ORAC
20th Sep 2007, 06:25
Grauniad: German defence minister ready to shoot down hijacked planes (http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,2172842,00.html)
Germany's politicians are locked in a heated debate after the defence minister signalled his readiness to shoot down hijacked aeroplanes at the risk of killing innocent civilians in order to avert a wider disaster.
The comments of Josef Jung of the Christian Democrats have unleashed a passionate debate across the parties and led to calls for his resignation yesterday in an emotional session in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
"In cases of common danger or danger to free and democratic basic order" it would be possible to shoot down a plane, Mr Jung has said.
His proposal goes against the decision by Germany's federal constitutional court last year to throw out a law allowing the downing of planes. The government is in the throes of trying to agree new legislation but the grand coalition is split on the issue. It also does not want to ignore the 70% of Germans who are against shooting down passenger planes.
Mr Jung's ideas have also prompted some in the military to issue a direct threat to revolt were they asked to shoot down hijacked planes. Bernhard Gertz, of the association of the armed forces, said: "Anyone who shot down a plane would immediately find himself in the dock ... accused of manslaughter." He has called on fighter pilots to refuse to carry out such an order.
Mr Jung has responded by saying that pilots would be picked who showed "100% willingness" to carry out the task.
Paul Schäfer of the Left party accused Mr Jung yesterday of trying to "weigh up life with life". He said while Mr Jung was able to resign if he made a wrong decision, "the pilots do not have that choice". Jürgen Herrmann, defence expert for the Christian Democrats (CDU), lent his support to Mr Jung. "We cannot stand by and watch an aeroplane career into a stadium full of 70,000 people."
Germany has been debating the issue since the September 11 attacks. While other countries have formed concrete strategies - in Britain the prime minister has to give his backing to any order to shoot, while in France fighter pilots are able to intervene at short notice without government approval once they have been given an order - Germany has yet to come up with a plan................
Germany's politicians are locked in a heated debate after the defence minister signalled his readiness to shoot down hijacked aeroplanes at the risk of killing innocent civilians in order to avert a wider disaster.
The comments of Josef Jung of the Christian Democrats have unleashed a passionate debate across the parties and led to calls for his resignation yesterday in an emotional session in the Bundestag, the German parliament.
"In cases of common danger or danger to free and democratic basic order" it would be possible to shoot down a plane, Mr Jung has said.
His proposal goes against the decision by Germany's federal constitutional court last year to throw out a law allowing the downing of planes. The government is in the throes of trying to agree new legislation but the grand coalition is split on the issue. It also does not want to ignore the 70% of Germans who are against shooting down passenger planes.
Mr Jung's ideas have also prompted some in the military to issue a direct threat to revolt were they asked to shoot down hijacked planes. Bernhard Gertz, of the association of the armed forces, said: "Anyone who shot down a plane would immediately find himself in the dock ... accused of manslaughter." He has called on fighter pilots to refuse to carry out such an order.
Mr Jung has responded by saying that pilots would be picked who showed "100% willingness" to carry out the task.
Paul Schäfer of the Left party accused Mr Jung yesterday of trying to "weigh up life with life". He said while Mr Jung was able to resign if he made a wrong decision, "the pilots do not have that choice". Jürgen Herrmann, defence expert for the Christian Democrats (CDU), lent his support to Mr Jung. "We cannot stand by and watch an aeroplane career into a stadium full of 70,000 people."
Germany has been debating the issue since the September 11 attacks. While other countries have formed concrete strategies - in Britain the prime minister has to give his backing to any order to shoot, while in France fighter pilots are able to intervene at short notice without government approval once they have been given an order - Germany has yet to come up with a plan................