JUST W HAVIN' FUN WTH THE ENEMY:

Steinmeier Rejects Doubts about Agents in Iraq (Der Spiegel, 12/18/08)

Should the investigative committee find that Germany assisted the US invasion, it could seriously harm Steinmeier's credibility.

All of which helps explain Steinmeier's vehement rejection of the new claims that German intelligence played an important role in the Iraq War. Repeatedly, he called the investigative committee "naïve" for believing that the new US military comments weren't politically motivated. He called US comments "ludicrous" and "outlandish." He said that the military praise of German intelligence was "poisoned."

The comments Steinmeier was referring to, though, are difficult to brush aside. General Tommy Franks, who led "Operation Iraqi Freedom," told SPIEGEL that "it would be a huge mistake to underestimate the value of information provided by the Germans. These guys were invaluable."

General James Marks, who was in charge of pre-invasion reconnaissance, told SPIEGEL that the two German agents from the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany's foreign intelligence agency, were "heroes" who had helped save American lives. He said "we trusted the Germans more than we trusted the CIA."

Marc Garlasco, who was head of High Value Targeting at the Pentagon during the Iraq invasion, told SPIEGEL that "it is rewriting history to deny that the BND helped us in US military and combat operations during the war." He also said "German (human intelligence) was far more robust and ever present than any of the garbage we got from CIA sources. The Germans were reliable, professional military people."