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Schroeder writes off the Iraqi people
National Post ^
| September 25 2002
| David Frum
Posted on 09/25/2002 5:19:02 PM PDT by knighthawk
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
LONDON - At a meeting with trade union leaders in the last week of the campaign, Germany's Social Democratic Justice Minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, accused Bush of using the same "classic tactic" as Hitler used: exploiting war to divert attention from domestic troubles. Daeubler-Gmelin later expressed surprise that anyone might take offence at her remarks. "I didn't compare the persons Bush and Hitler, but their methods."
In truth, if anyone in the world today is exploiting war for domestic political purposes, it is Daeubler-Gmelin's own boss, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. For more than a decade, over-taxed, over-regulated Germany has struggled with chronic unemployment. In 1998, the charismatic, jovial Schroeder won the chancellorship by promising to reduce the number of unemployed below 4 million within 4 years.
Four years later, the number of unemployed remains exactly where it was in 1998.
Obviously, he needed a new issue. He chose Iraq.
Eight weeks ago, Iraq was not a controversial subject in German politics. After all, Schroeder's opponent, the solid and serious Christian Democrat Edmund Stoiber had also declared his opposition to a U.S. war upon Saddam Hussein. To move votes, Schroeder had to up the ante: Stoiber, he pointed out, only opposed war if the U.S. went it alone; whereas he, Schroeder, opposed war under any and all circumstances. Under his leadership, Germany would not participate in a war with Iraq even if the United Nations and the NATO Council voted in favour of it.
Think for a minute about what an amazing statement this is. For six months, Americans have listened to Europeans warning them against unilateralism -- against setting their own national will against the international community. And nobody has clucked louder at them than the Germans. Now, quite suddenly, it is the Germans who are the unilateralists, disdaining their allies, NATO, even the UN.
UN, Schmu-en says Schroeder -- it is German national interests that come first.
And what a set of national interests they are, too! The single most important suppliers of Saddam's technologies of mass-murder have been German companies. They sold him the dual-use factories that now manufacture poison gas and bio-weapons. I don't like dragging Hitler into conversations where he does not belong. But since Daeubler-Gmelin mentions him, it's worth pondering this fact: If Saddam ever does make good on his threat to "burn up half of Israel," the poisons he will use for this second Jewish holocaust will come from many of the same companies that supplied the gas for the last one.
Schroeder's methods of diverting attention from a crummy domestic economy worked, sort of. His Social Democratic-Green coalition has eked out a bare majority in the Bundestag. But his victory is not one of which Germans can -- or will -- long be proud.
By coincidence, I happened to spend the evening of the German election in the apartment of Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, and the likely leader of a democratic post-Saddam Iraq. Does it seem ridiculous to think of a democratic Iraq? Not more ridiculous than it would have, 60 years ago, to talk about a democratic Germany.
Chalabi showed me a photograph taken in Baghdad at that darkest year of Hitler's tyranny, 1942. Eight Middle Eastern men stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Western pin-striped suits: Three of them were Sunni Muslims, three were Shi'ites, one was Christian, and the last was Jewish. They were the directors of the Iraq Vegetable Oil Company -- a major exporter of farm products and the largest firm then listed on the Baghdad stock exchange. One of them was Chalabi's own father. That was what Iraq used to be: not a perfect democracy by any means -- but a society that might have evolved toward a better and freer future.
That evolution was brutally interrupted. Iraq's relatively benign monarchy was overthrown in 1958 -- since then, Iraq no longer grows enough grain to export. The men in the photo were driven into exile and their property confiscated. The stock exchange was closed. The Jews were robbed and expelled; the Christians oppressed; the Shi'ites massacred. Dictator followed dictator, each crueler and more dangerous than the last -- until we reach Saddam, the cruelest and most dangerous of them all.
Where would Germany be if the Western powers had not believed that it could be something different and better than it was in 1942? Why are we so determined to believe that Iraq can never be different and better than it is today?
For all the terror and horror of modern Iraq, it has produced an exile leadership that is more humane and decent than that of any any other Arab country. When the United States (and its friends and allies) fights Saddam, it will not be fighting against Iraq - it will be fighting for Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress. America and its allies will be fighting against the Iraqi dictatorship. They will be fighting for the Iraqi people. That's a fight that the confident new united Germany ought to understand and support.
TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; Germany; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: germany; iraq; iraqipeople; nationalpost; schroeder
But since Daeubler-Gmelin mentions him, it's worth pondering this fact: If Saddam ever does make good on his threat to "burn up half of Israel," the poisons he will use for this second Jewish holocaust will come from many of the same companies that supplied the gas for the last one
Time to stop Saddam before it's too late. Learn from the mistakes of Europe and a madman named Hitler.
To: dennisw; TopQuark; Alouette; OKCSubmariner; veronica; weikel; EU=4th Reich; BrooklynGOP; ...
Middle East list
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
To: Shermy; FreedomPoster; Citizen of the Savage Nation
Ping too.
To: knighthawk
What an outstanding article. I am really warming to the National Post overall, they really seem to be on the
right side of the foreign affairs issues.
I truly, deeply believe that the German people will regret re-electing this unilateralist back to power.
To: freeasinbeer
I love the National Post. It's the best newspaper I can think of, and they run Mark Steyn stuff all the time. I post some of their editorials almost every day. They are right-winged, pro-US, pro-Israel and so on. Why can't there be more media like them?
To: freeasinbeer
Expect ingratitude. --Dale Carnegie, 1938
To: knighthawk
And they are one of the three only Canadian national newspapers, imagine that! According to most around here, you would think that everyone in Canada was a Dashole-eque Democrat socialist.
To: Eric in the Ozarks
It is quite astounding. It appears that since we have moved into the 21st century, Europe and the rest of the world want to ignore/forget/skew all that was done for them by America. Kind of like those Pakistanis railing in the streets about American the great Satan while wearing blue jeans and talking on their cellphones.
To: freeasinbeer
Are you implying that Germany is obligated to join in in any war the US demands that they participate in because we helped Germany in the past? Whether you agree with Germany's stance on the Iraq war or not, you cannot question their right to make their own decisions on something as important as going to war. They were a sovereign country the last time I looked.
And if the argument for invading Iraq is to rescue a people from a mad dictator, then it's on a long list. Why don't we start with Cuba first?
To: knighthawk
I wonder if this is Frum's first opinion piece since he stopped writing speeches for Bush?
To: freeasinbeer
The author, David Frum, used to be one of Bush's speech writers.
11
posted on
09/25/2002 5:49:25 PM PDT
by
spyone
To: Pining_4_TX
When Castro starts taking potshots at our air force, then we should take after him. Until then though, Sadaam will do just fine. BTW, as far as Germany is concerned - if they don't want to support us, that's fine - they should just shut up about it though.
Finally, do you think it is appropriate for German politicians to be comparing President Bush to Hitler?
To: vbmoneyspender
It's the first time I remember seeing him at the Nationa Post.
To: knighthawk
He's pretty good - him and Steyn together are dynamite.
To: vbmoneyspender
Finally, do you think it is appropriate for German politicians to be comparing President Bush to Hitler? No, of course not. That's rather a silly question, but neither should we be attempting to bully them into going to war. And as for Iraq taking potshots at our air force, well, our air force is flying over Iraq. They're not coming over here and firing at our air force. Sheesh.
To: Pining_4_TX
No, sorry for the confusion. I respect national sovereignty and each country having the right to make their own decisions more than many. I believe the German have every right to say "we won't go with the US to Iraq".
What I do have a problem with is the manner in which they are asserting themselves. Schroeder has all but abandoned Germany's international responsibilities in refusing to go to Iraq ever, no matter what happens. He was railing on about how these types of unilateralist moves should be avoided, and that he was against the Iraq move for just such reasons. Then he goes and basically abandons his responsibilities to the same multilateral organisations (NATO, UN, etc) that he seems to love. So really, he is not against unilateral action at all, as this article so evenly states. He is simply using this foolish and quite pointless anti-americanism for his own political gains.
The reason I refer to the past is that it is clear that he is not making some national stance against unilateralism as he says, but is actually making a stance based solely for political gains by feeding anti-Americanism. It is in this case that I think he and the German people need to be reminded of the sacrifices and great costs that went into re-building his country.
To: Pining_4_TX
And they certainly aren't abiding to their requirements that were imposed on them after the Gulf War, which they were all to happy to sign.
Germany flaunted their post-war treaties after WWI as well. History is littered with the failures of containment. The US learned that lesson from WWI and in WWII completely finished off Japan and Germany. The world was and is a much better place for it. I belive this is the pattern that we see emerging in Afganistan and soon in Iraq. A new generation of Marshall Plans that could usher in a totaly new way of thinking in that region of the world.
To: knighthawk
Good editorial. Bump.
I also recommend DEAD RIGHT for a dissection of conservatism. He's an excellent writer!
To: spyone
Ah, thats right. He coined "Axis of Evil" right? I like him already!
To: Pining_4_TX
First, explain to me how we are bullying the Germans into fighting alongside us in Iraq? Second, your comment that Iraq is somehow justified in shooting at American pilots is pretty disturbing. Do you enjoy seeing Americans shot at?
It kind of sounds like you think Sadaam would be justified in killing some of our American pilots. Please tell me I am wrong on this.
To: freeasinbeer
According to most around here, you would think that everyone in Canada was a Dashole-eque Democrat socialist. Americans get that impression because, due to the Canadian political system, all your prominent politicians fit that description.
To: Pining_4_TX
Are you implying that Germany is obligated to join in in any war the US demands that they participate in because we helped Germany in the past? They sure came running for our help in dealing with the situation in the Balkans, when Europe wasn't able to deal with that on their own. What a screwed up intervention that was.
And I don't think we're necessarily asking for their military support; but asking they not bash us, and at least offer verbal support, does not seem too much to ask.
To: Pining_4_TX
And BTW - when the 82nd is checking those NBC weapons development facilities, we *are* going to find most of the instruction manuals will be in German.
To: knighthawk
Seems to me that Schroeder is far more disdainful of the United Nations than George Bush is, these days. I'd think that some of the U.S.-out-of-the-U.N.-and-vice-versa types around here might be pleased by this. It doesn't seem they are. Like most items at FreeRepublic, no good deed goes rhetorically unpunished.
(I don't care for the U.N. either, but it's neither as malign -- except for the long-suffering taxpayers supporting the bureaucrats -- nor as pernicious as many portray it. Some of the specialized agencies, such as WTO and WIPO, do far more damage, especially to global commerce.)
24
posted on
09/25/2002 6:35:13 PM PDT
by
Greybird
To: knighthawk
Thank you knighthawk. Believe me, there are MANY of us Canadians that love our American friends and are absolutely no different in spirit. Those of us especially from the Western provinces (mine is B.C.) are Conservatives. We love freedom, we love God and we love Isreal. Your profile page was super!! Brought a tear to my eyes. You see, God meant for man to be free, totally free. Free to love Him, or free to reject Him. But free non the less. I as well, cannot believe the depths to which Germany has sunk. Europe all around is in a pretty sad shape, but Germany takes the cake. The United Nothings are nothing but a bunch of Arab butt kissers and anti-American bigots! Lynn
To: Pining_4_TX
No, of course not. That's rather a silly question, but neither should we be attempting to bully them into going to war.Can you point me to any evidence where the U.S. was/is bullying Germany to go to war. As far as I know, it was a nonissue until Schroeder made anti-Americanism the centerpeice of his campaign.
To: Eric in the Ozarks
>Expect ingratitude. --Dale Carnegie, 1938
Thanks for that reminder. He had great insights into the human mind, and much of what he said then is just as good today.
To: knighthawk
Too bad we didn't use the A-bomb on Berlin in 1945.
The krauts deserved it as much as the Japs.
To: Pining_4_TX
We could care less whether or not German chooses to fight. What we care about is the rising Anti-Americanism, and using US to deflect criticism of their own local failures. That galls. It also galls that they spend a year slaming us for being unilateralists and then go off on a tangent all by themselves.
It just begs the question. Why is it that the Germans always seem to find themselves supporting despotic dictators (with mustaches btw) who like to mass murder people?
To: knighthawk
Thank you for your posts from the National Post. I have enjoyed them very much. They are a great reminder that the Canadian people are more like us than their politicians are. That is something we should not forget. Unfortunately, the attitude of some of the "ruling elites" gets in the way sometimes.
To: knighthawk
This guy Schroeder is a scumbag.
Like Hitler, he will do or say anything for political office and power.
To: knighthawk
Iraq is not going to be the Battle of Stalingrad, it's going to be the liberation of a vast Dachau.
