German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen pushed for a longer mandate for Germany's military training program in Iraq on Sunday, as she met with Iraqi defense officials. ...
A German parliamentary mandate for the military assistance program in Iraq was extended in March this year and is due to expire on October 31. It will likely be extended as well, although there has been pushback from the junior coalition partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, the Social Democrats.
Germany is willing to keep its military presence in Iraq for the long haul?
Well, Germany does know that a prolonged Western military presence can wring the militarism--or even willingness to fight in defense of the West--out of your country.
And I suppose that the Germans are aware that leaving Iraq in 2011 helped the rise of ISIL which led to its rise in Syria and Iraq--which led to massive numbers of Moslem migrants/refugees flooding into Europe that has destabilized Germany and the European Union imperial project.
Although I hope that von der Leyen doesn't try to again make the argument that participation in the Iraq mission is something that is an alternative to defense spending rather than something made more effective by increased defense spending that doesn't destroy the effectiveness of the rest of your military scraping together resources for the mission.
