Obstruction of justice?

by DoDo
Thu Nov 26th, 2009 at 07:06:00 AM EST

On the night from 3 to 4 September 2009, near the Afghan city of Kunduz, a Taliban commando kidnapped two fuel tankers carrying fuel destined for the German contingent in the NATO-led occupying force ISAF. When the fuel tankers were spotted stuck at a crossing of the Kunduz river, at the order of the local Bundeswehr commander, two American planes bombed them. While the number of casualties is still not clear (up to 142), due to the civilians among them, the incident became a scandal that is still growing.

Today, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Chief of the German Armed Forces, asked for his dismissal over the latest allegation: that the Bundeswehr and the defense ministry witheld key information that

showed the thin footing for the local commander's decision to bomb,
proved early internal knowledge of civilian deaths (at a time they issued public denials).

All the opposition parties want to pursue this further: the federal SPD wants a parliamentary investigation committee, the Greens call for the resignation of then defense (now Labour) minister Franz Josef Jung, and the Left Party branch of Jung's home state Hessen are bringing a legal case against him for obstruction of justice.

The documents were leaked to tabloid Bild, which I won't link to, but here and here are the SPIEGEL versions. To sum up:

The decision to bomb

(Part of this was known before actually:)

The Kunduz German commander, Colonel Klein claimed his troops are engaging the enemy, a requirement for calling in air support. In truth, he only feared that the fuel tankers will be used as bombs.
The Bundeswehr had an informer who was claimed to be on the ground and told there are only Taliban. In truth, he was only in telephone contact with the Taliban commando.
Planes first flew over the target and sent a video feed to Colonel Klein. Then defense minister Jung claimed that people could be identified as Taliban by their clothes -- but an internal NATO document produced only two days after the bombing negated this.

Civilian deaths

While Jung protests his innocence by referring to his 6 September statement that "the possibility of civilian deaths can't be excluded",

already on 4 September, the commanders of the troops deployed on site reported home that hospitals treat six teenagers and store the corpse of two more;
the same evening, they already reported the information that the Taliban forced locals to help them to get the fuel tankers free from the river, and at least 14 of them are unaccounted for.

Regarding an earlier, mostly confidential NATO report on the incident, SPIEGEL notes that on 15 October, the German government told that an all too clear denouncement of Colonel Klein by NATO would result in legal complications in Germany.

:: :: :: :: ::

It appears Europeans don't get to participate in America's occupations without tainting themselves. Let's hope we get further at least in forcing the resignations of those responsible for the suppression of evidence. And maybe some legal consequences.

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Obstruction of justice? | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Seed comment/Tip jar (4.00 / 6)

Current defense minister zu Guttenberg tried to deflect blame pre-emptively, too: he claims he learnt of the documents leaked to Bild only yesterday.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Nov 26th, 2009 at 07:15:29 AM EST

Strafvereitelung (none / 0)

BTW, I used "obstruction of justice" as per dictionary; but, is there an English term closer to a direct translation of the German Strafvereitelung (c. foiling punishment)?

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Thu Nov 26th, 2009 at 08:30:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Strafvereitelung (none / 0)

dvx is the expert, but obstruction of justice fits well here.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Thu Nov 26th, 2009 at 08:34:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Strafvereitelung (4.00 / 3)

I think "obstruction of justice" is perfectly adequate for our present use.

Obstruction of justice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Modern obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of offering interference of any sort to the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials.

Another choice might be "perverting the course of justice", which is the equivalent in UK and Canada.

Interestingly, one of my bound reference works (Dietl/Lorenz) (which I hardly ever crack anymore what with all the stuff on them interwebs) offers a description instead of a 1:1 equivalent term, suggesting there is a world of nuance between obstruction, perverting and Strafvereitelung.

So any attempt at greater precision is likely attainable only at the expense of less clarity.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine - Patti Smith

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Thu Nov 26th, 2009 at 10:00:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Jung Resigned (4.00 / 2)

Lively debate in the Bundestag yesterday. The opposition is still pushing for a full formal investigation by the Bundestag.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Nov 27th, 2009 at 08:48:51 AM EST

Re: Jung Resigned (none / 0)

Ursula von der Leyen gets his job. To please Koch, Kristina Köhler gets family ministry...

Kristina Köhler - Wikipedia

Köhler sieht eine Zunahme ,,deutschenfeindlicher Gewalt" von Ausländern und beruft sich dabei unter anderem auf Forschungsergebnisse des Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer. Dieser weist Köhlers Aussagen als ,,Missbrauch" seiner wissenschaftlichen Befunde zurück.^[1] Köhler verwehrt sich gegen den Vorwurf in einer umfassenden Stellungnahme auf ihrer Homepage.^[2] Die Politikerin hatte ebenso Staatsanwaltschaft sowie Polizei als Quellen ihrer Recherchen angegeben. In der vom NDR produzierten Sendung weist jedoch ein Staatsanwalt die These Köhlers mit dem Argument zurück, dass es gar keine statistisch aufgeführte ,,deutschfeindliche" Gewalt im derzeitigen Rechtssinne gäbe. Dem hingegen warnt auch die Berliner Jugendrichterin Kerstin Heisig vor einer "Kultur der Verharmlosung" beim Thema Deutschenfeindlichkeit.^[3]

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Nov 27th, 2009 at 01:32:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Jung Resigned (4.00 / 2)

With apologies to those less versed in German and German politics:

Roland Koch is the hardline CDU PM of Hessen state, once Merkel's strongest rival though steadily losing position since, and Jung was his man in the government.
Ursula von der Leyen is a Merkel confidante, and replaces Jung, thus vacating the family ministry.
Von der Leyen's successor in the family ministry is also from Hessen. Her only claim to fame was when she visioned a wave of "anti-German" hate crimes perpetrated by foreigners in Germany, but both the criminologist and a prosecutor she claimed as sources rejected her interpretation of their evidence.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Nov 27th, 2009 at 01:37:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Jung Resigned (4.00 / 2)

Koch is really pernicious. Within the coalition this is another reduction of his power. But he's just managed to damage to Germany's public broadcasting system that will take a decade to repair.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Nov 27th, 2009 at 02:41:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Obstruction of justice? | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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