At the end of WWII Thousands of Polish & Germans disappeared into the East

[The Lone Liberal]

The vanished into the vast Soviet gulags, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, the great hope of mankind is doing the same thing with Islamic prisoners. Please, explain how we hold the moral high ground on this policy?

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. We have no moral high ground, none at all.

Anyone who claims that is foolishly naive.

The US had destroyed any influence we had on the Middle East -- and that is true for generations.

Rashid Khalidi has a terrific book on the subject.

[aljones]

2. there is no moral high ground in War!!!

if there is one belief that i hold on to from my days as a Christian it is that god judges everybody equally. those who make decisions to kill no matter what the circumstances will be judges as murders!!!


so i feel secure in the fact that moral or not this war as made murders of us all!!!

god speed and happy hunting in hell!!

smile ally

[ikojo]

3. Many Nazis also came to the US and became

active in Republican politics...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0896084183/qid=1083469050/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-1661817-3776140?v=glance&s=books


Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party: Domestic Fascist Networks and U.S. Cold War
by Russ Bellent

Bellant convincingly documents three arguments in this short, journalistic book. First, many people who had been active in Nazi or pro-Nazi groups in Eastern Europe in the 1930s and 1940s subsequently came to this country, often under the auspices of the Displaced Persons Commission. Second, many of these emigres then became active in political and ethnic groups affiliated with the Republican Party, providing financial and electoral support and crusading relentlessly against Communism. Third, and most important, some of the most unsavory elements of the anti-Communist right gained a foothold in official foreign policy circles under Reagan. Bellant's case is strong and disturbing, but his book is terribly organized, and the meaningful arguments are mixed in with overstated claims (especially the suggestions of a fascist conspiracy) and charges based only on political disagreement, not malfeasance. An optional purchase.
-Timothy Christenfeld, Columbia Univ.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

[madrchsod]

4. george the lesser had

nazi`s in his election campaign until they were outed-oops so sorry didn`t know gramps still had some old employees on the payroll....

[DivinBreuvage]

5. In actual fact the Soviet gulags were a hell of a lot worse

Having said that, however, I don't disagree that what the US has done is plenty bad enough and that it completely explodes any pretensions the US government has of being more moral, more democratic, or better than anything. About the only high ground it can claim on this topic is that:

a) it's NOT as bad as the gulags, and

b) they're at least going to punish a few people, or at least pretend to. The Soviets never even did that much, as far as I know.

That isn't enough moral high ground to matter in any meaningful way, of course. But I think it is important not to dilute the atrocity of the crimes of the past by equating them with the watered-down versions of today.