German Troops Take On Uncertain Mission
January 10, 2003
The camp lies just 100 kilometers from Iraq's border, in Kuwait. With a military attack on Iraq looming on the horizon, the friends and families of the 59 soldiers who left Höxter, Germany, for their new temporary home in Kuwait this week, are hoping the troops will not become involved in a new war in the region.
"We prepared the relatives intensively in advance and informed them in detail on what will await us. However, I don't have the impression that there are fears about the mission, but more the normal worries which families have when a relative takes off for a foreign mission", according to Commander lieutenant Michael Obermaier.
Laboratory on wheels
The soldiers from Höxter are specialists in searching, detecting and destroying biological weapons. They will be operating the six specialised so-called "fox" tanks, deployed in Kuwait during the anti-terror mission Enduring Freedom in 2001.
In the case of an attack with weapons of mass destruction, biological or chemical arms , the German troops will have to detect any contamination, analyse the substances and then decontaminate the affected areas.
The "fox" tanks are especially affective in combating biological or chemical pollution and each one is a fully equipped laboratory on wheels.
Joint mission
The German troops are working with soldiers from the U.S. and the Czech Republic. According to former commander Andreas Bednajek, the camp is huge, with a typical American infrastructure, including rooms with air conditioning. "They have everything they need in daily life".
"There are always 59 soldiers in Kuwait. The other 200 troops are in Germany, waiting on the alert. In the case of an attack, then they can be deployed very quickly on an extremely short term basis to Kuwait", Bednajek's successor Michael Obermaier explains.
Clear limit
Whether the troops will become involved in a military attack on Iraq, is hard to say. According to Commander Lieutenant Obermaier, his soldiers will not take part in an attack on Iraq: "Our mission is clear. It has a set limit and is outlined clearly in the mandate of the German parliament, which was passed on November 15 last year. We have, so to say, no extra scope".
The commander can not say how the soldiers will react if Iraq does defend itself in Kuwait. "Of course the first step would be to protect ourselves. Everything else is at the moment mere speculation". At present, therefore, the troops have only two main enemies: the heat, and the dust.