(L.) indicates Langer's words, (H.) indicates Hitler's words.
It has been deemed unacceptable, even laughable to talk about or write about G.W. Bush's administration as being like that of Adolph Hitler. But now, with Bush's claims to extraordinary "war times" powers -- claims which have, alas, gone largely unchallenged by Congress and todays media -- coupled with his description of Iran's leader as being "like Hitler" and the fact that nearly identical measures are being used by this administration [parroted by a still largely stenographic press] to fear-monger America's people into war against Iran that were used to fear-monger the public into supporting war against Iraq, perhaps the public should be given a glimpse of how the good people of Germany allowed Hitler to become, over time, the monster he became.
It is interesting to note that many of the people who are most convinced of the truth of the premise that Bush is like Hitler and America is like Germany was in the 1930's are people who lived in Germany while Hitler was in power. Indeed, a gentleman who grew up in Germany under Hitler and emigrated to America following WWII moved back to Europe last year. He said he was leaving because what is going on now in America is what he had experienced in Germany when he was a kid and he could not bear to stay and see that sort of thing happen in America. He said he had been too young to be able to help try to stop Hitler in Germany, and he is too old to be able to help stop Bush's takeover in America. He said he would pray for us. link
I include here an excerpt of the writing of just one person who lived under Hitler during the Holocaust:
"So why, now, when I hear GWB's speeches, do I think of Hitler? Why have I drawn a parallel between the Nazis and the present administration? Just one small reason -the phrase 'Never forget'. Never let this happen again. It is better to question our government - because it really can happen here - than to ignore the possibility.
"So far, I've seen nothing to eliminate the possibility that Bush is on the same course as Hitler. And I've seen far too many analogies to dismiss the possibility. The propaganda. The lies. The rhetoric. The nationalism. The flag waving. The pretext of 'preventive war'. The flaunting of international law and international standards of justice. The disappearances of 'undesirable' aliens. The threats against protesters. The invasion of a non-threatening sovereign nation. The occupation of a hostile country. The promises of prosperity and security. The spying on ordinary citizens. The incitement to spy on one's neighbors -and report them to the government. The arrogant triumphant pride in military conquest. The honoring of soldiers. The tributes to 'fallen warriors. The diversion of money to the military. The demonization of government appointed 'enemies'. The establishment of 'Homeland Security'. The dehumanization of 'foreigners'. The total lack of interest in the victims of government policy. The incarceration of the poor and mentally ill. The growing prosperity from military ventures. The illusion of 'goodness' and primacy. The new einsatzgrupen forces. Assassination teams. Closed extralegal internment camps. The militarization of domestic police. Media blackout of non-approved issues. Blacklisting of protesters - including the no-fly lists and photographing dissenters at rallies..."link
Nevertheless, it is certainly true that George Bush is not Adolph Hitler. He has not built crematoriums to exterminate people (although his refusal to disallow torture and his hypocritical policy of "extraordinary rendition" comes uncomfortably close to the concept of deliberate extermination to me), the wars he has initiated have not (yet) been responsible for the deaths of anywhere near the fifty million people who died in World War II world-wide.
I am sure it is not, now, Bush's wish to commit murder in those kinds of numbers. But, he confided to many of his friends that he felt God wanted him to be president. He has also reportedly said both that God speaks to him and God speaks through him. And that God told him to "strike Saddam." He, like Hitler, has an absolute belief in what he perceives to be his "mission," and nothing, including whatever number of deaths that perceived "mission" might entail seems likely to deter him from wherever he believes his "path" leads him. He is "resolute." He will not be swayed from the path "God" has set him upon.
"Hitler's strongest point is, perhaps, his firm belief in his mission and, in public, the complete dedication of his life to its fulfillment." (L. 74.)
