In this post I compare some of the features of the mind-set and psychology or pathology of Bush and Cheney and the Neoconservatives to that of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis and the SS. This includes their scapegoating and blaming other when things go wrong ; their unbridled and faulty optimism. Their inability to adapt to changing situations in a reasonable manner. Their collective self-delusions. Their belief that they are fulfilling some momentous, historical ,or possibly biblical ,apocalyptic destiny.
Rees, Laurence : Auschwitz: A New History ,pub. 2005
Note these comparisons being made in this post are mine and should not be blamed if they are found to be faulty or in bad taste on the author of Auschwitz Laurence Rees . Consider it a thought experiment.
The first innovation at Dachau was , that unlike a normal prison , the inmate had no clue as to how long his sentence was likely to last ...There was no end date for the prisoner to focus upon , only the permanent uncertainty of never knowing if freedom would come tomorrow , or next month, or next year. ( Auschwitz, p. 6 )
AND:
Dachau is infamous for the physical sadism practiced there: whippings and other beatings were common place. Prisoners could be murdered and their deaths be dismissed as killed whilst attempting to escape . (Auschwitz, Rees ,p.6 )
This reminds one of how the Bush Regime treats detainees at Guantanamo and their other prisons such as the ones in Iraq which hold over 30, 000 prisoners. People are kidnapped from Afghanistan or some other country flown to Guantanamo or some secret prison are incarcerated but not necessarily told what they are charged with or told how long they will be kept, adding to the anxiety of the prisoner is that they are not permitted to contact their family and the families of detainees may not be told of their whereabouts , nor are they given legal counsel or allowed to examine the evidence against them or meet their accusers since everything related to the case is a matter of National Security. National Security is an excuse used over and over again by American officials especially in cases where the evidence is all hearsay or non-existent since many are taken into captivity after some unscrupulous person or group hands the person over to American personnel in exchange for large sums of money.
It is further claimed by American Conservatives and the Bush administration that the problem with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Prison was not the so-called " abuses " but the cynical use of the pictures at these facilities to claim that American personnel were doing something wrong which according to many American Conservatives and true American Patriots these individuals were just doing their duty- And the Conservatives claim the soldiers must be strong and do whatever is necessary to put these people in their place , to make them more submissive and to extract whatever information they can from these " detainees".
When the Nazis did free prisoners from the various camps the prisoners had to sign a form or affidavit as Rees in his book Auschwitz points out :
... each had to sign a form that ( they ) had no complaints and that (they ) will not go against the law ( Auschwitz , Rees , p. 30 )
We know that " Detainees " held by the Americans once released could be released only if they signed an agreement not to talk about the prison or how they were treated or in some cases where they were actually held . They were warned that if they broke the agreement they or others known to them might suffer the consequences.
Also like the Nazis the Americans also believe it is an accptable practice to engage in reprisals against civilians when American troops have come under attack. Those people wounded or killed or raped in such reprisals should not blame the American soldiers or Private Contractors but should blame the " Terrorists ". When the " Terrorists" stop killing American soldiers then these reprisals will become unnecessary. As far as many American soldiers and private contractors are concerned is Iraq is one big " Free Fire Zone ".
The idea of struggle is as old as life itself. In this struggle the stronger, the more able, win, while the less able , the weak, lose. Struggle is the father of all things...It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world , but solely by means of the most brutal struggle ." Hitler 1928 ( Auschwitz, Rees, p. 7 )
SS Essential Philosophy in regards to the enemy :
" Anyone who shows even the slightest vestige of sympathy towards them ( prisoners ) must immediately vanish from our ranks. I need only hard, totally committed SS men. There is no place amongst us for soft people." German SS Leader Theodore Eicke ( Auschwitz , Rees p. 8 )
... Thus any form of sympathy , any form of compassion; was a a demonstration of weakness . If an SS man felt these emotions come to him; it was a sign that the enemy had succeeded in deceiving him .( Auschwitz , Rees p. 8 )
and as he goes on to explain :
... the SS members were conditioned to despise their own feelings of concern when , for example, they witnessed the beatings of an inmate. They were taught that any lingering of compassion was caused by the trickery of the victim. As " enemies of the state " these cunning creatures were said to use any method- not least an appeal to pity of those who held them captive -in an attempt to pursue their malicious goal. The memory of the " Stab in the Back " - the myth that Jews and communists had plotted behind the lines cause Germany to lose World War I- was never far away , and fitted perfectly into this vision of a dangerous but concealed enemy . ( Auschwitz, Rees , p. 8 )
If a superior ordered someone to be imprisoned , someone to be executed, then- even , if, to the individual ordered to carry out the sentence, the judgement appeared incomprehensible- the order must be correct. The only protection against the of self-doubt in the face of orders were not immediately explicable was hardness, which therefore became a cult throughout the SS. " We must be hard as granite, otherwise the work of our Fuhrer will perish. " said Reinhard Heydrich, the most powerful figure in the SS after Himmler. ( Auschwitz, Rees , p. 8 )
The horrors of war the American Conservatives tell us we must get used to since these wars may go on for another fifty to a hundred years . This is the sort of thinking or mind-set of Bush and Co. and Senator John McCain who believes torture and other abuse of detainees may be horrifying but necessary and so we need to put our sympathies aside since these people are our enemies and will not stop till they destroy not just America but also Western Christian Civilization . McCain , Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld , Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove , Gonzales , Irving Kristol and their Neoconservative advisers are always talking in Apocalyptic terms of this being a Clash of Civilizations of Christianity versus Islam , freedom versus Terrorism . Their enemy is also like the enemies the Nazis fantasized about that is they are everywhere , they hide in the crowds , they smile at us and then blow us up.
