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US uses Germany for its deadly drone warfare

6 April 2014, 11:26 -- Germany has found itself amid a drone scandal after a former US Air Force unmanned aerial vehicle operator (UAV) revealed that the United States had repeatedly used its military bases in that country for drone warfare in Africa, Yemen and Pakistan.

Brandon Bryant, who flew more than 1,000 UAV operations in Pakistan and Yemen, while seated in at his control pad in New Mexico, over his five years of service in the US Air Force, told Germany's Seuddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and NDR television that 'the entire drone war of the US military wouldn't be possible without Germany'.

Bryant, who retired in 2011, told reporters last year that that US bases in Germany had been used for attacks on suspected terrorists in Somalia. He now says that the Ramstein Air Base in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate has played a key role in strikes on Pakistan and Yemen. Bryant's unit was responsible for over 1,200 targeted killings in Pakistan.

The Ramstein base is actually the nerve center for drone operations as UAV data is first sent to Germany via satellite links and then to America via fiber optic cable. Secret teams of US intelligence officers stationed in Germany analyze live pictures transmitted by drones.

In the wake of Bryant's revelation, the Greens party has urged the German government to take action.

'It is shameful that the German government simply closes its eyes to violations of international law on German territory,' the DPA news agency quotes the party's spokesperson Omid Nouripour as saying.

Berlin says it has Washington's assurances that armed drones 'are not flown or controlled from US bases in Germany'.

But even if those assurances are proven to be false, it will be difficult for the German government to take legal action as that would mean that it would have to terminate the 1950 NATO Statues of Forces Agreement that regulates the deployment of US bases in Germany and allows US military and civilian personnel to take whatever measures they deem appropriate, up to drone strikes, to fulfill the alliance's defense obligations.

So jurisdiction lies with the US, said international law professor at Potsdam University Andreas Zimmermann, commenting on the issue.

Theoretically, Germany could terminate the Status of Forces agreement, but that would be a 'huge political decision that would question the entire alliance,' he said the Deutsche Welle news agency reports.

It's unlikely that Germany will want to do that, but it can use political measures.

'If there is evidence the US has violated international law on German territory, the German government could demand that the US stops these acts,' Zimmermann said.

For that, however, the German government first needs to know about it, government spokesman Steffen Seibert outlined at a media conference on Friday.

Berlin has never asked the US for specific information relating to its drone program, thus giving Washington an opportunity to avoid the issue. But now that the new allegations emerged, the German government intends to demand official explanations, he said.

But, Seibert added, it's a politically delicate matter.

The drone issue may put further strain on the US-German relations which are already tense due to Edward Snowden's shocking leaks revealing that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on high-ranking German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, for years.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_04_06/US- uses-Germany-for-its-deadly-drone-warfare-9568/