Comparing Germany in 1933 with the USA in 2001 [View All]

[IkeWarnedUs]

At first I was uncomfortable with comparing Bush to Hitler. I thought it was another insult, like comparing Bush to a chimp. I have been reading more about the history of the 20th century and I now see that the comparisons between what happened in Germany in the 30's and what is happening today in the US are enormous and terrifying. I have prepared this to hand out to people and offer it to DU'ers to read and use as they like.

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Prolog

Many years before he rose to power, Adolph Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf," which was a summary of his philosophy and a blueprint for Germany's future as the head of the Aryan master race and conqueror of surrounding lands. (1)

Before George W. Bush rose to power many members of his administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, wrote "Rebuilding America's Defenses; Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century," which was a summary of their philosophy and plans to create an American empire. (2)

1933

Adolph Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. He was not elected, and in fact had only received 37 percent of the popular vote in the election held on April 10, 1932. He was appointed after Chancellor Hindenberg was forced to resign due to a steady barrage of violence, blackmail, lies and subversion. (3)

On January 20, 2001 George W. Bush was sworn in as President of the United States after being declared the winner of a contested election by the Supreme Court in a split decision. Mr. Bush did not win the majority of votes cast in the election, either nationally or, as discovered later when the votes were recounted, in the disputed State of Florida. Furthermore, the elections in Florida were suspect due to cases of civil rights violations, vote fraud and intimidation. (4)

On February 27, 1933 the Reichstag building in Berlin (where the German Parliament was housed) went up in flames. When Chancellor Hitler arrived at the scene he described it as a "beacon from heaven" and "the beginning of a great epoch in German history." (5)

On September 11, 2001 airplanes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. President Bush's immediate reaction was to read a story about a goat to a room full of children. (6) Later that night President Bush said in his diary, "The Pearl Harbor of the 21st century took place today." (7)

A Dutch left-wing radical, Marinus van der Lubbe, was arrested at the scene of the Reichstag fire and declared to have been solely responsible for the attack on democracy in Germany. Further research suggests that it would not have been possible for van der Lubbe to have committed the crime alone and that the Nazi's themselves set the fire to advance their political agenda. (8)

At 4pm EDT on September 11, 2001, before the dust settled from the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, CNN reported that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attacks. (9) Within days the FBI released the names and photos of the 19 alleged hijackers, even though none of the hijackers names were on the list of passengers and many of the named hijackers are still alive (10). Many people, including a former member of the British Parliament, have suggested the Bush administration allowed the attacks to happen to further their political agenda. (11)

On March 23, 1933, just weeks after the Reichstag fire, the German parliament passed The Enabling Act which abolished freedom of expression of opinions, freedom of the press, protection against unlawful search and seizure, individual property rights, rights to privacy in electronic and postal communications and right of assembly. (12)

On October 26, 2001, just weeks after the attacks of September 11, the American Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the US Constitution. It allowed for increased monitoring of financial transactions, creation of a DNA bank to identify terrorists and other violent offenders, changed the scope of search warrants, including for electronic information, and greatly increased CIA and FBI powers to monitor individuals, including US citizens. (13)

Epilog

Once his position of power was secured, Adolph Hitler went on to carry out his plans to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe and create an Aryan nation. Approximately 6 million Jews were killed and Germany conquered Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France and attacked Britain and Russia before he was stopped. (14)

Since September 11, 2001 the Bush administration has bombed Afghanistan, imprisoned people, including American citizens, without charges or access to attorneys, passed laws and issued Executive Orders eliminating constitutional rights for Americans, waged pre-emptive war on Iraq, killing and injuring tens of thousands, including American troops and reporters and more. (15)

Comparisons of President Bush to Adolph Hitler are painted as inflammatory partisan political attacks and dismissed by otherwise reasonable people.

I urge everyone to remember the words of philosopher George Santayana, who wrote, "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

The stakes are too high to dismiss the parallels because the language seems inflammatory.

Footnotes

(1) http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/kampf2.htm

(2) http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

(3) http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm

(4) http://www.gregpalast.com/columns.cfm?subject_id=1&subject_name=Theft%20of%20Presidency

(5) http://www.prisonplanet.com/analysis_inganamort_123102_irrational.html

(6) http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/06/11_Booker.html

(7) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43708-2002Jan26¬Found=true

(8) http://ww2.klup.info/?art=164

(9) http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/

(10) http://3d17.org/viewdocument/911911

(11) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/comment/0,12956,1036687,00.html

(12) http://www.parkland.sd63.bc.ca:1084/enabling_act.htm

(13) http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/DOJ_guidance.pdf

(14) http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/adolf-hitler.shtml

(15) http://www.democraticunderground.com