In article <bto8s0$1iph$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, Mark Robinowitz says...

http://www.oilempire.us/reichstag-fire.html
The Reichstag Fire and 9-11
Pretexts for Dictatorship and the Fourth Reich

http://truthout.org/docs_04/010904A.shtml
   The Bush Hitler Thing
   t r u t h o u t | Reader Submission

   Friday 09 January 2004

   Dear Sir,

    My family was one of Hitler's victims. We lost a lot under the 
Nazi occupation, including an uncle who died in the camps and a 
cousin killed by a booby trap. I was terrified when my father went 
ballistic after finding my brother and me playing with a hand 
grenade. (I was only 12 at the time, and my brother insisted the 
grenade was safe.) I remember the rubble and the hardships of 
'austerity' - and the bomb craters from Allied bombs. As late as the 
1980s, I had to take detours while bombs were being removed - they 
litter the countryside, buried under parking lots,buildings, and in 
the canals and rivers to this day. Believe me, I learned a lot about 
Hitler while I was growing up, both in Europe and here in the US - 
both my parents were in the war and talked about it constantly, 
unlike most American families. I spent my earliest years with the 
second-hand fear that trickled down from their PTSD - undiagnosed and 
untreated in those days.

    I'm no expert on WWII - but I learned a lot about what happened 
in Germany - and Europe - back in those days. I always wondered how 
the wonderful German people - so honest, decent, hard-working, 
friendly, and generous - could ever allow such a thing to happen. 
(There were camps near my family's home - they still talk about them 
only in hushed conspiratorial whispers.) I asked a lot of questions - 
we were only a few kilometers from the German border - and no one 
ever denied me. My relatives had obviously spent a lot of time 
thinking about the war - they still haven't forgotten - I don't think 
anyone can forget such a horrible nightmare. Among the questions I 
asked:

    Why didn't you do anything about the people in the camps?

Everyone was terrified. People 'disappeared' into those camps. 
Sometimes the Nazis came and lined everyone up, walking behind them - 
even school children - with a cocked pistol. You never knew when they 
would just shoot someone in the back of the head. Everyone was 
terrified. Everyone was disarmed - guns were registered, so all the 
Nazis had to do was go from house to house and demand the guns.

    Didn't you see what was happening?

We saw. There was nothing we could do. Our military had no modern 
weapons. The Nazis had technology and resources - they just invaded 
and took over - we were overwhelmed by their air power. They had 
spies everywhere - people spying on each other, just to have an 'ace 
in the hole' in case they were accused - and anyone who had a grudge 
against you could accuse you of something - just an accusation meant 
you'd disappear. Nobody dared ask where you had gone - anyone who 
returned was considered suspicious - what had they said, and who did 
they implicate? It was a climate of fear - there's nothing anyone can 
do when the government uses fear and imprisonment to intimidate 
people. The government was above the law - even in Germany, it became 
'every man for himself'. Advancement was possible by exposing 
'traitors' - anyone who questioned the government. It didn't matter 
if the people you accused were guilty or not - just the accusation 
was enough.

    Did anyone know what was going on?

We all knew. We imagined the worst because the Nazis made 'examples' 
of a few people in every town and village. Public torture and 
execution. The most unspeakable atrocities were committed in full 
view of everyone. If this is what happened in public, can you imagine 
what might be going on in the camps? Nobody wanted to know.

    Why didn't the German people stop the Nazis?

Life was better, at first, under the Nazis. The war machine  
invigorated the economy - men had jobs again, and enough money to 
take care of their family. New building projects were everywhere. The 
shops were full again - and people could afford good food, culture, 
and luxuries. Women could stay home in comfort. Crime was reduced. 
Health care improved. It was a rosy scenario - Hitler brought order 
and prosperity. His policies won widespread approval because life was 
better for most Germans, after the misery of reparations and 
inflation. The people liked the idea of removing the worst elements 
of society - the gypsies, the homosexuals, the petty criminals - it 
was easy to elicit support for prosecuting the corrupt 'evil' people 
poisoning society. Every family was proud of their hometown heroes - 
the sharply-dressed soldiers they contributed to his program - they 
were, after all,defending the Fatherland. Continuing a proud 
tradition that had been defeated and shamed after WWI, the soldiers 
gave the feeling of power and success to the proud families that 
showered them with praise and support. Their early victories were 
reason to celebrate - in spite of the fact that they faced poorly 
armed inferior forces - further proof that what they were doing was 
right, and the best thing for the country. The news was full of 
stories about their bravery and accomplishments against a vile enemy. 
They were 'liberating' these countries from their corrupt governments.

