Why Germany and NOT Iraq?

Class in –session.
So, I’ve been struck by a couple of things that I have seen happening over the last several years and wondered what is going on. Yesterday I had the opportunity to see one of my big brothers and we were talking about – what else- politics. No big surprise there, my brothers conversation came on the heels of a conversation I had recently at work with a couple of co-workers.
One of my co-workers asked why we were in Iraq and had lost 4,000 of our young men, and how horrible that was to loose so many. So, honestly, I try to keep my mouth shut about politics at work. Don’t you know not to ‘you know what’ in your garden is the motto I try to live by. Well, I couldn’t let it sit, so I told her that we were helping the Iraqi soldiers train, building schools, hospitals and other institutions, helping the Iraqi’s patrol their border and protect their oil fields, and rebuild their infrastructure. As for their democratic institutions and do they want democracy – easy answer to that. Yes and the Middle East can have successful democracies. Just last week we saw the Turkish Supreme Court strike down a headscarf requirement of women who attended a university – citing the fact that it was a congressional law that came from – SHARIA Law – and therefore breaking the bounds of separation of church and state. Turkey is a mature democracy – because it has had Western aide for the last 50+ years.
As for the 4000 dead American soldiers – and while we’re at it let’s not forget the wounded who are NOT apart of that number – but are a higher percentage. No one wants to see our soldiers wounded or killed, but the hard cold facts are that on D-Day (June 6th 1944), the number of wounded and dead for the allies was nearly 8000 – and that was 1 day in WWII. Still ahead of us on that day was the discovery of the concentration camps, and the horrors of Mengala – there might have been whispers, but no true evidence. Still ahead of us were the horrors that would be uncovered of the forced labor camps for the factories, or the construction sites, the mass graves and the Nazi efficiency of death and destruction of those who were – slightly different. Still ahead of us were the horrors of reading books like NIGHT or The Diary of Anne Frank. Yet, it was okay for us to fight that war – our fellow Americans did not knock on the President, they didn’t call him a liar or a traitor. They didn’t use the weapon on criticism as a political tool (which is what is being used as now.) Republicans of the 40’s HATED and loathed FDR because of all his social policies – his successes and they vilified his failures. But the day after Pearl Harbor, there was not a word brought of decent against the President – not in the open – they still complained privately and they still whined about FDR and his party. But the news media didn’t sensationalize every misspoken word of the President, his crippled legs, his deteriorating health, nor did they swarm a politico whose mouth got away from him, they buried his words if they printed them at all.
It goes further; it took nearly ten years to ‘pacify’ Western Germany after WWII. Former Germany Nazi’s would string piano wire across a road at the same height of a G.I.’s neck when sitting in a jeep. The G.I. would be dead before he even knew about it – because many drove with the windshield down and didn’t know what hit them. But these did not dissuade America from putting together the largest financial aide package (if put in today’s dollars still the largest) in the history of the world – the Marshall Plan. There was complaining about putting former Nazi’s in charge of the government office (as is famous in the movie PATTON after the battles were won, but it hadn’t been used as a political tool against Truman, against Patton – yes, but not against Truman.

Before you get all whiny on me – I will answer why Iraq IS connected to the terrorists – but the short answer is a terrorist by any other name is STILL a terrorist!
Class dismissed.