Hitler, too, believed God was behind him. "Hitler believes he has been sent to Germany by Providence and that he has a particular mission to perform...He has been chosen to redeem the German people and reshape Europe." (L. p. 35). "I carry out the commands that Providence has laid upon me." (H. p. 36). Hitler believed himself to be an "Immortal Hitler chosen by God to be the New Deliverer of Germany and the Founder of a new social order for the world." (L. p. 42.) "Providence had given him the "spark" that transformed him overnight. It was now his mission to transform the remainder of the German people by winning them to his view of life and the New Order." (L. p. 219.)
We know the desire of the neocons is absolute control of the Middle East, and the world. We know Iraq was only the first of many wars they believe might need to be fought in order to accomplish that goal. Indeed, in the "New Yorker" Sy Hersch has just written that Bush's real obsession is not Iraq, but Iran. In fact it is alleged in the recently released book Cobra II that Dick Cheney undermined security plans for Iraq utilizing the 300,000 strong Iraqi Army at least in part because he was intent on invading Iran as well as Syria once we had subdued Iraq. A strong Iraqi security force might have taken exception to yet more upheaval in the Middle East.
Even if it is not Bush's wish that war spread throughout the Middle East, by his illegal invasion of Iraq against the will of the overwhelming majority of the people of the world and against the advice of experts on that region exacerbated by the incompetence of the occupation of Iraq and even Afghanistan, Bush has fomented such hatred that his imperial goals notwithstanding, the war he initiated under false pretenses may be only the beginning of the violence. He may well have, unwittingly or otherwise, initiated a war destined to be only the beginning of multiple wars which will kill massive numbers of people and impoverish millions of others. And, because Bush has not dealt with Kim Jong Il, North Korea's megalomaniac, Kim could conceivably begin a nuclear war as well.
The idea of more or less never ending war is a Fascist idea. As Mussolini himself said, "And above all, Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. . . . War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it."
Compare that to what a real Republican war hero, Dwight Eisenhower, said at a press conference in 1954: "I don't believe there is such a thing as a preventive war, and I would not seriously listen to anyone who came and talked to me about such a thing."
But in their quest for world control, the neocons may get more than they bargained for. Their pollyannish belief that the people of the countries involved would be willing to stand docilely by and cheerfully let America occupy their nations and steal their resources while they, themselves, were left destitute has proven to have been overly optimistic.
Had the Iraq War gone more smoothly, would American troops be fighting in Iran and Syria already?
It defies reason that while the neocons took advantage of the passions aroused by American nationalism after 9/11 to accomplish their agenda, they have not been able to understand that people in other countries when attacked will also respond with their own brand of nationalism. Hatred against the outside invader takes precedence over disagreements with any "inside" enemy, and various factions inside targeted countries will forget differences among themselves and join forces to fight the foreign enemy, even if they hate their rulers and would like a freer society. They do not want a government that will be shoved down their throat by Americans over the bodies of their children and the destruction of their cities. They will fight to prevent America dictating how they should live, just as we, in 1776, fought a revolution against England because we wanted the freedom to determine our own destiny. This has turned out to be true of Iraq, and will doubtless be true of Iran as well, just as Hal Crowther in his delightful piece "With Trembling Fingers" said it would be true of America under similar circumstances as well.
"If our presidential election fails to dislodge the crazy bastards who annexed Baghdad, many of us in this country would welcome regime change by any intervention, human or divine. But if, say, the Chinese came in to rescue us -- Operation American Freedom -- how long would any of us, left-wing or right, put up with an occupying army teaching us Chinese-style democracy? A guerrilla who opposes an invading army on his own soil is not a terrorist, he's a resistance fighter. In Iraq we're not fighting enemies but making enemies. As Richard Clarke and others have observed, every dollar, bullet and American life that we spend in Iraq is one that's not being spent in the war on terrorism. Every Iraqi, every Muslim we kill or torture or humiliate is a precious shot of adrenaline for Osama and al Qaeda."
America was attacked on 9/11. Relatively few people were killed and only several buildings were affected by the attack. Yet because of that attack, Americans wanted revenge and were willing to bomb one country. And because of that attack, and their need to feel "in charge" again, Americans were willing to support a war against another country - one not even involved in the 9/11 attack. However, because of the administration's deliberately misleading morphing of Osama bin Laden and Saudi Arabia into Saddam Hussein and Iraq, the lie of which our pathetic broadcast media did not bother to clarify, most Americans believed Hussein had something to do with 9/11 and ties with Al Qaeda, and many do to this day.
