Common historical wisdom has it that Germany became a peaceful nation after World War II. So, why does nobody talk about Germany's War against Saddam Hussein, known as the First Gulf War?
And did you know that a special war tax was introduced in German in 1991 to help finance the First Gulf War?
Or that the tax, initially limited to one year, is still in effect today?
If this sounds bit much and you feel on course for a trip into conspiracy theory land, rest assured, the story is official, which means it exists in the real world outside of Wikipedia.
This blog has mentioned the tax, Solidaritätszuschlag in German, or solidarity levy for everybody else, in the context of the huge expenditures faced by the country as a result of re-unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain.
The levy is mentioned only in terms of support for this venture and in terms of general infrastructure support when it comes to discussions about its future.
Only today did we see it addressed as "funds for the US and its Allies for the First Gulf War" in one of the articles about the future of the tax in German weekly Die Zeit.
Digging a little deeper, starting with Wikipedia, which has a well documented page on Gulf War I in German, we find that the current narrative of the solidarity levy as the vehicle of economic transformation of the ailing former East Germany became the official narrative only in 1995. It stuck, as you have seen if you have read about it since that time.
How then did the then convervative and liberal (as in UK concept of liberal) coalition sell the law to the people?
Limited to 1 year
No big deal, it won't hurt at all. A mere twelve months, and we return to regular business.
Well, the tax is still around 25 years later, and no end is in sight.
Not really to support the Gulf War
Aware that saying all of the funds would go to the war effort, the government said "in part as a result of the crisis in the Gulf..but also to support the countries of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe...as well as some additional expenditures in the new East German states."
The enumeration is pure genius. It avoids the term war, that well earned anathema in Germany, and it minimizes the contribution with "in part as a result", then building to a crescendo through enumerating "Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe" and trailing off with some additional expenditures in the new East German states.
Was it really a war tax, since it did go to other ends as well?
Projected revenue of the one year levy was about 22 billion Deutschmarks (DM). Germany had agreed to pay between 15 and 20% of the total cost of the Gulf War.
Germany paid some 17.9 billion DM towards the war effort plus some 2 billion to Arab neighboring countries of Iraq as general support.
Which adds up to just under 20 billion DM out of a projected 22 billion.
Looks like a war tax to me. Not counting a few millions spent on coming up with a peaceful name and on selling the package to a nation whose citizens took the slogan "Never again" to heart after WW II - having failed with that very same slogan after World War I.
While the official list of countries that sent troops does not include Germany, it is well known that a German contingent of ground troops roughly in the order of the Polish or Dutch strength of 200, was active in the area. As a matter of fact, the blogster happens to know one of them. He came back to spend a year in hospital suffering from Gulf War Syndrome.
The Solidarity Levy came in handy again later, with German participation in Kosovo, in Somalia, Afghanistan, and other places.
Its contribution to the rebuilding of East Germany?
Negligible at best. In 1990, the German government estimated that effort at 100 billion DM in total.
The latest tally stands at over 2 trillion Euros (which is about 4 trillion DM at the 2:1 exchange rate when the Euro was introduced).
Go figure.
In major civilian events, you see sponsor banners plastered everywhere, you get venues named after major sponsors, TV rights contracts with specific sponsor product placement stipulation, why don't we have the same for wars?
Colorful signs don't go over too well, with the camouflage requirements and such? Glow in the dark is even worse? Oh, the corrosive effect of salt water in a maritime environment forbids them?
Come on, if you can sell a war tax as a one year solidarity levy, you can definitely figure out a way to bring sponsorship the the battlefield.
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