Posted on 01/12/2005 11:55:19 AM PST by knighthawk
BERLIN - A controversial new bill signed into law Wednesday will allow the German air force to shoot down hijacked planes on federal government orders.
German president Horst Koehler signed the legislation but said he had serious reservations. He called for Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court to examine the new law.
Koehler pointed out that the German constitution already permitted the armed forces to defend air space over the country. However, until now the orders for this had to come from one the 16 federal states - not the federal government, he added.
Opposition leaders from the Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) have also expressed concern over the new law and said they would back a legal complaint in the Constitutional Court.
The law was passed by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s centre-left government in reaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US and after an apparently deranged man buzzed skyscrapers in Frankfurt with an ultralight aircraft in January 2003.
German air force jets were send out to intercept the plane which landed without causing damage. After this incident political leaders had criticised that air force pilots lacked legal protection should they be ordered to bring down an aircraft.
That's a great story! Thanks for that.
Whatever. They're the party that wants to let hijacked planes be used as bombs to kill thousands of people, instead of shooting them down and losing a couple hundred people. That makes them nutty in my book. We already saw what these hijackers can do with the WTC. Would any sane person suggest, knowing what we know now, that it wouldn't have been better to shoot down those planes? Which, by the way, flew through the airspace of 4 different states on their way to the WTC. So no, leaving the shoot-down decisions up to state governments, which don't exactly have their own fighter jet squadrons, is hardly a sane alternative.
Maybe a bit late, but may I clarify this? The CDU/CSU wants to complain at the Constitutional Court because the law lacks a legal basis in the constitution, they say that the parliament has no power to make such a law allowing the killing of innocent airplane passengers. The CDU/CSU rather wants a change of the constitution (majorities for that won´t be a problem, since all big parties support such a law).
"state governments, which don't exactly have their own fighter jet squadrons."
What was George W. flying in the Texas Air National Guard. A kite?
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