Passing of a Righteous Hero
Hero.
Righteous Man.
Witness.
These are words that are both accurate and yet not adequete to describe Simon Wiesenthal, legendary Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor, who passed away today at the age of 96. He survived, when 89 members of his family did not, and went on to find and help bring to justice some 1,100 Nazi war criminals, including Adolph Eichmann.
He fought for years against Naziism, fascism and racism of all kinds. On a personal note, it was his story that inspired me, as a young farm-boy, to never sit placidly by when these kinds of things reared their head, even in Canada. He is one of the reasons I am so vocal and occasionally emotional in my defence of minorities and of my attacks on neo-fascist ideas.
He was the personal embodiement of the phrase "never again."
He will be missed, but I hope that the world never again needs a Simon Wiesenthal.
"There is no freedom without justice" - Simon Wiesenthal
Amen, brother. Amen. Let's all take a moment to remember his life, and promise that we should be the conscience of the world, so the next Simon Wiesenthal can simply live his life as an architect.
posted by Mike @ 12:57 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
He was one of those men you wouldn't want to be, but should the occasion arise, hope that you could be.....
Hero is the only word needed. Rest well.
A very good tribute, Mike
"you don't think there should be democracy in the middle east?"
Yes I do. Like in Lebannon. Home grown, rather than imposed by the barrel of a gun from the outside. Like the reform movement that was ready to take over in Iran, until Bush declared them a member of the "Axis of Evil" and sent the moderates into the hardliners camp. And now they (the hardliners) have won the Iranian elections (yes jeff, the hold elcetions in Iran, you know), rather than the moderates and reformers.
How about Afghanistan jeff? The US could have concentrated on building security and democracy there.
If you really think that the war was about bringing democracy to Iraq, you are a fool. Especially considering the draft constituion is about to create and Iranian style Islamic Republic. Yeah, that was smart.
Democracy can be brought to the middle east without invading it and starting a war.
Now jeff, wehn it comes to bigotry and hypocricy, all I need to do is re-read your comments in my Szrebreniza thread to know where you stand.
Be forewarned. If you try anything remotely like that in THIS thread, your posts will be deleted.
Jeff
"Mike, how can you sit there and defend Iraq's right to commit genocide,"
Any charges of genocide by Saddam took place in the 1980s. At the time he was supported by the Reagan and Bush administrations, who sold him the weapons and technology to commit the attrocities. When the world tried the censure him in the Security Council for the gas attack against the Kurd, it was the US administration of Reagan and Bush that vetoed the motion.
Iraq has no right to commit genocide. Too bad the US didn't stop him back in the 80s instead of actively protected him. Guys like Cheney, Wolfowitz and Runsfeld were his friends back then.
"invade Kuwait unprovoked, and attack Israel unprovoked?"
Uhmm, that was the first Gulf War. Which Bush Sr. didn't finish or come to the aid of the marsh Arabs who rebelled at his behest soon after the war. Iraq had no right to invade Kuwait or attack Isreal. Just as the US had no right to attack Iraq (or any other country) unprovoked. It works both ways you know.
"Do Iraq's (Saddam) patterns of destabilization and expansionism not resemble Nazi Germany's model circa WW1 &WW2?"
Nope. The US completely funded his military build up in the 80s, leading to the first Gulf War. In the 90's he was an imasculated tin-pot dictator who was far weaker than he let on and only controlled the middle 1/3 of his country. Why the UN even managed to disarm him, as both David Kay and former UN Weapons inspector Scott Ritter claimed and the shocking lack of WMD or facilities to create them now show.
Nothing like WWI or WWII except for chickenhawks that want to wip up a silly patriotic war-frenzy in the US.
Care to point out where Iraq was "expansionist" in the last 15 years?
"And before you respond, let me ask you what your *solution* would have been, instead of going to war."
Well, I'll assume you mean the current war in Iraq and not the previous one fron 15 years ago that all of your belly-aching above refers to.
1) Stop doing Business with Iraq. Dick Cheney and Haliburton had a hard time doing this. They nmow whine about Oil for Food, but Cheney had no problem given Saddam money back in the mid-1990's.
2) Support reform movements and pro-democracy movements that existed in both Iran and Iraq and change politically from the inside, like what happened in the Ukraine, Georgia and Lebannon. Funding a known bank fraud artist, probale Iranian spy and man who had set foot in Iraq since he was child (Chalibi) doesn't count. Beside that crook, the US never supported any others.
3) Ignore Saddam and pump money and resources into the Kurds in the North. Protected by the No Fly Zone, they had a de facto multi-party democracy and their own country. They had the oik around Mozul. That could have been a great model of democracy in the middle east. Finish the job in Afghanistan, capture Osama bin Laden and stablize that country so it could be the model of democracy for the middle east.
4) Pay the entire Iraqi Army to stop obeying Saddam. It worked in making them go home during this war. It would have been cheaper than $1 billion per month for tha last 2 1/2 years. Cheaper than the $8 billion that went missing from the oil for food programme that dissappeared AFTER the US took it over. Cheaper than the $1 billion that disappeared from the Iraqi army treasury, again during the US occupation (embezzaled by the man the US put in charge of the Defense Ministry).
5) Not have supported Saddam in the first place, back in the 1980s, but hey, I guess we can't say that right? That wouldn't be fair to answer "Don't get in the mess in the first place"
6) Support a coup by generals friendly to the US. Thye US never seemed to have an issue doing that in the past...
Lots of ways to be rid of Saddam short of going to war. Going to war is the last resort.
Even if I wnet to war, I'd have a proper post-occupation plan. The US didn't.
You really have to be a fool if you think this war was for the freedom of Iraq. Iraq is about to become an Islamic Republic like Iran. So the whole war was a waste and a failure because Iraqis will not be free, they will be under a theocracy.
From dictator to Ayatolla. Nice trade.
Off topic post will be deleted from this thread jeff. You were warned. You are lucky your previous ones weren't deleted - at least they were close to being on topic.
Jeff,
The same tired old arguments which have been shown to be untrue, including by the 9/11 Commission.
Now, this thread is about Simon Wiesenthal, his life and his legacy. We will have no more discussions of you war-mongering here.
If you do not post something related to the topic, it will be considered spam and deleted.
Understand? Simon Wiesenthal.
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