    These are some of the answers I gleaned over the years. As a 
child, I was fascinated with the Nazis. I thought the German soldiers 
were really something - that's how strong an impression they made, 
even after the war. After all, they weren't the ones committing war 
crimes - they were the pride of their families and communities. It 
was just the SS and Gestapo that were 'bad'. Now I know better -but 
that pride in the military was a strong factor for many years, only 
adding to the mystique of military power - after all, my father had 
been a soldier too, but in the American army. It took a while to 
figure out the truth.

    Every time I've gone back to Europe, someone has taken me to the 
'gardens of stone' - the Allied cemeteries that dot the countryside. 
With great sadness, my relatives would stand in abject misery, 
remembering the nightmare, and asking 'Why?'. Maybe that's why they 
wouldn't support the US invasion of Iraq. They knew war. They knew 
occupation. And they knew resistance. I saw the building where 
British flyers hid on their way back to England - smuggled out by 
brave families that risked the lives of everyone to help the Allies. 
As a child, I had played in a basement, where the cow lived under the 
house, as is common there. The same place those flyers hid.

    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.

    There isn't much doubt in my mind - anyone who compares the 
history of Hitler's rise to power and the progression of recent 
events in the US cannot avoid the parallels. It's incontrovertible. 
Is Bush another Hitler? Maybe not, but with each incriminating event, 
the parallel grows -it certainly cannot be dismissed. There's too 
much evidence already. Just as Hitler used American tactics to plan 
and execute his reign, it looks as if Karl Rove is reading Hitler's 
playbook to plan world domination - and that is the stated intent of 
both. From the Reichstag fire to the landing at Nuremberg to the 
motto of "Gott Mit Uns" to the unprovoked invasion and occupation of 
Iraq to the insistence that peace was the ultimate goal, the line is 
unbroken and unwavering.

    I'm afraid now, that what may still come to pass is a reign far 
more savage and barbaric than that of the Nazis. Already, appeasement 
has been fruitless - it only encourages the brazen to escalate their 
arrogance and braggadocio. Americans support Bush - by a generous 
majority - and mass media sings his praises while indicting his 
detractors - or silencing their opinions completely. The American 
people seem to care only about the domestic economic situation - and 
even in that, they are in complete denial. They don't want to hear 
about Iraq, and Afghanistan is already forgotten. Even the Democratic 
opposition supports the occupation of Iraq. Everyone seems to agree 
that Saddam Hussein deserves to be executed -with or without a trial. 
'Visitors' are fingerprinted. Guilty until proven innocent. Snipers 
are on New York City rooftops. When do the Stryker teams start 
appearing on American streets? They're perfectly suited for 'Homeland 
Security' - and they've had a trial run in Iraq. The Constitution has 
been suspended - until further notice. Dick Cheney just mentioned it 
may be for decades - even a generation, as Rice asserts as well. Is 
this the start of the 1000 year reign of this new collection of 
thugs? So it would seem.

    I can only hope that in the coming year there will be some sign 
- some hint - that we are not becoming that which we abhor. The 
Theory of the Grotesque fares all too well these days. It may not be 
Nazi Germany - it might be a lot worse.

   SL | Wisconsin

-------

http://www.oilempire.us/moveon.html#30seconds

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff01062004.html
January 6, 2004
RNC Plays the Hitler Card
MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads
 By DAVE LINDORFF
You can tell that the Republican Party is more worried than it lets 
on about the upcoming November election. Today's shrill attack on the 
MoveOn.org organization, which the

