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| Africa Horn |
| US Pulled Plug on German GSG9 Operation Against Somali Pirates |
| 2009-07-15 |
| I might have missed discussion of this operation on Rantburg, back in April or May - but a search of Rantburg archives showed nothing. So - I thought this Spiegel article deserves a read. I think its particularly interesting that the Pentagon went so far as to "loan" the GS9 a helicopter carrier, and put the German forces within spitball distance of the target - and it was then the AMERICAN political administration - led by the Surrender Monkey of Hope and Change - that got the coldest feet, and withdrew its support The Boxer set sail at 5:00 p.m. on a Thursday, two weeks ago. The next morning, once the warship was no longer in sight, the GSG-9 pilots flew their helicopters from Mombasa to the Boxer. An escort of four German ships with a total of 800 men on board joined the Boxer: the frigates Rheinland-Pfalz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Emden, and the Berlin, a supply ship. After almost three days, the convoy reached the waiting position off Harardere. Lindner knew that the pirates always kept six hostages on the bridge of the Stavanger, while the rest were hidden below deck. The GSG-9 commander counted roughly 30 pirates, armed with machine guns, pistols, Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers. The weapons were rotated on a regular basis and the ship was kept brightly lit. The situation couldn't have been more difficult. Lindner weighed his options. He could send the helicopters, but the pirates would hear them approaching and possibly kill the hostages. Instead, he devised a combination approach. The frogmen would approach the Stavanger first, bringing along inflatable dinghies and their underwater tractors. Then they would use suction equipment to climb up the ship's side. The pirates would likely open fire and the frogmen, facing a hail of bullets, would seek to protect the hostages. Only then would the helicopters arrive. But there were at least two groups of hostages. The frogmen could quickly reach the hostages on the bridge, but the labyrinthine passageways below deck on a typical freighter could become a death trap. The issue of risk assessment sparked a dispute among government officials. Silberberg requested a written assessment from the federal police. At first, Hanning said that the assessment was not yet available, but then he described the risks verbally, telling Silberberg that the secrecy surrounding the mission prevented him from providing further details. Steinmeier, who had departed on a last-minute trip to Afghanistan and expected the attack to take place on Wednesday night, took along a telephone equipped with a coding function. On Wednesday, Silberberg contacted his superior in Kabul to notify him of an unconfirmed piece of news that was making the rounds in Berlin: The US military was strongly opposed to the use of force to rescue the Stavanger and wanted to withdraw the Boxer. The rumor became official that afternoon, when US National Security Advisor James Jones called Christoph Heusgen, the chancellor's foreign policy advisor. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Heusgen notified the relevant state secretaries of the American decision. It was clear, even before the crisis team met that day, that the operation would have to be cancelled. Hanning acted decisively, as he had done in the preceding weeks, calling for a withdrawal and ordering the GSG-9 team to return to Germany. Officials in Berlin now face the question of what went wrong. The operation lasted for three weeks, at a cost to the German treasury well in excess of the combined ransom payments of recent years. The failed campaign demonstrated that without |
| Posted by:Lone Ranger |
| #4 bman - they most certainly are not warriors these days. Most of them are politically correct fat pantywaists. GSG9 and a couple of other small organizations being the exception. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-07-15 22:49 |
| #3 The Germans have always been warriors. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-07-15 11:41 |
| #2 a cost to the German treasury well in excess of the combined ransom payments of recent years Uh .... a few things here. First, WTF is the focus on this trivial cost, for actually DOING something? Ya know, shouldering a tiny fraction of your own responsibilities, for your own citizens? Second, the ransom payments have been a (predictable, obvious, inexcusable) catastrophe. I forget the date, but back in Baghdad, the week that Berlin had paid ransom for some kidnapped German national in Iraq, I happened to spend some time around the German wire service reporter (DPA?) who was making a visit to Baghdad. Like most western agencies, DPA did not maintain a permanent presence there. The DPA reporter was furious beyond words at the idiotic ransom payment, and was thinking about shortening the visit to Iraq as a result. Words to the effect of "now ANY German is pure gold in Iraq, what idiots in Berlin!". OK, so it's better to have a feckless, pathetic, dependent, contemptibly stupid, cowardly, shameless Germany than a genocidal, maniacal, criminal, insane Germany. And yes, GSG9 is first-rate (I have a SEAL friend that's trained with them), many Germans are not cowardly or pathetic or shameless and are basically adults about world affairs. But ... so what? It's like saying many Americans are honorable, courageous, competent, with a moral compass and a sense of service. But so what? (you fill in the rest) |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2009-07-15 02:45 |
| #1 What's wrong with Jones? Lost his balls since he left the USMC? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-07-15 01:44 |