Germany Turns on America

Wednesday, August 07, 2002 | Bill O'Reilly

[7thson]

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.

Germany turns on America. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

No nation on earth has been kinder to Germany than the United States. American dollars rebuilt that nation after it had embraced the evil dictator Hitler. American forces protected the majority of Germans from the Russians, who would have enslaved East Germany, which they did, and would have done the same thing to the West.

American dollars brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall, freeing millions of Germans in 1989. And what do we get for all that?

Well, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said today that Germany will not provide troops or money in the fight against Saddam Hussein. Schroeder said, "This country under my leadership is not available for an adventure." Schroeder's government says it is skeptical that Saddam is an outlaw and has illegal weapons.

Talking Points says the Germans have once again proved themselves an unworthy ally and an ungrateful nation. Even after Iraq invaded Kuwait and was defeated in the Gulf War, Germany continued to do back-door business with Saddam despite the embargo. Even after Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israeli civilians and gassed the Kurdish people, Schroeder remains skeptical.

Well, with all due respect, blank you, Mr. Chancellor. It's obvious that Schroeder is putting his political career ahead of what is right. He's up for reelection and down in the polls, so he's trying to tap into anti-American feeling.

In the coming weeks, you will hear the drum beat of, let's see the proof regarding Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. But in this very dangerous age, the proof is in the deeds. We all know Saddam tried desperately to develop biological and chemical weapons because scientists who have defected have told us that. And U.N. weapons inspectors found evidence of that.

That's why Saddam ordered them out. But some people simply cannot handle the truth.

The irony is that 65 years ago, few believed the Nazi regime was bent on murdering millions of civilians, despite reporting by William Schirer [CBS Newsman and later author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany] and others, despite Hitler's own words, despite the S.S. and the Gestapo. Millions simply would not accept the brutality of the Third Reich, and we saw what happened.

And here we are again. This time, Hitler has been replaced by Saddam, a murderer by all accounts, a terrorist, and perhaps a madman. Yet Gerhard Schroeder and his pals remain skeptical.

Well, the No Spin truth is that Germany has no credibility when it comes to savage dictators, and it owes the United States loyalty and support. Schroeder and the Germans that support him should be ashamed.

And they should remember.

And that's "The Memo."

[7thson]

I heard this last night and agreed with the statements. I know that some of you do not like O'reilly but I do. Sometimes I think he is a blowhard but most times I enjoy his program and what he has to say. Later on in the program he spoke to a German reporter who was extremely smug and arrogant. Did any of you watch The Factor last night?

[Illbay]

It's obvious that Schroeder is putting his political career ahead of what is right.

Which describes practically every politician in the United States.

Sometimes I think he is a blowhard...

Better a "blowhard" than those distinguished members of the press who would have eagerly traded places with Monica Lewinsky on the floor in front of X42.

Which describes practically all of them.

[alloysteel]

Sharper than a serpent's tooth, the tongue of an ungrateful child. America extended massive aassistance to Germany in 1945, a paralyzed, broken invalid, and nursed that nation back to health and prosperity. The postwar "German miracle" was a pattern for restoration of faltering countries all over the world. America did not provide that much direct aid, but made it possible for market forces within the country to do their magic. But what the heck, it has been some fifty-seven years, what have we done for the Germans lately?

[Eva]

I saw part of it. I was glad to see O'Reilly take on this issue. Unfortunately, O'Reilly has spent much of the capital that he had built up by taking on the Clintons by attacking the Republicans on his "populist" issues with equal vigor. I don't think that very many people take him seriously any longer.

The Wall Street Journal had and editorial which compared the current world turmoil to WWII, a few days ago. It mentioned the anti-semitism as one of the early features of both situations and compared Arafat to Hitler in that they were both duly elected leaders that could not be trusted. Kasparov also mentioned that both the French and English delayed taking action against Hitler until it was almost too late As a matter of fact, it would have been too late if the US had not entered the war and saved the day. But once again, our European allies do not have the fortitude to stand up for what is right.

[altayann]

Yes, it was America that decided that Hitler and Nazism was so obviously evil, and had to be dealt with, that it promptly joined the war on fascism two years and 3 months after the war had already started.

And, I might add, after our current European allies had already begun fighting.

[SoCo]

Yes, this I think is why Germany and the other European nations should join the fight against Hussein. I don't think they owe it to *US* to do anything. In my opinion, if we wanted them to do everything asked of them, we should've just set up puppet regimes in 1945, ....just like Stalin. They owe it to themselves in my view to help us fight Iraq.

[mewzilla]

Maybe I've got my tinfoil on too tight, but I've been wondering if al Qaeda et. al. came to the realization a while ago that sometimes money and/or blackmail works better than explosives.