Republican National Committee is 

accusing--incorrectly and dishonestly--of endorsing two sample 
political ads which draw comparisons between Hitler and George Bush, 
demonstrates how much the Bush brain trust fears this remarkably 
successful populist internet-based organization.
The two ads were actually among some 1000 that were submitted as part 
of a contest established by MoveOn to come up with strong ads for the 
2004 Democratic campaign. They, along with over 1000 others, were 
submitted to Move.On for consideration. The organization put them all 
on its website and allowed members to vote for the best. A group of 
15 30-second submissions which received the most votes were then 
posted as finalists.
Neither of the controversial Hitler/Bush ads made that cut, but the 
RNC went ahead and issued press releases, as well as sending RNC 
Chairman Ed Gillespie rushing over to Fox TV, to denounce MoveOn for 
presumably insulting Bush and American Jews.
MoveOn's Eli Pariser has responded to this GOP assault explaining 
that clearly the organization never endorsed those ads, and that its 
membership obviously rejected them. Further, he says MoveOn "regrets 
the appearance" of the two ads on the MoveOn website, where they were 
briefly available for viewing along with all the other submissions 
initially (they've been removed now). Interestingly, now that those 
ads have been pulled by MoveOn, the only place the scripts can be 
read is on the RNC website (http://www.rnc.org/moveonvideo.htm).
But Pariser shouldn't be so quick to express his regrets. The truth 
is that the two ads are pretty darned good. The first shows Hitler in 
a parade and speaking, followed by scenes of German troops attacking, 
planes bombing, tanks firing, and victorious troops goose-stepping 
into occupied territory, as a voiceover says "A nation warped by 
lies--lies fuel fear--fear fuels aggression--invasion--occupation." 
As the scene fades from Hitler giving a raised arm salute to Bush 
with his hand raised at his inauguration, the voiceover says, "What 
were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003."
And the truth: The Bush administration deliberately stoked public 
fears after 9/11--just as the Nazi's used the Reichstag Fire--to win 
support for an illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq, an act of 
aggression which, at the Nuremberg Trials, was specifically 
determined to be a war crime. The ad might have added that the "shock 
and awe" terror campaign that was the centerpiece of the U.S. 
invasion of Iraq, was also by definition a war crime, since its 
target was the Iraqi public.
As for the second controversial ad, it features first a picture of 
Hitler, speaking in German, with a voiceover translating the lines as 
"We have taken new measures to protect our homeland - I believe I am 
acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator." Then, as 
Hitler continues to speak, the voiceover says, "God told me to strike 
Al-Qaeda, and I struck him." As the picture morphs into George Bush, 
the voiceover continues, "and then He instructed me to strike at 
Saddam, which I did." With a picture of cheering Germans in the 
background, the voiceover concludes, "Sound familiar?"
And the truth here? President Bush did in fact publicly claim divine 
instruction to have been behind his decisions to invade Afghanistan 
and later Iraq--a rather scary example, if he is being sincere, of 
the very kind of megalomania that characterized Hitler.
Were these two ads unfair to either Bush or to the memory of the 
Holocaust? Hardly.
They were legitimate warnings that the American public is being 
manipulated by demagoguery, jingoism and the worst kind of lies.
Are they saying that Bush is Hitler? Only to the most simplistic or 
willfully unimaginative of viewers--that is to say the RNC poobahs. 
What they are saying is that the same technique used by Hitler and 
his National Socialist brownshirts to whip up nationalist fervor in 
Germany in the early and mid 1930s is being employed today by the 
Bush Administration and the Republican Party, and to the same end--to 
get the American public to acquiesce in surrendering its democratic 
rights, to accept one-party rule, and to agree to a national policy 
of permanent war in the name of American global hegemony.
Obviously the MoveOn crowd was repelled by the bluntness of the two 
ads, and rejected them, but Pariser needn't apologize for inspiring 
their creation.
Both, in their way, are sadly prophetic.
Pariser and MoveOn should be proud that they were produced, happy 
that the RNC is helping to circulate them, and encouraged that the 
Republicans are making such a fuss about the whole thing.
Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into 
the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. A collection of Lindorff's 
stories can be found here: http://www.nwuphilly.org/dave.html



Move On Backs Down
Moveon.org made a huge mistake by disavowing the Hitler-Bush 
comparison ads. They should have RUN with the comparison, and put the 
Republicans on the defensive, and used this as a lever to insert 
little-known historical information about Prescott Bush's Nazi 
involvement, etc., rather than backing away! Always ATTACK!!! ATTACK! 
ATTACK! ATTACK! But Moveon is a mediocre, middle-of-the-road, 
mealy-mouthed, rear-guard activist group, not a LEADER. I would have 
told the media that the comparison was apt, defended it, and backed 
it up with historical information and parallels, such as Bush's own 
acknowledgement that he wanted to be a dictator, such as his own 
nationalist rhetoric, his use of war to frighten the public, and the 
like.
Michael Rectenwald
CLG
www.legitgov.org
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004



