In June, for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the German Chancellery (Angela Merkel's equivalent of the White House) even summoned the so-called Security Group, a government round that meets only in periods of crisis, and which was this time attended by the state secretaries of the Interior, Foreign and Defense Ministries.
The reason for the special meeting -- which was chaired by Thomas de Maiziere, Angela Merkel's chief of staff at the Chancellery, was a secret CIA analysis that presents a list of reasons why Germany is currently particularly at risk, in the United States government's opinion. Besides Germany's participation in NATO's Afghanistan mission, the reasons include the high number of German Islamists with contacts to Pakistan and the good opportunities for traveling to Western Europe that people returning from the Hindu Kush region enjoy.

As for Hussain al-M., President Pervez Musharraf's diplomats have signaled that the German government could choose whether it wants him or not. The case of the stateless Lebanese man al-M., who holds a permanent residence permit in Neunkirchen, in Germany's Saarland region, is considered especially delicate in Berlin. Government officials still remember all too well another Pakistani detainee for whom Berlin took no responsibility (more...) -- that of German-born Turkish citizen Murat Kurnaz. Kurnaz ended up at Guantanamo.