Inquiry into Kunduz Bombing: German Defense Minister Blasted for 'Slanderous' Statements

• Print
• E-Mail
• Feedback

Schneiderhan's testimony casts an unfavorable light on Guttenberg. Shortly after Guttenberg took office as defense minister in late October, Schneiderhan had, during a one-on-one conversation with his boss, recommended that Guttenberg exercise "caution and restraint" when talking about the air strike, he said. The incident was "not so simple," Schneiderhan allegedly advised the minister. Guttenberg even thanked him for the advice, Schneiderhan said.

Schneiderhan also criticized Guttenberg's "incomprehensible" decision to reverse his assessment of the air strike. A few weeks after his first statement on the incident, Guttenberg suddenly announced that the attack had not, in fact, been militarily appropriate. The inquiry asked Schneiderhan if he could understand why Guttenberg had changed his mind. "No," Schneiderhan replied simply.

Schneiderhan made it clear that the allegations from the officials close to Guttenberg had been "painful" to him. Wichert made similar comments during his testimony on Thursday evening.

Under Serious Pressure

Unlike Guttenberg, Schneiderhan stuck to his opinion that the Kunduz air strike was appropriate. He did not want to change anything about the assessment he made at the end of October, he told the inquiry. Guttenberg, however, will need to justify his many about-faces to the committee when he testifies in April. The opposition wants to use the opportunity to discredit Guttenberg, who is a rising star in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government and one of Germany's most popular politicians.

"If Guttenberg lied in relation to a key decision, then he is no longer acceptable as defense minister," Thomas Oppermann of the center-left Social Democrats told the Friday edition of the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

Omid Nouripour, a member of parliament for the Greens, said that Thursday's testimony put Guttenberg under "serious pressure," both in terms of the circumstances relating to his firing of Schneiderhan and Wichert and his assessment of the Kunduz air strike. If it turned out that Guttenberg had withheld information, Nouripour said, then the defense minister would have no choice but to resign.

Reports of Attempted Cover-Up

Thursday's session also revealed a number of serious shortcomings at the Bundeswehr. Schneiderhan admitted that it had been a mistake to initially try to cover up the fact that civilians might have died in the bombing. Schneiderhan said that the spokesman of then-Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung had unilaterally taken this line without consulting with the military. Jung, who became labor minister after the September national election, was forced to resign in late November, because -- contrary to his public statements -- he must have known of civilian casualties early on.

Schneiderhan also confirmed a SPIEGEL ONLINE report, published Thursday, that German military commanders and the Defense Ministry had made greater efforts at covering up the truth in the days following after the air strike than had previously been known.

Confidential documents obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE showed that the Defense Ministry set up a special working group composed of at least five officials to influence the NATO investigation into the incident. According to the documents, "Group 85," as the task force was known, was charged with creating a "positive image" of the events in Kunduz through a targeted communication strategy in a bid to deflect criticism of the Bundeswehr.

Schneiderhan told the inquiry that he had been aware of the existence of "Group 85" and knew what its role was. He was not personally involved with the group, however.

Wichert also confirmed the existence of the "Group 85" and admitted he had set up the task force. He played down the significance of the group, saying it had never been a secret. The aim, he said, had been to make sure that "a one-sided NATO investigation was not made public that we would then have to try to deal with." Wichert said, however, that they had not tried to exercise influence in the sense of "shifting responsibility or covering up."

• Back
• 1
• | 2

• Part 1: German Defense Minister Blasted for 'Slanderous' Statements
• Part 2: 'Incomprehensible' Decision