<$BlogRSDUrl$>

My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2006-01-02

The Denver Post Editors--Right On Top Of Things

The Denver Post editorial board has just noticed that Germany is wobbly.

A recent spate of hostage-taking in the Middle East has made front-page news in Europe, as several victims are citizens of European countries that don't have a military presence in Iraq. Yet just this week, a French engineer was kidnapped in Iraq and a German diplomat and his family were abducted in Yemen. These same European countries are necessary allies in the global war on terror, so how they stand up to or crumble in the face of kidnappings and terrorist threats could affect international anti-terrorism efforts.

Against this contemporary backdrop, it's appalling that a German state court freed a Lebanese Hezbollah member, Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was convicted of murdering U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner. . . .

Despite self-serving German assertions to the contrary, American officials had, in fact, tried to get Germany to turn Hamadi over to the United States if he were released. Instead, Hamadi was flown to Lebanon, where he was held briefly, and then disappeared.. . .

Germany has long been regarded as a valued U.S. ally, but this latest slap in the face should make Americans wonder how reliable a friend it will be in the war on terror.

Naw . . .Really!?!?! THIS should make us wonder how reliable a friend it will be? It wasn't Schroeder getting re-elected on an explicitly anti-American platform in 2003? It wasn't their collusion with France in blocking U.S. efforts at the U.N.? Or how about when they announced their intentions to integrate their military with France and Belgium, to the exclusion of England and newer NATO members?

For my money, I would have advocated the closing down of Ramstein Air Base in the spring of 2003 and moving those facilities to Poland or one of the other East Europe countries who seem to value freedom and the necessity of standing up to evil. But to assert that just now would be a time to be concerned about Germany is just silly, and reveals a deep ideological willingness on the part of the Post to ignore reality when it happens to play to their worldview.
Posted by: Michael / 1/02/2006 11:53:00 PM

Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?