A newsNH editorial
On April 5th, in a speech at the Brookings Institution, Senator Ted Kennedy said, "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam." When asked about this at his news conference on April 13th, George Bush said, "I think the analogy is false."
Bush is right, and Kennedy is wrong. Iraq is not Vietman.
History does not repeat itself exactly, but history is a river that often runs in parallel channels, and the parallels between the the events of the nineteen thirties and now are disturbingly close. Let's look at some of those parallels.
Propaganda
|
THEN
German newspapers said:
"Complete chaos in Poland--German families flee--Polish soldiers push to edge of German border!"
|
NOW Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the United Nations with charts and photos claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. |
Ignore world opinion
|
THEN The League of Nations was powerless to stop Hitler. He just ignored them. |
NOW The United Nations was powerless to stop Bush. He just ignored them. |
Unprovoked attack
|
THEN GERMANY ATTACKS POLAND |
NOW UNITED STATES ATTACKS IRAQ |
The strong attack the weak
|
THEN Germany had been secretly building a "modern" army, whereas Poland had a World War One military. It was a battle between steel tanks and horse calvary! |
NOW The United States is the only "Superpower," whereas Iraq was slowly sinking into "third world" status. Iraq's rifle infantry was attacked by space-guided "smart bombs" |
Quick war
|
THEN BLITZKRIEG |
NOW SHOCK AND AWE |
Curtail civil liberties
|
THEN
"The Nuremberg Laws" |
NOW
"The Patriot Act" |
Extrajudicial arrests
|
THEN Round up the Jews |
NOW Round up the Muslims |
Concentration camp
|
THEN
AUSCHWITZ |
NOW
GUANTANAMO BAY |
Philosophy of domination
|
THEN
The Thousand-Year Reich |
NOW
The New American Century |
One-party rule
|
THEN All aspects of the German government were controled by the Nazi Party. |
NOW All branches of the US government are controled by the Republican Party. |
War profiteers
|
THEN
Krupp
|
NOW
Halliburton
|
The question ...
|
THEN
Where were the good Germans? |
NOW
Where are the good Americans? |
Do not take my word for any of this. Go to your public library and read the history books. See especially the The Nazification of Germany section in William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Talk to your parents or grandparents ... talk to the people who lived through the time when the Fascists took over Europe.
Do not let Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Powell, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rice, and their ilk turn
America into a totalitarian state. They have already traveled a long way down that road, but there is still time to ...
Torture
|
THEN Torture and murder of Jewish prisoners. |
NOW Torture and murder of Muslim prisoners |