Germany's Left Party expelled from Bundestag [only temporarily]

Irish Times ^ | Saturday, February 27, 2010 | Derek Scally

[wolf78]

GERMANY’S LEFT Party was expelled from the Bundestag yesterday after its members held up signs bearing the names of Afghan civilians killed in a German-ordered airstrike last September.

The protest came in the middle of a parliamentary debate on extending Germany’s nine-year military mission to Afghanistan by a further year.

Some 429 MPs voted for and 111 against the new mandate – 16 fewer votes in favour than last time – allowing troop numbers to be increased by 850 to 5,350.

[...]

Bundestag president Norbert Lammert defended his actions, pointing out that protests in the chamber breach parliamentary guidelines.

Parliamentary expulsions are a rare but not unheard of phenomenon in German politics. In 1949 then Social Democrat (SPD) leader Kurt Schumacher became the first person to be thrown out for calling Konrad Adenauer the “Allied Chancellor”. The most celebrated expulsion came in 1984 during a row between the then Bundestag president and Green Party MP Joschka Fischer.

“With permission, Mr President, you’re an asshole,” said Mr Fischer, who was then expelled for two days

[wolf78]

[SeeSharp]

Th Germans had been hiding from the fighting by restricting their operations to the northern part of the country. Now that the coalition has opened an alternate supply line through the north the Taliban have begun attacking up there too.

[Common Sense 101]

“GERMANY’S LEFT Party was expelled from the Bundestag yesterday after its members held up signs bearing the names of Afghan civilians killed in a German-ordered airstrike last September.”

Hey clueless nimrods... would you prefer they were the names of German citizens?

[Huebolt]

Who could imagine that one day, even the Germans would be defenseless against political correctness? Western civilization is on the skids.

Is the idea is to reason with your enemies even as they are dragging you up the the pock-marked wall?

[Common Sense 101]

Exactly right... appeasing the beast so they can be eaten last.

[Red Dog #1]

Even more to the point, Europe has been hiding from it’s military responsibilities for generations. Their idealism reflexive criticism of US foreign policy is largely window dressing for isolationism. ISAF=I Saw Americans Fighting

[Jabba the Nutt]

Have they held up signs with the names of civilians murdered by the Taliban.

This preening arrogance of convinced moral superiority just frosts me. These people are evil, are doing evil, while convinced of the own moral purity. That is right out of the religious wars of the 17th century. They cause more death and destruction and sip tea while patting themselves on the back. Sick, sick, sick.

[Yardstick]

I imagine on some level they actually savored the opportunity to get up and do some moral preening. I’ll bet they’re a little giddy over getting temporarily kicked out of parliament too. The left thrives on this kind of stuff.