Soldiers and Police from Iraq Said to Have Trained in Germany

Iraqi soldiers and police reportedly were trained in Germany in recent years, according to parliamentary reports.

But the government, responding to questions from Parliament, declined to give precise details and denied that members of an elite German anti-terrorist unit, GSG9, were working in Iraq as Bonn’s emissaries.

In fact, some members of GSG9, including its founder, Ulrich Wegener, were trained in Israel in the 1970s and have maintained good working contacts with the Israeli army ever since.

The government has been barraged by questions about its former involvement with Baghdad, and the inquiries have not stopped with Monday’s visit to the Iraqi capital by former Chancellor Willy Brandt.

Responding to questions about military involvement in Iraq, the government said simply that “nine Iraqi police officers have been trained in various techniques to combat crime.”

But the government did confirm that a former chief of West German counterintelligence, Klaus Kinkel, had offered the Iraqi interior minister six guns as a gift, supposedly intended for the Iraqi minister’s private collection.

Almost daily, new details emerge here about the deep involvement of both Germanys in helping Iraqi militarily. But the government has largely succeeded in avoiding making this an important issue in the present election campaign.

The government simply responds that it has no knowledge of alleged illegal provisions of chemical weapons or military materiel to Iraq.

It was reported Monday that the German chemical industry made available millions of dollars to pay for baby food and medicine that Brandt took to Baghdad.