German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 19/229, pp.
29305-29306.
Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.
The Federal government makes the same failures in Mali as in
Afghanistan: No clear goal guidelines and no strategy with controllable way
markers. The result in Mali will be the same as in Afghanistan: An ineluctable
and total failure.
Ladies and gentlemen, what the Federal government is doing
is not only politically false, it also violates the duty to care for our
soldiers. For the first time, the Defense Ministry breaks with an iron rule;
namely, that every wounded German soldier receives within one hour access to
medical care on the level of a German community hospital, and even when his
unit is under fire.
In Mali is this now no longer possible;
Eberhard
Brecht (SPD): Complete nonsense!
since for a time the rescue helicopters for the German
expeditionary contingent will be provided by a civilian firm only. That means
in clear text: Civilian helicopters with civilian pilots, without weapons and
without defense. The Federal government itself says that the evacuation of the
wounded will therefore only be possible from secured landing zones. And what if
a German is fighting for his life and there are no secured landing zones? Dear
soldiers, how the Federal government is dealing with you is a scandal.
This scandal, to commission a private company for the rescue
of wounded German soldiers, also exposes the pitiful state of the Bundeswehr’s
mission readiness. In the entire Bundeswehr, there appears to be no more than
four helicopters capable of being sent to Mali for the protection of our
soldiers. For that, the Federal government bears complete responsibility.
Ladies and gentlemen, who has so ruined the mission readiness of his armed
forces should all the more abstain from senseless foreign adventures.
The AfD holds the Bundeswehr’s foreign missions to be the
fundamentally false means for making foreign policy. We are for the principle
of non-intervention in the affairs of foreign states.
Henning Otte (CDU/CSU): And then complain of the consequences!
The international law expert Annalena Baerbock knows what
high importance this principle has.
The AfD stands for a defense-ready armed forces for the
protection of Germany and its allies. How important is defense readiness in
case of attack, we these days see in Israel. This brings me to the following
point: I wish the Israel Defense Forces much soldier’s luck and, especially for
the Israeli air force in their search for the Hamas terror leaders, a good hunt
and a fat bag [eine gute Jagd und fette
Beute].
Steffi
Lemke (Greens): That is inhuman!
Gabriela
Heinrich (SPD): What a vocabulary!
Henning
Otte (CDU/CSU): Let that be shown, Frau President!
[trans: tem]
