How should terrorism be dealt with in Germany?

Otto Schily, Minister of the Interior and former lawyer of Germany's top terrorists of the 70s, the RAF, gave an interview in Germany's top political weekly Der Spiegel


This interview was a big surprise. Schily used to be left wing and liberal, liberal enough to defend left wing terrorists in court. But times change.

After he became Minister of the Interior his opinions changed. Today he is regarded as right wing as it gets for the Social Democratic Party. And still this interview was like the drop of a bomb ( i am sorry for my military language, but it fits here)

He kind of said that eventually, it should not be ruled out to kill terrorists before they can do their deed.

For the US this isn't spectacular. For Germany it is! There is no death penalty here. German politicians of all factions criticize Guantanamo Bay. Germany does not deport foreign criminals to their home country if they will face torture or death there BUT...
referring to a terrorist statement (You love life and we love death) he said they can get it if they love it.

Maybe Schily said that unintentionally because he seemed to try to get out of it.
He went on that he was against death penalty but posed the question whether it is part of the right to self-defense to kill suspected terrorists before they comitted a crime.

The coalition partner, The Green Party, is furious about Schily's comments but the conservative opposition applauded him.

I can tell you, there will be lots of lots of debates on this.