Word: zu
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...cost of the tragic blunder to Merkel's government could take longer to assess. A parliamentary commission is set to investigate the air strike next week, and Germany's current Defense Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, one of the country's most popular politicians, has already been forced into an embarrassing repudiation of his statement last month that the air strike had been "militarily appropriate." (Read "Much Work Ahead for German Chancellor Merkel...
...estimated to be up to 40.) According to Bild, however, the Bundeswehr (as Germany's Federal Defense Force is called) leadership and the ministry had known of civilian victims early on. Those reports were withheld from prosecutors, and also, apparently, from Jung's successor as defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. (See pictures of the battle in Afghanistan's Kunar Province...
...impact of Bild's revelations came swiftly. Addressing Germany's parliament, which was about to begin debating a one-year extension of Germany's deployment of around 4,300 troops, zu Guttenberg told deputies that Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Inspector-General and head of Germany's armed forces since 2002, and long-serving state secretary Peter Wichert, a senior official at Germany's defense department, had taken responsibility for the breakdown in communications and resigned. Jung initially defended his actions but resigned Friday. (See pictures of the history of the Berlin Wall...
...deploys additional troops it's also likely to repeat calls for its allies to do likewise. But in Germany, where the Afghanistan mission is deeply unpopular, this incident and the alleged cover-up have raised fresh doubts about whether Germany should be there at all. Reflecting the mood, zu Guttenberg urged parliament to start "thinking the Afghanistan mission from its end," making the case for better-defined goals and an exit strategy. "There is a need for more clarity on how, and under which circumstances, the mission can end," he told the Bundestag...
...most substantial deployment since the end of World War II, and is taking on the character of a fighting mission. Some see the affair as a chance for Germany's government, and the Western alliance more broadly, to have a real debate about strategic goals in the Hindu Kush. "Zu Guttenberg is likely to emerge strengthened from this", Volker Perthes, the head of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told TIME. "He is talking straight, which is appreciated by the German public...