There have been a lot of comparisons between George W. Bush and Adolph Hitler in what I've heard and read over the course of the last couple of years. And at first I thought, as did many I'm sure, that this was a bit of an exaggeration. That the liberal left were branding him a fascist and going to extremes to make a point. But make a point they did - if you look at it in an historical, objective prospective, you'll start to get chills by the similarities.
In one of my earlier posts, I quoted Herman Göring on the power of nationalism: "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a facist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." This was quoted during the Nuremberg Trials. Bush has invoked September 11th over and over again. And I'm not sure if this is correct, but I cannot recall a Bush speech in recent memory concerning Iraq where he has failed to mention 9/11.
An article by Cheryl Seal documents the Hitler-Bush comparison well. Here are some higlights (my additions are in yellow):
No one expected Hitler to rise to power. He had failed at just about everything he had even undertaken until he discovered politics. Hitler was a fervent Christian until his egomania superceded faith in a "higher power." Substitute "Bush" for "Hitler"and this statement works just as well.
In Hitler's first radio speech after becoming Chancellor on January 30, 1933, he pledged "to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation" and invoked God's blessing on the German government. He claimed to be a "uniter, not a divider."
The Nazis' battle cry throughout their campaign had been "down with the liberals!" Once in office, Hitler made "liberals" (a mass group into which he lumped social democrats, gays, Jews, and any threat to Hitler's model of Christian society) his sworn enemies.
Goebbels, head of propaganda and undoubtedly the bulk of the diabolical brains behind the operation, gleefully wrote in his diary: "The struggle is a light one now as we are able to employ all the means of the state [which included the judiciary]". In addition, he noted, "Radio and press are at our disposal." Think Karl Rove and Fox News.
Hitler believed that to consolidate his power, he needed to create an "enemy of the state." Contrary to popular belief, the first "enemy" Hitler formally targeted was not the Jews but the Communist Party. Why? Because they were the most outspoken activists against his regime. Hitler was thus the first to invoke the spectre of "the Red Menace." Enemy of the State = Saddam Hussein. Substitute "Red Menace" with "Axis of Evil".
The Fuhrer, becoming progressively more drunk with his new power, ...to facilitate his demonization of the "Reds," he sent provocateurs to orchestrate a staged act of "terrorism." Their dupe was a young revolutionary named Van der Lubbe, who was implicated in (i.e. framed for) the bombing of the Reichstag (the equivalent of the Congressional building). Now I'm not saying 9/11 was "staged", at least not the World Trade Center. I can't bear to think that would be the case, but I do question our lack of response on that day. Where was NORAD? Why were they told to stand down? Where was the plane wreckage at the Pentagon? Big hole in the wall... no plane wreckage?
This incident gave Hitler the excuse he needed for "cracking down" on "enemies of the state." He rallied the Germans against the "terrorists" and passed the odious "Enabling Acts," in which the government was granted the right to bypass any due process for "suspects." Here it is. The Patriot Act in all its glory.
Hitler began to isolate Germany from the rest of the world: One of his first actions after assuming power was to withdraw from the League of Nations. Bush decided what he would do regardless of what the United Nations thought.
Hitler made public dissent first all but impossible, then illegal. At first, whenever groups tried to voice a protest during a public speech, he would have storm troopers clear the dissenters from the hall. Hitler also made sure that the media did not give provide the public with any coverage of dissenters or public protests because it was "encouraging of destructive elements." Boy does this sound familiar! How many times has Cindy Sheehan been arrested? How many times have the Secret Service or the CIA or FBI dragged protesters out of public speeches, not even for disrupting the proceedings, but for sitting there silently while wearing a T-shirt in opposition of Herr Bush? And how many times have we seen it on television?
Hitler was very fond of photo ops. He believed they were his best form of PR and pounced on them at every opportunity. Mission accomplished.
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Just recently, Bush spoke of Iran in his New Way Forward speech and how “Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.” Compare that statement to the Gleiwitz incident.
The Gleiwitz incident was a staged attack on August 31, 1939 against the German radio Station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany on the eve of WWII in Europe. This provocation was one of several actions in Operation Himmler, a Nazi Germany project to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, which would be used to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland. At the same time as the Gleiwitz attack there were other incidents orchestrated by Germany along the Polish-German border, such as house torching in the Polish Corridor and other propaganda. The entire project, dubbed Operation Himmler and comprising 21 incidents in all, was intended to give the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany.
On the day following the Gleiwitz attack, Germany launched the invasion of Poland — initiating World War II in Europe. In a speech in the Reichstag, Hitler cited the 21 border incidents, with three of them called very serious, as justification for Germany's "defensive" action against Poland.
This is all too scary to think about, but it's out there. George Santayana is quoted as saying "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." In this case, I think history was studied all too well with the full intention of repeating it.
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