War Crimes?
The NTSCMP runs an analogy between the Nuremburg Trials where senior Nazi officials were tried and forced to face their victims, and the recent Iraqi prisoner abuse, where a few scapegoats were tried and quickly sentenced.
While a little overboard considering that the Nazis actually planned and implemented a system by which Europe would be entirely free of any Jewish presence whatsoever, it’s worth noting the similarities.
The Germans had also gone through a period of trauma starting with defeat in WW1 and topped off by the Depression in the beginning of the 30’s. They needed someone to give them strong leadership and someone willing to put the Germans first before everyone elses interests. Likewise, they did take to the idea of having a scapegoat to point the blame to.
The US equally suffered a traumatic event in the form of 911. It is the largest act of terrorism on US soil and for them it was all rather traumatic. There are a helluva lot of Americans eager for someone to put America first, the rest of the world second. And the scapegoat was a big seller too (WMD anyone?).
It is doubtful that the US would ever implement a programme like the Nazis did to the Jews. But I suspect that today’s mood is similar to that of pre-war Germany. The blind eye that many Germans had when it came to rounding up Jews into the ghettos, smashing their shops and raping their women in the streets for the interests of the greater (German) good.
Likewise, for those who bemoan the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of the Germans, will you too push for the right people to be answerable and not be just placated with a token trial of a few privates? I doubt as much since, in most cases, there’s usually a lot of noise but never a real fight. As Walter Kronkite once said when he was covering the Nuremburg trials, “I want to know what my government is doing in my name.”.
