War on Germany
A Modest Proposal
by MATTHEW ALBRIGHT
Bush's "axis of evil" is in need of revision. In the past week, Iraq and
North Korea have tried to prove themselves worthy of the phrase, but Iran
is comparably dull and makes a rather boring bad guy. It is time to add a
country to the axis that has long been known to contribute to evil regimes
in terms of weapons and technical knowledge. This country was recently
named explicitly in the weapons report Iraq delivered to the U.N. as the
number one supplier of parts, plans, and weapon know-how to Saddam Hussein'
regime. The new evil: Germany.
Given the current political climate in Germany, the country' role as
fertile ground for the 911 masterminds, and its assistance in the buildup
of Iraqi' arms over the past two decades, it would be apropos of U.S.
foreign policy at this time to force a regime change in Germany. Since the
Bush administration is in the mood anyway, we might just as well use armed
force to achieve this end. The U.S. is currently forming two war fronts:
one against terrorists and one against Iraq and Hussein' regime. By sending
U.S. soldiers into Germany, we would be going a long way toward defeating
both these enemies. German businesses can take credit for the majority of
material and technical expertise that now make up Iraq's armament,
including the "weapons of mass destruction2 that make up the justification
for the impending U.S. invasion. Up until the Gulf War, German companies
were the main suppliers to Iraq' nuclear weapons program, poison gas
facilities, ballistic missiles, and long-range delivery system. After the
war, German companies continued to dodge the embargo. Two German
businessmen were arrested in October for selling material in 1999 for
Iraq's "supergun," capable of shooting biological and chemical weapons at
troops in Kuwait. More recently, it was reported that the German government
has known since 1999 of a German company that assisted Iraq with electronic
technology that can be adopted for use on the battlefield.
We have German journalist Andreas Zumach to thank for getting a hold of the
expurgated sections of the Iraqi report which demonstrates just how helpful
Germany was in the Iraqi weapon buildup. In last week's Die Tageszeitung,
Zumach reported that the Bush administration is keeping details of Germany'
involvement quiet and building up a larger case against the country in
order to force it to acquiesce to any subsequent actions the U.S. may take
against Iraq. But this backroom political maneuvering is just the kind of
mamby-pamby diplomacy that got us into both the terrorist and Iraqi problem
in the first place. It's time to cut the head off the snake. Invade Berlin.
It's better to go after the drug pushers than the drug addicts. Why put all
the blame on weapon-addicted tyrants? During the 90s, the German
government's reaction to the discovery that its businessmen were arming
Iraq was tepid at best. Government spokesmen tried to place the blame of
the development of Iraq's weapon program on other states, even though 70%
of the technically sensitive material needed came from Germany. 170 German
companies were investigated at the opening of the Gulf War, but most of the
cases were dropped or dismissed in court and only a handful of businessmen
went to prison.
On the terrorist front, the three ringleaders of the 9/11 attack developed
the plan while living and studying in Hamburg (It has been repeatedly
pointed out that none of the terrorists came from Iraq). These three were
the brains and held the technical expertise of the attack; the German crew
flew three of the four planes on September 11.
The German political scene is suspicious as well. Gerhard Schröder won his
recent bid for Chancellor on an anti-American platform. In September, his
justice minister compared President Bush' methods to those of Hitler. In
January, Germany will become a non-permanent member of the Security Council
and will be in yet a stronger position to poison the United Nations with
its hatred of the United States. The time to act is now.
The expurgated section of the Iraqi document also lists 24 U.S. companies
that aided Iraq in its military buildup. Lest the Bush administration be
accused of hypocrisy, and since it has its holsters on anyway, it would be
political wise to force regime changes on these companies as well. (It
would win votes as well, showing that Bush can respond with armed force
against corporate scandals.) Alongside Bagdad and Berlin, it is time to
send the marines into the corporate offices of Honeywell, DuPont, and
Hewlett Packard. Let the wars begin.
Matthew Albright lives in Durango, Colorado. He is the author of "Profits
Pending: How Life Patents Fail Science and Society," which will be
published in May, 2003 by Common Courage Press.
http://www.counterpunch.org/albright01152003.html