We could here compare the myth of " Stab in the Back " of the Nazis to that of the American Conservatives myth or belief that all that's wrong with America and Western Civilization is due in their view to " liberalism and liberal notions such as multiculturalism , equality and human rights and open criticism of the American military and other American institutions such as the CIA, Secret Service and FBI and belief that citizens are permitted even in times of war to protest against government policies such as people did during the Vietnam War - These liberal and unAmerican activities the Conservative Americans believe led to the defeat in Vietnam.
They also believe that it is because of these liberal views and the liberals lack of concern for national security led to the 9/11 attacks because America was seen as weak and vulnerable which these attacks proved to be the truth-
These Conservative including members of the Bush administration believe that the War in Iraq has been undermined by on-going unjustified attacks by the liberal elite and liberal biased media on the Bush administration and questioning its good sense about invading and occupying Iraq which to the conservatives is a no-brainer as they say. Saddam was evil they argue and so was removed. America they believe is permitted to protect its interest in whatever way the administration chooses to define them . When America's interest are at risk then America has no choice but to engage in a pre-emptive attack. And further America need not take seriously the views of the " Liberal" and " socialist " supported United Nations which as a body is anti-American and pro-Arab and pro-Islamic .
The American Conservatives also see the liberal media as being manipulated into sympathizing with these Islamic terrorists and the wholly ungreteful people of Iraq . The people of Iraq and Afghanistan and all Arabs and Muslims are in their view evil and untrustworthy since they hate Christianity and the One True God as they the Muslims struggle to make Islam the dominant religion in the world.
The " liberals " and the 'liberal media " can not be trusted since they will show the bodies of dead Iraqis on Television or on the Internet claiming they are innocent victims . In Iraq the Conservative American tells there are no innocents. Even a small child will one day grow up to be a terrorists it is after all in their blood and is preached they claim by the barbaric, primitive, religion of Islam. After all Islam is just a made up religion by some guy an Arab in the desert who wanted to gain some power and notoriety and to satisfy his insatiable sexual appetite.
The Bush Regime and their advisers seem to be unable to cope with what they refer to as unforseen contingencies- or as Cheney put it Known Knowns Known Unknowns and Unknown Knowns or whatever - this guy knows how to use language in such an ambiguous and tortured manner . Cheney and other members of the Bush staff do this so that it is difficult at times to know exacly what they have said . They turn a phrase like this every which way to haggle their way out of any accusation . It is the ultimate in Bureaucratic Mumbo Jumbo and perverted " legaleese ". The advantage of this use of language is that when some event occurs they can plead ignorance . Such as no one would have thought the New Orleans' levees would break - of course various engineers had been warning governments since the Reagan Era of the potential problem and no one including Bill Clinton did much about it.
Another example is the looting which took place shortly after the American invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Bush and Cheney were surprised it appears yet those in the Military and Intelligence community had tried to tell them that this was one of the reasons they needed more troops that is to protect public buildings such as schools , hospitals , government agencies , libraries and museums but they didn't heed this advice and then claimed they never received such advice or claimed the liberal anti-Bush media was exaggerating what was actually happening. This was followed by the former Bathists regrouping and the outbreak of secular violence which the Bush Regime was warned about. But they steamed ahead in a positive euphoria that everything would in just a few weeks or months or years sort themselves out. But they had made one blunder and miscalculation after another and so it is they who have created this mess in Iraq and the Middle East as well as in Afghanistan and Pakistan etc. .
So when things go unexpectedly wrong they find themselves in need of scapegoats they search for others to blame such as Iran or Syria or the liberal media or the United Nations or European countries especially France. When they find this doesn't work they look inward to find the traitors among them and so in an act of spiritual cleansing they fire a host of people who didn't or don't fully support their policies and their susposed agenda of spreading democracy around the world or who don't pray enough or have some doubts about Bush and Cheney's decision making and abilities. . In the end who know what their real agenda was or is. And now we have Senator John McCain who wants to stay the course and to expand the war to Iran, Syria etc. Because somehow as Bush has said time and again that History will prove him right and show that he was , in fact , a visionary - again it sounds like your typical deluded demagogue who bases his decisions on what he believes God is telling him- Hitler also often claimed that he was a great man fulfilling his destiny and that like Bush he was doing God's Work.
As Rees comments on the mindset of Hitler and the Nazis :
Indeed it is a recurring theme of this history that the Nazi leadership constantly must contend with events they have not properly anticipated. They are always driven by a sense of enormous ambition and optimism- anything can be accomplished by " will " alone- and then they are pulled short either by their own lack of planning and foresight , or because their enemy is stronger than their own inflated sense of themselves ever acknowledged . ( Auschwitz, Rees, p. 31 )
For more on this matter see;
Rees, Laurence : Auschwitz: A New History ,pub. 2005
Carsten, F. L. : The Rise of Fascism , pub.
Carroll, James : Constantine’s Sword: The Church and The Jews-
A History , Pub. 2001.
Cohen- Sherbok, Dan: The Crucified Jew: Twenty Centuries of Anti-Semitism, pub. 1992.
Cohn, Norman : Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, pub. 1996.
Dawidowicz, Lucy S.: The War Against the Jews 1933-1945, Pub. 1986
Gilbert, Martin: Auschwitz and the Allies, pub. 1990
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah : A Moral Reckoning :The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair, pub. 2002
Kertzer, David I. : The Popes Against The Jews: The Vatican's Role in The Rise of Modern Anti‑Semitism, pub. 2001
and so it goes,
GORD>
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