WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2004 -- The Defense Department's No. 2 official compared radical Islamic terrorists to Adolph Hitler's dispensers of death -- the dreaded "Schutzstaffel," or SS -- during Aug. 10 testimony on Capitol Hill.Appearing before House Armed Services Committee to discuss the military's role in carrying out the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to deny terrorists places of sanctuary, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz observed that the United States and its allies "are fighting a cult of death, not life."
Accompanied by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Gen. Bryan Brown, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, Wolfowitz observed that preventing terrorism "means more than killing or capturing terrorists."
Ultimate victory over global terrorism, he noted, "requires sowing the seeds of hope, particularly in the broader Middle East."
The 9/11 Commission report, Wolfowitz told committee members, noted that radical Islamic fundamentalists possess an intolerant, non-negotiable ideology and world view that has no regard for human rights or the rule of law.
Global terrorism is another manmade evil "that needs to be eradicated and discarded," Wolfowitz said, "just as piracy and the slave trade were de- legitimized and driven to the margins of civilized life in the past."
Terrorists' extremist ideology, he said, must be "replaced by a hopeful vision of freedom."
Wolfowitz characterized terrorists who routinely employ suicide-attack tactics as "people who worship death more than they seem to worship anything else."
Today's radical Islamic terrorists, Wolfowitz pointed out, "remind you of the notorious Nazi groups like the SS that proudly wore the death's head as their symbol." Under Heinrich Himmler, the SS, which was established as Hitler's elite military force, stamped out dissent and propagated the Nazi vision of establishing a pure, "Aryan" race in Germany and in conquered territories.
Millions who didn't fit into the Nazis' world view, including political prisoners, gypsies, Jews, and mentally or physically challenged persons, were summarily killed or perished in labor and concentration camps.
Like the long-gone Nazis, Wolfowitz noted today's Islamic radicals also rely on terror and "their ability to kill innocent people" to attain and retain power.
The cures for radical Islamic terrorism "must come from within Muslim societies themselves," he said, and the United States "must support such developments."
Such a goal is "ambitious," Wolfowitz acknowledged. But, he pointed out, "the threat we face is ambitious" as well as "enormous and unprecedented."
Time to invoke Godwin's Law?
I wonder if it's time to invoke Godwin's Law on the national conversation, especially after this press release from the DoD:
No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: http://www.back-to-iraq.com/blog-mt/mt-tb.cgi/2843
4 Comments
Leave a comment
About me
Hi there! Thanks for stopping in. I'm Christopher Allbritton, former AP and New York Daily News reporter. In 2002, I went stumbling around Iraqi Kurdistan, the northern part of Iraq outside Saddam's direct control, looking for stories. (Some might call it "looking for trouble.") In March 2003, I made it back in time for the war, becoming the Web's first fully reader-funded journalist-blogger. With the support of thousands of readers, we raised almost $15,000. You can read my dispatches here. It was one of the moments in journalism when everything worked. It was a grand -- and successful -- experiment in independent journalism. In 2004, I moved to Iraq, where I would spend the next two years. It was a raucous, scary and exciting place with a lot of news going on. But I've since moved on to Beirut and the wider region. I now report for a variety of outlets.
this is Wolowitz comments…. for what is it worth.
He is not a Nazi but is a master in deceptive policies.
We the masses are just the meat for his grand plan.
One doesn’t “invoke” Godwin’s Law.
See: Godwin’s Law: Not Meant To Be Invoked (Op-Ed)
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/6/30/33339/3949
Excerpt:
“Godwin’s Law, which is popularly understood as “the first person in an argument to refer to Hitler or the Nazis loses the argument”, isn’t a law like “murder is a crime” is a law. It’s more like Newton’s Laws—not something that can be “invoked” or “violated”, but an observation of the surrounding world. The Law is actually stated thusly:
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=godwin’s%20law
“As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”
Unfortunately, a lot of people on the ‘net try to invoke Godwin’s Law in order to, by default, win an argument. This isn’t what Godwin’s Law is about.”
How about comparing the terrorists to the Japanese instead? You know the guys who actually did use suicide bombings extensively in WWII.
* Global terrorism is another manmade evil “that needs to be eradicated and discarded,” Wolfowitz said, “just as piracy and the slave trade were de- legitimized and driven to the margins of civilized life in the past.”
I agree. When are we going to start?
* Terrorists’ extremist ideology, he said, must be “replaced by a hopeful vision of freedom.”
I agree. When are we going to start?
* The cures for radical Islamic terrorism “must come from within Muslim societies themselves,” he said, and the United States “must support such developments.”
I agree. When do we start?
We tried the bombing and occupying thing and it turns out that we didn’t give hope, eradicate terrorism, or encourage Muslim societies to change. Time for a different approach.