{Amnesty International raises a serious accusation, saying deadly US drone attacks in Pakistan are conducted with German help. Experts fear things are actually a lot worse}
The US defends its drone attacks as “precise and effective.” But now a report by Amnesty International about the deadly US drone attacks raises serious questions about civilian deaths. It also suggests German intelligence helped provide the US with targeting data.
Even for experts on the issue it’s difficult to determine whether the allegations about German involvement are true. German Greens Member of Parliament Hans-Christian Ströbele said that whenever he requested information on the matter from the government in the past he only ever got evasive answers. “They did, however, say that they do provide information, but not for shoot-to-kill operations. But the government cannot be sure that the information it provides doesn’t also get used for such operations.”
Marcel Dickow of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) confirmed to DW that it is practically impossible to check whether intelligence provided by a country’s secret service is in fact correct. It is in the very nature of such data that the information is classified and will remain so.
According the report, Amnesty found out about the German involvement in the drone strikes from former Pakistani intelligence members.
Dickow still thinks the NGO did the right thing. “Amnesty used that information – and I think they were justified in doing that – in order to show that there is a hidden war, a war that raises many questions with regards to international law. And with regards to Germany being – in part – responsible in light of the international cooperation of intelligence agencies.”
International law says that it is illegal for a country to use lethal weapons against another country it is not at war with, said Reiner Braun, head of the German wing of the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). He said that the possibility that German intelligence had a part in the US breaking international law illustrates the worldwide extent of spying as revealed through the NSA leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
DW
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