Germany Joins

From the Stars and Stripes:
"Germany joins coalition against Islamic State"

Germany decided Thursday it could no longer stay on the sidelines of the fight against Islamic State, announcing plans to send planes and a navy ship to help the new international military alliance against the Islamic State group. The decision to send four to six reconnaissance jets and the carrier was made at a meeting on Thursday of senior ministers in Berlin. The planned military action was a necessary strike against the militant terrorists, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of lawmakers from her conservative Christian Democrats and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union allies. “It’s not possible to fight Islamic State with words: You have to fight them militarily,” Merkel said earlier. “We have to end the talk and act because of the high value we place on security, and this demands decisive action.” According to media reports, Paris had wanted the jets to provide reconnaissance backup for the French military mission against Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for a night of terrorist attacks in Paris Nov. 13 that killed 130 people. Staying out of the coalition was not an option for Germany if the country wants to keep the terrorist threat at bay, Defense Minister Minister Ursula von der Leyen said. “Everyone can see that the problems will come our way if we don’t take care of them in a timely fashion,” she said. “If we want to fight terrorism and the reasons people are fleeing, then we have to do so locally.” In addition to the jets and warship, Germany agreed to deploy aircraft for the refueling of coalition fighter jets, and to send satellite reconnaissance information. The warship is likely to provide backup to the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which has been sent to the eastern Mediterranean. German participation in the coalition would be only the third time since the end of World War II that the nation’s military forces have joined such a combat mission. German jets were used in Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo War.

More recently, members of the German army operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Germany also promised this week to send 650 soldiers to the United Nations military mission in Mali.

 

^ Germany is finally doing what other countries (mostly the US) has been doing for over a year - fighting to stop IS. It is joining other countries (Russia, etc) that have recently joined the fight only after they were attacked. While it is good that new countries are finally joining against IS it shouldn't take an attack to force you into doing something that is right. ^

http://www.stripes.com/germany-joins-coalition-against-islamic-state-1.380818