[Jumper]

And what of the lend lease act which gave on credit that these same allies might survive, millions of dollars worth of equipment and supplies. The thousands of planes, tanks, trucks, rifles, ammunition, and food - lots of food; did you know that the SPAM was shipped in great quantities? And are you aware that our Russian allies received approximately 29,000 rail cars/locomotives alone, plus 1.5 lbs of food per day for every man, woman and child estimated to be alive from 1942 onward? We provided thousands of fighter planes and tank parts to the Russians too. We provided the shipping and gave ships away before our entry into the war.

I'm sure that the Japanese and Germans both recognized which side the US was on long before we send troops for the invasion to England. We had many US Air Force Pilots who were loaned to England's airforces... before the battle of Britian. Our current allies and the Germans since WWII would not have their social welfare state if it were not for the massive assistance which made the funding available for medical care as the Europeans now receive it; for which they are now paying approximately 20% VAT Tax to support since 1970 when which was about 2-3 years after the last of the US Aid from WWII was given to Europe....

Each country has it's own self interests, and that is why we go it alone when we have too - and they are prepared to do the same.

[NeoCaveman]

Already posted here.

[Seruzawa]

The Germans have done it twice already. You know the old adage, "The third time's the charm." Expect to see the third replay soon, as the EU's socialism eats it alive and the EU economies collapse.

[laconic]

Unlike the other countries in Europe you so lavishly praise, I was unaware that we'd been attacked or occupied or that America had some "obligation" to fight other folks' battles for them. We did that in World War I and I think the American people were a little sickened by the results (75,000 dead for little or nothing other than to set the stage for the next war, while our British and French "allies" stayed in their "defensive mode"). It made Americans more than a bit reluctant to send their sons to die fighting a foreign regime on behalf of the same countries twenty years later, no matter how evil its leaders(after all, we didn't intervene en masse against the Bolsheviks, who killed far more people even than Hitler did). I assume you were also a supporter of our efforts in Southeast Asia and bemoaned the day we left, because that resulted in over 200,000 Vietnamese being murdered and the slaughter of over 2 million Cambodians.

[Malcolm]

I have not trusted the Europeans since the demostrations against Reagan there in the early 80's. Europe is an ultraleftist cesspool. They are pro-Iraq yet anti-American? How can that be justified by these people? Who are they to lecture us, with 2 world wars under their belt? Ultraleftists will always be anti-American. What other nation on earth is better governed and more free than we are? It sure as h--- isn't any European state, that's for certain.....

[Terriergal]

Good post!

[Terriergal]

And, I might add, after our current European allies had already begun fighting

France actually fought?

[Terriergal]

You forget that Churchill had a heck of a time trying to get people to fight, when this stuff was going on right across the channel from them.

(and that our country was in the middle of a depression, remember?)

[Teacher317]

Schroeder's government says it is skeptical that Saddam is an outlaw and has illegal weapons.

Just one day after Saddam invite the UN weapons inspectors in... because they're safely tucked away. How convenient.

[Seruzawa]

France actually fought?

Rent the DVD "Blackadder V- Back and Forth" for a humorous treatment of the warlike traits of the French.

[JimSEA]

While I am not a big fan of ORielly, I frequently agree with him. This analysis of German opinions is another point where he is right on. If he could just shrink his ego a wee bit?

[gcruse]

Yes, it was America that decided that Hitler and
Nazism was so obviously evil,  and had to be
dealt with, that it promptly joined the war on
fascism two years and 3 months after the war
had already started.

I love it.  Bull's eye!  There's nothing better
than watching jingoism take it in the shorts.
Well done.

[laconic]

Again, could you tell me just what country attacked the US in 1939 or 1940? Its the old canard, popular with liberals and one world types, of 'they' did 'our' fighting for us in a war that was thousands of miles from our borders (and I suppose you volunteered to fight when the Cambodian Reds massacred 2 million in 1975?). The Europeans didn't have much choice, did they, and they wouldn't have done very well without the US aid shipped to them in 1940 and 1941 when we weren't at war, would they? Its the old canard of "they [Europeans] did 'our' fighting for us". Yet can you name one country involved in World War 2 that wasn't attacked by Nazi Germany and thereby didn't have much of a choice (France, Norway, Benelux, Denmark, Greece, USSR) or like the UK, had a solid treaty obligation to fight that was triggered when the war began? I'm so glad that Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey leapt to the battle fray against Germany. But they didn't do a thing, did they? And unlike the US, they were right on the borders of the war. So keep your sanctimonious lectures to yourself.