To: knighthawk
Chalabi showed me a photograph taken in Baghdad at that darkest year of Hitler's tyranny, 1942. Eight Middle Eastern men stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Western pin-striped suits: Three of them were Sunni Muslims, three were Shi'ites, one was Christian, and the last was Jewish. They were the directors of the Iraq Vegetable Oil Company -- a major exporter of farm products and the largest firm then listed on the Baghdad stock exchange. One of them was Chalabi's own father. That was what Iraq used to be: not a perfect democracy by any means -- but a society that might have evolved toward a better and freer future. These people were able to stay on in Iraq through the 1950's because the British overthrew in 1941 the pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic government of Rashid Ali, which was supported by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who went on to Berlin after the overthrow of the Iraqi government.
To: knighthawk
The title really is the point, isn't it.
What a miserable, hard-hearted government they have. They are surely constructing their own reward....again.
Way to start a new century, Germany. Some things never change. I guess unrestrained vanity is one of them, there. If they had wisdom...which they've pretty-well demonstrated that they deeply do not...they'd be ashamed. We don't need "allies" like this. We also don't need their products...if they're dosed with arrogant inhumanity.
What a shame, when Germans have done such excellent things in this country. They must be writhing. Actually...most who I know and have known feel little if any connection to them. I guess the last century demonstrated the difference between Americans originally from anywhere, and those disgraceful wretches...still huffing and puffing in their worn-out land. Oh well.
Rolling.
To: Canadian Outrage; dixiechick2000
I envy you Canadians. Why can't there be a National Post in the US or in the Netherlands?
Europe has sunk so low thanks to the liberals/socialists, who have political correctness high in their banner. In the Netherlands and Denmark they lost power, but in Sweden and Germany they still rule. This is a big mistake, and people will see it eventualy.
To: LostTribe
We had many varieties of sale training and related courses at my former employer's. Dale Carnegie changed my life more than any others.
To: knighthawk
What's the best newspaper in Holland, in your opinion?
To: Citizen of the Savage Nation
'De Telegraaf' (
http://www.telegraaf.nl). It's the only independent newspaper, the rest is owned by one company.
They also include the ethnic background of suspects and report things other newspapers wouldn't because it's not PC.
To: knighthawk
Schroeder should demonstrate his solidarity with Saddam by positioning himself in Saddam's bunker when the U.S. bombing starts. Supposedly, the U.S. has improved on the deep bunker-buster GBU-28 bomb unit used in the Gulf War. Wouldn't it be great if Schroeder could be relieved of the tiresome task of communicating with Bush and join his fellow former party members Honecker, Ulbricht and Pieck?
To: Eric in the Ozarks
Yep, should be required reading in school, and for some Freepers.
The Classic:
To: Pining_4_TX
"Are you implying that Germany is obligated to join in in any war the US demands that they participate in because we helped Germany in the past? " We HELPED Germany in the past? Hoo boy.That's so spectacularly ignorant, it doesn't need a comment. "Why don't we start with Cuba first?" Maybe because your good friend Fidel hasn't yet tried to start amassing weapons-grade uranium, like Mr. Hussein has. What the hell have you been reading lately, Teen Scene Magazine? Get a grip, READ a little about what's happening in the world, and then try to make some sense while posting on an internet message board, darlin.
41
posted on
09/26/2002 6:13:39 PM PDT
by
leilani
To: LostTribe
The sequel was, "How to Stop worrying and Start Living." I keep Carnegie's "Golden Book," inside the cover of my Daytimer and give it a review every week or so.
A lot of his books are common sense, but from my readings about Oriental religions, I find some close correlations with Buddhism. Believe it or not, in the Bodhisattva's (a Buddhist saint) writings, there are listed 37 practices. I found more than a few of these in Dale Carnegie's books
To: CROSSHIGHWAYMAN
Too bad we didn't use the A-bomb on Berlin in 1945.We didn't have one to use. The first bomb was tested in July, 1945 and Germany had surrendered earlier in May.
The Japanese have often suggested that if Germany had held out as long as they did, we wouldn't have nuked Germany because they were white. Nonsense, during the Battle of the Bulge in Dec. 1944, President Roosevelt asked if a bomb could be ready then for use on Germany.
43
posted on
09/30/2002 5:55:13 PM PDT
by
xJones
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