Imagine the resolve of people to fight back who have been or will be on the receiving end of the much greater destruction to their homes and countries brought about because of American bombs?! No other country can come close to matching the number or power of the weapons of mass destruction America possesses. Indeed, if any nations could legitimately claim the right to launch "preemptive" wars by claiming they were doing it to stave off attack, those nations would be the nations America threatens. And there would be no ambiguity about who is responsible for any massive bombings America initiates. America will not be blamed for something someone else did, as Hussein was blamed for what bin Laden did.
Consequently, Bush, in the fulfillment of his mission has the potential to kill an unthinkable number of people. Iraq is only a good start. He may be, as Nelson Mandela has said, a man of "little foresight" who "doesn't think properly, " But if the past four years have proven anything, they have proven he is "resolute." It is not likely that widespread death, which seems to be an abstraction to him - aided by the fact that he has never attended a soldier's funeral - would cause him to doubt the path Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Perls have set him upon. Not only did Bush say "Bring 'em on!" He also uses the term "stay the course." He may not believe as Henry Kissinger wrote that "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals," but he certainly believes the second part of that statement - that they are "to be used as pawns in foreign policy." General Zinni said the path Bush has set himself upon so resolutely leads us right over a cliff. But Bush, like Hitler, knows that frightened people like to be led by someone who is confident. Even if he is confident and wrong.
"I follow my course with the precision and security of a sleepwalker." (H. p. 31)
Let us also not forget, Bush is the president under whom torture has been deemed okay, and who is outsourcing torture to countries where even such methods as boiling people has been known to take place. He is the man who has placed convicted felons and known supporters of torture and death squads -- Negroponte, to name one -- in positions of power.
Additionally, Bush has a potential Hitler really did not have. He has the potential to virtually end life on earth. His power mad underlings, the ones former CIA agent Ray McGovern says were called "the Crazies" during the first President Bush's administration, talk about "limited" and "winnable" nuclear war. Bush himself, of course, has a "nukaler" bomb proof underground bunker. And Bush's virulent faith might convince him that God would rescue "God's country" and "good Christian" people from any devastation his acts might rain down on the "evil" people and the "evil" countries. Against, I might add, all historical evidence to the contrary. After all, fifty million people, the majority of them Christian people, died during WWII. And, while the Crusaders were certainly dedicated to their mission, on the whole they lost those early Christian wars.
Remember the "Axis of Evil?" Bush does not see those countries as areas of land made up of innocent people, most of whom are simply trying to live their lives as best they can, just as we all are . Instead, he sees them as part of an evil whole. Bush thinks in terms of black and white. Good versus evil. "Evil doers." "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists."
In a word. BULLSHIT!!
In 1943 Langer wrote, "It was not only Hitler, the madman, who created German madness, but German madness that created Hitler. Having created him as its spokesman and leader, it has been carried along by his momentum, perhaps far beyond the point where it was originally prepared to go...The madness of the Fuehrer has become the madness of a nation...a reciprocal relationship exists between the Fuehrer and the people...the madness of the one stimulates and flows into the other and vice versa." (L. 154.)
--- to be continued
Bio: Lonna Gooden VanHorn was born and raised on a small farm in Minnesota. She is the mother of 6, a grandmother, and the wife of a Vietnam veteran. Formely a person who did not "get involved" in controversy, she has decided to become a trouble maker in her old age. Lonna has articles on many websites. Archives of some of her articles may be accessed here and here. Pictures of her "book on wheels" may be accessed here. Click on the thumbnails, and the pictures will enlarge so must of what is on the signs can be read. If you would like transcripts of the entire contents of her information truck, e-mail jvanhorn@peoplepc.com and she will send you her truck file as an attachment.
You know you're living in a dictatorship when telling the truth becomes a crime - If that's not tyranny, what is?
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