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Dear listmembers, There was an excellent crop of anti-war letters in the Guardian on Saturday. Here is one. I particularly like it because I have been collecting some Bush/Blair quotations and Hitler/Goebbels quotations and putting together a quiz: guess who said what when. The resonances are quite powerful, from the ludicrous claims (``we have to attack them because they are such a huge threat to us'') to the details (``obviously, for security reasons, we can't release all the information we have that justifies our actions'', ``we have no argument with the Iraqi/Czech people'' etc). One might almost think that Blair's speechwriters have studied the Nazi propagandists for inspiration. Best Wishes, Fay *********************************************************************** Saturday September 7, 2002 The Guardian Listening to the rhetoric of Bush, Blair, "Rambo" Rumsfeld, and Cheney this September as they try to ignite a popular zest for war against Iraq (Threat of war, September 6), I am reminded of the tone and language used by an earlier leader hard at work stoking up a needless [My note: ``needless'' is the wrong adjective. Invading Iraq will serve the ``needs'' of the imperialists very well] international crisis - Adolf Hitler in September 1938. "I know quite well," he ranted at the Nuremberg rally, "that through forbearance one will never reconcile so irreconcilable an enemy as are the Czechs; they will only be provoked to further presumption ... Herr Benes plays his tactical game; he makes speeches, he wishes to negotiate ... and to make little appeasement presents. But in the long run that is not good enough!" Change Czechs and Benes to Saddam Hussein and the speech could have been drafted in Washington today. Needless to say, President Benes's Czechoslovakia in 1938 posed no threat to Nazi Germany and was in any case militarily outclassed - just as the militarily even more outclassed Iraqis today in no way threaten the US or the UK. It is perfectly obvious why Washington and London wish to delay publication of "the dossier" on Iraqi armaments until the last possible moment - the "evidence" will simply consist of yet more assertions and speculations of the kind western public opinion has already found completely unconvincing. Meanwhile, the "democracy" about which Bush keeps prating operates in a peculiar way: Bush and Blair are preparing war, even though it is plain that most of their two peoples are dead against it. This is no doubt why Blair will not recall parliament. No debate prior to a decision. Rely instead on the crown prerogative inherited by British prime ministers from the absolute monarchy of the past. Correlli Barnett Norwich ************************************************************************ CASI Quiz: Nazi or Bush-Blair -- Who said what when? [I'm still working on it. e.g. I'm looking for a Nazi quotation saying that it was much better for the Czech or Polish people to be invaded than suffer under their current government.] Guess who said this, a German Nazi sometime between 1930 and 1945 or a US/UK politician sometime from 2000 onwards: 1) There's no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland 2) We must wage a total war on terrorism 3) So total war is the demand of the hour. 4) We would not deserve to lead this nation if we tolerated to any degree whatsoever any threat to the homeland. 5) Peace through victory! 6) We are fighting for our lives. If we lose it will mean the end of our nation and our history. This war is a defensive war. It was forced on us by our enemies. 7a) Often [the leadership] cannot reveal the reasons for its actions without giving valuable information to the enemy. 7b) Much of the evidence we have is intelligence and highly sensitive. It is not possible without compromising people or security to release precise details. 8) We wage a war to save civilization, itself. We did not seek it, but we must fight it -- and we will prevail. 9) We feel no hatred against the Czech/Afghan people. 10) We would have nothing against Czecho-Slovakia/Iraq if, first, it had not suppressed Germans/Kurds, and, second, if it was not intended as the instrument of a future attack on Germany/America. Upon us falls the task of preventing such an attack at all costs. 11) This is a battle with only one outcome: our victory not theirs. Answers: 1) George Bush Speech 5th Aug 2002 2) Ken Adelman Wednesday, February 13, 2002; Page A27 Washington Post (Adelman was assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from 1975 to 1977, and arms control director -- seriously: ``arms control''! -- under President Ronald Reagan.) 3) Joseph Goebbel's ``total war'' speech 18 February 1943 4) Joseph Goebbel's speech 5 June 1943 5) Joseph Goebbel's speech 24 December 1941 6) J. Goebbel's article 26 September 1943 7a) ibid 7b) Tony Blair speech to Parliament, 4th October 2001. 8) George W Bush speech 01 Nov 2001 9) Adolf Hitler speech April 3rd 1939 10) ibid 11) Tony Blair speech Labour Party conference, Brighton 2001 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Fay Dowker Physics Department + + Queen Mary, University of London + + E-mail: f.dowker@qmul.ac.uk Mile End Road, + + Phone: +44-(0)20-7882-5047 London E1 4NS. + + Fax: +44-(0)20-8981-9465 + + Homepage: http://monopole.ph.qmw.ac.uk/~dowker/home.html + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk