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Bundeswehr

Defense minister under fire for sacking general

Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg has been strongly criticized for sacking General Henning Hars. The general was put into "temporary retirement" after he questioned the dismissal of a fellow officer.

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

zu Guttenberg did not give a reason for the dismissal

German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg has been sharply criticized for sacking a general who wrote him a letter asking for the reason why Military Inspector General Wolfgang Schneiderhan was sacked in last year.

"It looks like the heads of disagreeable oddballs are rolling just because they have a different opinion than the minister," Green party speaker Omid Nouripour told the daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.

Unanswered questions

Following Schneiderhan's dismissal in November 2009, Brigadier General Henning Hars, a former military attache to Washington, wrote a letter to the defense minister asking why the high-ranking officer had been dismissed. Hars also asked Guttenberg for his assessment of the controversial Kunduz air raid, which killed a large number of civilians in northern Afghanistan last September. Hars did not receive a response to his letter.

Wolfgang Schneiderhan

Hars questioned Guttenberg's dismissal of Wolfgang Schneiderhan

Defense Minister Guttenberg then used his right to move General Hars into involuntary retirement, according to a report in the Tagesspiegel newspaper. A few days ago, Hars received his discharge papers from German president Horst Koehler.

According to the ministry, Hars was called to a meeting with state secretary Ruediger Wolf and another senior official to discuss the letter. "As a result of these talks, both officials recommended to the minister that the brigadier general be put into temporary retirement," a ministry spokesman said. Hars has not commented on the decision, citing his military duty to remain silent on official matters.

Angry reactions


Rainer Arnold, a spokesman for the opposition Social Democratic Party, criticized Guttenberg's decision.

"Of course a minister can send a general into retirement if he has no confidence in him," Arnold told the newspaper Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger. "But I have the impression that it's the military leaders who do not have any more confidence in the Minister," Arnold added.

smh/dpa/AFP
Editor: Ben Knight

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