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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3398)	9/11/2001 8:33:56 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

Re: Of course, few Palestinians wish to acknowledge that Faisal's uncle, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was a Nazi ally, who personally befriended such thugs as Eichman, Himmler, and Hitler. So were American icons Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, and... you name it! But who cares, anyway?? Making the World Safe for Capitalism Saving Private Power by Michael Zezima Published by Soft Skull Press, N.Y. Reviewed by David Cogswell This review appeared in The American Book Review davidcogswell.com Extract: Fascism in Italy, Japan and Spain is not a matter of controversy. Nazi collaboration within France and even among the Swiss has been publicly recognized. But within the United States, any questioning of the purity of the nation in its battle for freedom and democracy is a social taboo. Fascistic elements in the United States are usually discussed only in terms of fringe movements that had little or no effect on the mainstream. The extent to which giants of American business supported the arming of the Nazis with their money and their mouths is rarely considered. The Nazi sympathies of some of America's great names have been swept under the rug, but are clearly part of the historical record if the blind spots of prejudice can be wiped away. In his insistence on cutting through the barriers held in place by the reverent, Zezima unmasks a number of American icons. American hero Charles Lindbergh, for example, was a big fan of the Nazis. He visited with top Nazi brass at the personal invitation of General Goering, who impressed him with a review of the German air force. Lindbergh urged Americans to leave the Nazis in peace to pursue their wars in their own ways. He said Hitler was "undoubtedly a great man" who had helped to make Germany "in many ways the most interesting nation in the world." Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels considered Lindbergh an intimate ally, as reflected in his diary entries: "The isolationists are very active. Colonel Lindbergh is sticking stubbornly and with great courage to his old opinions. A man of honor!" Then two weeks later: "Lindbergh has written a really spirited letter to Roosevelt. He is the president's toughest opponent. He asked us not to give him too much prominence, since this could harm him. We have proceeded accordingly." Henry Ford was another big supporter of Nazism. He adopted an Aryan-only policy in his German plants before Nazi law required it. His own newspaper The Dearborn Independent was passionately anti-Semitic. In 1920, a series of 92 articles began with the headline: "The International Jew: The World's Problem." It included an installment called "The Jewish Associates of Benedict Arnold." In 1938, on Ford's 75th birthday, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle by the Fuhrer himself, who kept a picture of Ford beside his desk and considered him the leader of "the growing fascist movement in America." Also investing in Germany in the 1920s were General Motors, General Electric, Standard Oil, Texaco, International Harvester, ITT and IBM. Many companies continued operations during the war. George W. Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush and great grandfather George Herbert Walker funneled at least $50 million into the Nazi war effort selling Nazi war bonds as directors of the Union Bank of New York, which was owned by the investment company Brown Brothers Harriman (as in Averill Harriman). Union Bank was finally closed down under the Trading With the Enemy Act in October, 1942. Zezima suspends the presumption that World War II was "The Good War" and explores the notion that in many ways it wasn't. He zeroes in on a number of unpleasant facts about the war. [snip]