Discord motive for sacking?

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 6

Discord motive for sacking?

By

TONY CATTERALL,

“The Observer” Bonn Pressure is mounting in West Germany for the Defence Ministry to disclose all the facts behind the sacking of General Guenther Kiessling from his position as one of the two Deputy Supreme Commanders of N.A.T.O. forces in Europe. According to the last Defence Minister in the previous Government, the Social Democrat, Hans Apel, General Kiessling has been “hunted from the service” in a way which “goes against every military regulation and custom.”

Touching on what many believe to be the real reason behind the sacking, Mr Apel alleges that General Bernard Rogers, the American Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, has “energetically campaigned” against the very idea of having a German deputy. Until 1978 there was only one deputy, who was always a Briton, but since West Germany will be the actual battlefield if war does break out in Europe, it was judged politically wise to add a German to the top staff. Whether it has worked out in practice is another question. There are indications that General Kiessling, in particular, had serious disagreements with his American commander when it came to planning battle strategies. Colleagues of General Kiesslinfl, who understandably do* not want to be

named, say that he was strongly opposed to what seems to be an abandonment by N.A.T.O. of the old strategy of “forward defence”: stopping Warsaw Pact forces on the EastWest border.

The new thinking, outlined in the American Army handbook, “Air-Land Battle 2000,” suggests that all of West Germany will become a battlefield in the evqnt of a Warsaw Pact invasion,

effectively destroying the country even without the use of nuclear weapons.

Defence experts consider it a more realistic strategy, but it is hardly one in which West Germans can be expected calmly to acquiesce; and General Kiessling, for one, certainly did not. Senior military officers also say that the general championed other European interests within N.A.T.O. urging the purchase of

European weapons systems rather than American. None of it endeared him to General Rogers. General Kiessling is known to have requested early retirement from April 1 this year, instead of continuing his tour of duty into next year as planned. The Defence Minister, Mr Manfred Woerner, is said to have asked him to take leave from December 31 until April, and when he refused forced the general into early retirement. No grounds were given publicly, but leaked excerpts in a report from the Military Intelligence Service (known by its German initials of M.A.D.) suggested that General Kiessling was a homosexual, and therefore a security risk because he was open to blackmail. General Kiessling strenuously denied it, and requested a disciplinary hearing. Sources in the Defence Ministry doubt that the request will be granted, which does not surprise General Kiessling.

The M.A.D. report, he says, is discredited by its allegations that he had visited gay bars in Cologne and Essen. “I have never in my life been in Essen,” he says.

The storm continued to grow, eventually forcing Mr Woerner to go on television to assure the country that General Kiessling’s dismissal had indeed been on “security grounds.” It had not befei an easy decision to

take, he said, but after personally checking the evidence he had had no other choice.

He refused to be drawn on the question of what exactly the security grounds were but, curiously enough, he did not use the phrase that General Kiessling was a “security risk.”

In the opinion of many critics it leaves open the possibility that Mr Woerner was interpreting “security” very widely; to mean, in fact, the “secure co-opera-tion” of West Germany and the United States.

Mr Woerner is known to be on close terms with the United States Defence Secretary, Mr Caspar Weinberger, and his Government is often accused of sacrificing German interests to those of the United States.

Dissatisfaction with Mr Woerner’s explanation is not restricted only to military critics and the political opposition: the defence spokesman of the junior partners in the governing coalition, the Free Democrats, has also voiced his party’s disquiet.

What, he asks, was it which “so drastically jeopardised our security” that General Kiessling had to be prematurely retired?

It is not a question which will quickly go away, and it could turn out to be extremely damaging for the Government. — Copyright— London Observer Service.