Story courtesy of Sean Corrigan:
GERMAN FORCES ADVISED NOT TO TAKE AFGHAN PRISONERS; REPORT
2004-05-15 06:44 (New York)
Hamburg (dpa) – Military lawyers have advised German elite soldiers
in Afghanistan not to take prisoners to avoid having to turn turn them
over to U.S. forces, Der Spiegel magazine reported.
In its latest issue, the Hamburg-based weekly cited military
lawyers as saying that there were “too many open questions” about
the Americans’ treatment of prisoners, a view now seen as being
confirmed in the wake of the revelations of prisoner abuse in Iraq.
The lawyers said that for example it was not clear whether Afghans
captured in operations would be treated by the Americans as prisoners
of war or as criminals. Germany’s special “KSK” forces operating in the Hindukush region,
when making a capture, carefully check the captives’ identities before
then releasing them, Der Spiegel said.
But the recommendation not to turn the prisoners over leaves open
the question of what might happen if German forces, operating
alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan, might capture top-level figures
in a terrorist network.
The magazine cited the military lawyers as saying that before
German forces join a war on terrorism in future, there should be prior
clarification about who is responsible for prisoners of war. dpa ds pb
-0- May/15/2004 10:43 GMT
5:21 pm on May 15, 2004
