TruthNews Commentary, September 22, 2002

Why is it that those who supported Hitler and the holocaust are the quickest to accuse others of acting like the Nazis? The Arabs, Hitler's cheerleaders during World War II, have long been notorious for this behavior, regularly accusing the Israelis, many of survivors or descendents of survivors of Hitler's attempt to wipe out the Jews, of behaving like the Nazis. Now the Germans, the perpetrators of the holocaust, are joining the fray. German justice minister Herta Daubler-Gmelin accused George W. Bush of acting like Hitler in his attempts to rally world support against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Daubler has said that she didn't mean to compare Bush to Hitler but that Bush was merely acting like Hitler. Well, let's look at what Hitler did and see what similarities, if any, there are between Hitler and George W. Here's what Hitler did:

• Constructed the autobahn

• Invented the Volkswagen

• Started World War II in an attempt to take over the world

• Killed 6 million Jews

• Breathed air

Now, normally, if you hear someone being compared to Hitler, it would be because that person exhibited one of Hitler's more unfavorable characteristics, such as truing to take over the world or killing 6 million Jews. For example, when George Bush the first said that Saddam Hussein was "as bad as Hitler," he was referring to Hussein's propensity to invade other countries in an attempt to take over the Middle East. Obviously, the phrase "as bad as Hitler" may have been hyperbole, but Hussein had just invaded and annexed Kuwait and was threatening Saudi Arabia, so the analogy was apt.

In contrast, if one said that Gerhard Schroeder was "just like Hitler" because he, like Hitler, is the chancellor of Germany, or that Schroeder was "worse than Hitler" because he built more Volkswagens than Hitler, these would be nonsensical analogies because the mere act of ruling Germany or building Volkswagens should not subject one to condemnation (well, maybe building Volkswagens should).

Daubler originally said that, "Bush wants to divert attention from his domestic political troubles. This is a favorite tactic. We know that form our own history since Adolf Nazi." (she meant Hitler). Of course she and her boss Schroeder were just trying to divert attention from their own political troubles by attacking Bush. But Daubler's comparison doesn't hold water, because Hitler, despite his many crimes, did not invade Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, France, Russia, et al., to divert attention from domestic problems. Hitler laid out his war objectives Mein Kampf over 10 years before he came to power. At the time that he started World War II, he was popular at home and the economy had recovered from the Great Depression. Daubler was being willfully ignorant of her own country's history by making this comparison to Bush. Or more likely, she thought that everyone else was to stupid to notice and just wanted to compare Bush to Hitler and couldn't think of a better way to do it. This is known as the Joseph Goebbels "Big Lie" strategy.

Once the U.S. complained, Daubler tried to deny that she had compared Bush to Hitler, but there were too many people who had heard the comparison (which was made in a speech to a labor union) for her lies to withstand scrutiny. She then tried to dodge the issue by saying, "I didn't compare the persons Hitler and Bush, only their methods." Excuse me, but it's Hitler's methods that we find objectionable, not his "person." No one cares about Hitler being short, or homosexual, or wearing a Charlie Chaplin mustache, or spitting while he screamed (except maybe those Nazis on the front row at his speeches). Rather it's his attempt to take over the world and kill the Jews that make this little man with the funny mustache one of the most execrable monsters of history.

What's most troubling about Daubler's loopy logic is that it minimizes Hitler's crimes. By comparing Bush to Hitler, she's also comparing Hitler to Bush. If Bush, a democratically elected leader, acting through the Congress and UN to liberate the Iraqi people and the world from a vicious dictator bent on obtaining nuclear weapons, is like Hitler, then what was Hitler really like? Bush didn't try to take over the world, so maybe Hitler didn't. Bush didn't kill 6 million Jews, so maybe the holocaust didn't happen. Daubler, in comparing Bush to Hitler, is giving aid and comfort to the holocaust deniers, skinheads, and neo-Nazis in her own country.

Finally, perhaps Daubler should remember that it's because of America that she doesn't live under the iron boot of Hitler's Nazi successors. Communism in Russia lasted over 70 years, so there's no reason to think that Nazism in Germany wouldn't still be flourishing if Roosevelt and Churchill hadn't stepped in to put a stop to it. Now their successors, Bush and Blair, are truing to put a stop to the Hitler of the Middle East. Perhaps Daubler should have more empathy with the people of the Iraq and the Middle East, who will be infinitely better off once Hussein and his threat of nuclear terrorism are removed. But then again, Hitler wasn't so bad, he was just like George W. Bush, so maybe Saddam is a nice guy after all.