Saturday, September 6, 2014
[1757 - The Marquis de Lafayette, Revolutionary War Hero, General, born in Auvergne, France]
[1814 - USS Scorpion is captured by the British on Lake Huron]
[1819 - Thomas Blanchard patents the lathe]
[1860 - Jane Addams, social reformer, pacifist, Nobel laureate, born in Cedarville, Illinois]
[1885 - Otto Kruger, actor, born in Toledo, Ohio]
[1888 - Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr., businessman, banker, Ambassador, born in Boston]
[1902 - Morgan Beatty, reporter, journalist, born in
Little Rock, Arkansas]
[1904 - Max Everitt 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, champion boxer, actor, born in Leonard's Bridge, Connecticut]
[1941 - All Jews over the age of six in Nazi Germany are required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing]
For years the CIA has been running a number of secret prison camps in order to torture accused terrorist captives. Former Vice President Cheney and his right wing talk radio allies continue to insinuate that those who oppose such practices are like the pre-World War II fascist appeasers.
The analogy between the rise of fascism that led to World War II and the current rise of militant Islamic extremists is a flawed one, but one facet of it does appear to be correct. The regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito, played on public fears and nationalism to whip their people into war. Seizing on the tragedy of 9/11, that is precisely what the Bush-Cheney administration did in order to launch their disastrous invasion of Iraq. Just as Hitler marched into Poland, so the Bush administration marched into Iraq with bogus claims of a threat (and a spurious link between the Saudi terrorists who actually did the 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with it). Just as Hitler and his henchmen set about creating the Gestapo and the SS, so the Bush-Cheney administration created clandestine commando units within the CIA and Department of Defense to do its bidding. Just as Hitler created a network of secret prison camps to murder and torture those he called the inferior races, so the Bush-Cheney administration created its torture camps for Muslims and other scapegoats.
William's Whimsical Words:
While President Obama has repudiated some of the most flagrant human rights violations of the previous administration, sadly, he has contributed to others. The task of expunging presidential excesses is far from complete.
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