Germany to send rifles, tank busters to aid Kurds
Source: AP-Excite
By FRANK JORDANS
BERLIN (AP) Germany will send high-end rifles, tank-busting weapons and armored vehicles to aid Kurdish fighters battling Islamic extremists in Iraq, officials said Sunday.
Germany's defense minister said the arms would be sent in three shipments, starting in September, and would initially be enough to equip a brigade of 4,000 Peshmerga fighters.
"This is in our security interest," Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Berlin.
Germany joins other European countries who have pledged to provide arms to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State group that has swept into northern Iraq in recent months.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140831/eu--germany-iraq-weapons-68647e29f5.html
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)Must be something lost in translation. They forgot the Lederhosen and Stahlhelms.
PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)I'm surprised they kept the old Pzf44 active in Inventory for so long. Thanks for the info.
Man from Pickens
(1,713 posts)add weapons shipments
cstanleytech
(26,319 posts)embrace them in fellowship around a fire and sing Kumbaya?
Man from Pickens
(1,713 posts)at some point we have to realize that a) it doesn't work as a policy; and b) more weapons won't get us any closer to peace
We've been at this nonstop since Gulf War I, things have only gotten worse. Let's try another strategy.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)IronGate
(2,186 posts)like they've been doing to just about every ethnic people they come in contact with.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)(that's sarcasm, btw)
IronGate
(2,186 posts)But next time you might want to add this.
BTW, welcome to DU.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)cstanleytech
(26,319 posts)now the problem is how to deal with the current problem and wish Isis from all reports they will not be willing to have a peaceful settlement.
reorg
(3,317 posts)and if somebody is wearing their symbols at demonstrations they get punished with prison sentences.
The decision is the most flagrant violation so far of the government's "commitment" against weapon exports in crisis regions. It is seen as an attempt of von der Leyen to position herself as the next chancellor by demonstrating that she'll act as a willing tool for US military expansionism.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)The Iranians already gave them the keys to the armory this last week.
Next step will be Iranian troops. This war is spreading like wildfire. The ME is near critical mass.
DallasNE
(7,403 posts)So does this mean we have given up on a unified government in Baghdad for Iraq. I presume the reason the Kurds don't already have these type of weapons was the concern they would be used against Iraqi forces from Baghdad but since the threat has changed it is time to employ Plan B.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)BERLIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Germany decided on Sunday to provide anti-tank missiles and machine guns to the Kurds in northern Iraq to support the fight against the Islamic State (IS), German media reported.
The decision was made after a meeting attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
Germany will send 16,000 assault rifles, 40 machine guns, 240 bazookas, 500 anti-tank missiles and 10,000 hand grenades to the Kurds, said a statement by the German Ministry of Defence.
As German media Spiegel Online reported, due to the humanitarian situation in Iraq, the German government has "started with delivery of assistance to the amount of 50 million euros so far".
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-09/01/c_133609597.htm
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Saudi Arabia needs to step-up with help. It's not good enough to hire pro-merc private security corp protection to keep IS troubles smashed out of their country. Help your neighbors Saudis!! you can afford the best and have the ability to push IS back from where they came from!
EX500rider
(10,868 posts)http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20140831.aspx
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)The parliamentary debate would be primarily symbolic; all German arms exports must be approved by a special government panel, but not parliament. Domestic news agency dpa reported on Wednesday that the coaliltion was considering allowing a symbolic vote - sure to pass with ease - on the break from normal German policy.
http://www.dw.de/merkel-speaks-of-genocide-by-is-as-germany-readies-arms/a-17885408
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)IS capture German weapons, Merkel defends arming Kurds
...
Islamic State fighters posted footage and pictures of a number of weapons seized after they captured the Tabqa airbase in Syria last week.
The last 6 minutes of a video shot at the airbase shows weapons and equipment ranging from ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft cannons to Konkurs ATGMs, as well as what appears to be an anti-tank defense weapon called a panzerabwehr 136mm, believed to be made in Germany.
LFK HOT missiles, that investigative journalism website Bellingcat claims were made jointly by the French and Germans for ground vehicles and aircraft can also be seen.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/headlines/143484/is-capture-german-weapons-merkel-defends-arming-kurds
http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/isis/terroristen-erbeuten-deutsche-raketen-37495934.bild.html
reorg
(3,317 posts)this break with German non-interventionist policy:
Monday's extraordinary session of the German Bundestag began with a minute's silence. It was on 1 September 1939 that Germany invaded Poland, triggering the start of World War Two. 75 years later, members of parliament met to debate the government's decision to send weapons to northern Iraq in support of Kurdish fighters, as they struggle to repel the advance of the terrorist militia that calls itself the "Islamic State" (IS, formerly ISIS).
It's a decision Chancellor Angela Merkel described as "far-reaching." It means abandoning what has been a fundamental principle of German foreign policy since the end of the Second World War: not to supply arms to war zones or crisis regions. ...
http://www.dw.de/germany-to-deliver-weapons-to-iraqi-kurds-battling-is-terrorists/a-17894131