I saw the two controversial ads (among the ~300 I saw) during the 
voting, and they got very high marks from me. The message of the two 
ads is closer to the truth of our current political situation than 
most have courage to see.
I'm hope we can contact the creators of these ads so we can circulate 
copies of them and show them at events.
I think MoveOn is wimpy for not standing strong for freedom of 
expression, and instead caving to the RNC. Their apology approached 
groveling ...
Plus, if MoveOn is blind to the truth of the Bush/Hitler comparisons 
(which are numerous), then maybe some of the negative things some 
folks have been saying about them are true. At best, they are just 
playing safe, being mediocre, middle of the road. Others have harsher 
words.
If the RNC is so scared of these ads that they have to launch a major 
offensive, that's a good sign. The RNC offensive is really more to 
discredit and disempower MoveOn. 
The irony is that the only place these scripts are posted is the RNC website!
Below are the scripts for the two ads. Judge for yourself.
Ken Jenkins

Script 1:
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Nazi Flags In A Parade
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Hitler
AUDIO: Hitler (Speaking In German)
TEXT ON SCREEN: A NATION WARPED BY LIES
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Troops Marching
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Hitler In Car In Parade
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Troops Marching
TEXT ON SCREEN: LIES THAT FUEL FEAR
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Tanks
TEXT ON SCREEN: FEAR FUELS AGGRESSION
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Artillery Firing
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Planes Dropping Bombs
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Tanks Firing
TEXT ON SCREEN: INVASION
IMAGES ON SCREEN: German Tanks Rolling Down Street
TEXT ON SCREEN: OCCUPATION
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Hitler With Hand Raised
BACKGROUND AUDIO: Sig Heil! Sig Heil!
TEXT ON SCREEN: WHAT WERE WAR CRIMES IN 1945
IMAGES ON SCREEN: President Bush With Hand Raised At Inauguration
BACKGROUND AUDIO: Sig Heil! Sig Heil!
TEXT ON SCREEN: IS FOREIGN POLICY IN 2003

Script 2:
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Pictures Of Hitler
AUDIO: Hitler (Speaking In German)
TEXT ON SCREEN: We have taken new measures to protect our homeland,
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Pictures Of Hitler
AUDIO: Hitler (Speaking In German)
TEXT ON SCREEN: I believe I am acting in accordance with the will of 
the Almighty Creator,
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Pictures Of Hitler
AUDIO: Hitler (Speaking In German)
TEXT ON SCREEN: God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them,
IMAGES ON SCREEN: Pictures of President Bush
AUDIO: Hitler (Speaking In German)
TEXT ON SCREEN: and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did.
TEXT ON SCREEN: SOUND FAMILIAR?
BACKGROUND AUDIO: Cheering German Crowd

>from David Orr:

Of course MoveOn would show the world how big a weenie they are by 
running away from an ad that they undeniably had on their website, 
and then criticizing the RNC for criticizing them for it. This is the 
kind of whining that many Democrats are known for, and it doesn't 
surprise me a bit that they would try to weasel out of taking 
responsibility for something that they should be proud of.
It was one of the few things I've seen from MoveOn that really 
impressed me, and now they are disavowing it. If they didn't like it 
they should not have put it on their website.





Our international network of more than 2,000,000 online activists is 
one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic 
participation available today.
MoveOn "Frequently Asked Questions" http://www.moveon.org/about/





This incident is proof that being a "member" of a group like Move On 
confers zero rights to participate in the organization's decision 
making, even if one makes a donation and is called a "member" in 
outreach material. Many organizations like this present the illusion 
of participation in decision making, but on core issues of what the 
organization stands for they do not permit members to determine 
anything. One of the best references on the decline of non-profits is

"Environmentalism in the 21st Century: Where did we go wrong?"
http://www.mapcruzin.com/environment21/index.html

http://www.mapcruzin.com/review_losing_ground.htm

REVIEW - Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the 
Twentieth Century by Mark Dowie.

Dowie is an award-winning journalist with a penchant for radical 
inquiry. He has tackled the American environmental movement out of 
frustration, believing that it should have accomplished much more 
than it has. Why environmentalism has failed to live up to its 
potential occupies much of Dowie's rigorous analysis. .....
The problem with mainstream environmental groups stems from their 
decisions in the 1980s to focus energies on power plays in 
Washington, D.C., instead of reaching out to state and community 
organizations. Had the focus remained on "reaching out to state, 
local and regional organizations," he writes, "the American 
environmental movement today would be much stronger and more 
consequential than it is. An explosive critical mass of national 
activism could have been formed. Instead, a relatively harmless and 
effete new club appeared."



This criticism applies to the Move On organization and the 
constellation of liberal appendages of the Democratic Party that it 
is closely affiliated. Undoing the Bush / Cheney coup and restraining 
the empire is going to take much more spine than these groups seem 
capable of showing.